La Grange High School (Georgia) - Mascot

Mascot

The school's mascot is recognized as being one of the most uncommon among high schools; the Granger. This leads people to ask,"What is a Granger?"

The answer given is, "A Granger is a Champion!"

On the field, in the classroom, and in life; L.H.S. students are champions. Determination, Pride, and Sportsmanship...these are the cornerstone of the Granger Tradition. A tradition carried on by the students who represent LaGrange in athletic competition.

In its over 100 years of excellence, LaGrange High School has produced championship teams on all fields of play.

But where does the Granger come from?

As noted in the entry introduction the city of LaGrange is named for the home of the Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier,the Marquis de Lafayette, a French citizen who came to America to support the Revolution. LaFayette, as a guest of the United States Government, made a "Farewell Tour" of the nation from September 1824 until December 1825 and during this time he spent two weeks in Georgia with Governor George M. Troup (namesake of the county the town and school are located within) serving as his official host. During this tour of the state he visited the burgeoning community and commented how much it reminded him of his home "La Grange" (French, literally, for "The Barn" but more colloquially a reference to a farm in general). To honor LaFayette the town adopted that name.

In France it is common to use the term "La Grange" to indicate a farm, as barns are a common feature. In the melting pot of the United States the French term "Grange" (with an anglicized pronunciation) came also to be used colloquially as a name for a farm, and later a Granger became a term for a farmer, with this use most common in the U.S. North and Mid west.

Does this mean our Mascot is a farmer? No. The school has never officially used the term Granger to indicate or describe the mascot as a farmer. The most probable origin is that the term was adopted for its alliterative effect with the name LaGrange.

Much like the use of the impossible to define term "Hoosier" for a person from Indiana, Granger is less a definitive mascot; instead it is a nickname not only for the men and women of LaGrange High School, but also the standards of excellence, spirit, achievement, and loyalty the exemplify Grangers!