Irmo High School - Athletics

Athletics

Irmo's sports teams compete as the Yellow Jackets and participate in the 4A division, the highest classification of the SCHSL. The school has won 66 team state championships, appeared in 80 State Championship games, finished top two in the state in a respective sport 134 times, and boasted 20 individual state champions.

Although Irmo had been the "Yellow Jackets" for many years, in 1978 a new logo was introduced. Prior to 1978, Irmo used a yellow jacket image for a logo, similar to most schools that are known as yellow jackets. With the arrival of new football coach, Joe Turbeville, the new logo, dubbed "the sting" or "stinger," came on the scene.

In the summer of that year, prior to the start of the football season, advertisements appeared in the Columbia newspaper, the State, with this logo (although without reference to Irmo) and the words "beware of this sting." As the football season began, it was then revealed that this was the new image of Irmo. The logo and the message "beware of the sting" became known across the area and state. "The Sting" represents a yellow jacket and the sting that a yellow jacket puts on its opponents.