By Barney Smith
Last year, then-freshman Barney Smith asked the Historical Society for information on the derivation of the “Yellow Jackets” as the High School team name. We had fun digging around in old yearbooks and sent him a TON of raw info. This is Barney’s resulting article, which was published in the June 2021 graduation issue of The Buzzer. We’re pleased to be reprinting his piece here, with some additional photos.
As a new student at Hastings High School, I find a lot of things here really cool, such as the cafeteria, the dark room, and of course our mascot, the Yellow Jacket. Ever since I got my year planner at Freshmen Orientation, I’ve been dying to know what the yellow jacket name is all about! I asked many students and teachers and they all didn’t know either, so I enlisted the help of the really cool people at the Hastings Historical Society, who were kind enough to dive deep into the old books and find out the truth for us!
A Yellow Yearbook
Looking through the records from 1927 to the present, the Historical Society was able to infer that the 1940s really marked the first mentions of yellow jackets in general. The 1943 school yearbook was called the “Yellow Jacket,” because of its yellow cover. Then, in 1945, the school basketball team became our first team to be called the Yellow Jackets. In 1947, the yellow jacket got a bigger role: the yearbook was absolutely full of bee references and included numerous illustrations of yellow jackets throughout the book. It also talks about “Yellow Jack,” who seems to be the first given name of our very own yellow jacket mascot!
From Yellow Jackets to “Buzzing” Bees
The Buzzer is turning 70 years old in this year (Ed. note: in 2021)! The Buzzer first got its name in 1951. The 1950s were also a hot spot for yellow-jacket appearances in the yearbooks, with many mentions of “buzzing around.” After the 1950s, there was not really much mention of the yellow jacket in yearbooks again until 1982, when a yellow jacket adorned the front cover and made many appearances within the book.
A Bee By Any Other Image?
There were many different variations of yellow jackets drawn over the years and there still are some now: our school ID cards have an angrier yellow jacket with blue stripes and the gym teachers tend to have a more athletic yellow jacket on their uniforms. In the early 1990s, the yellow jacket was drawn in a different style, more angry and muscular.
In the late 1990s, “Buzz” became the official name for the Yellow Jackets’ mascot. S/he attended games and events.
After the millennium, we saw the yellow jacket as we know it today on the yearbook cover!
Hastings Historical Society president Natalie Barry then told me that she had talked to Jeanne Newman, who was a photography teacher at HHS from 1984 to 2007; Ms. Newman said that she is sure the yellow jacket image we have today is a stock image. After Ms. Newman reached out to past yearbook advisor of the school Brian McGuinness, we could confirm that it is a stock image. Here’s the funny thing: Georgia Tech has our yellow jacket, although with a slightly different colorway.
When I talked to Mr. Robert McCann, an athletic teacher, I asked him about how he feels about our mascot and its involvement on the team uniforms. He said, “I love the mascot, I really do…I think it’s nice that the school has a mascot and I love the design,“ Mr. McCann also thought it might be cool if our mascot was a honey bee, because he is fond of them and owns a hive himself. He showed me that his school uniform polo has a more muscular Yellow Jacket (quite fitting for Physical Education).
I then talked with the one and only Mr. Cory Merchant, a photography teacher who attended Hastings High School himself in the 1990s and early 2000s. I asked Mr. Merchant if the yellow jacket was a big thing when he was attending our school and how he feels about our mascot in general. “When I was growing up, I can’t remember if Buzz played a big part in our pep rally, maybe we didn’t have a Buzz costume.” He replied, “However, my kids always love seeing Buzz. Sometimes, he makes appearances at Hillside.”
Now, after taking this wild ride with me, which name do you like better for our mascot — Yellow Jack or Buzz?
Barney Smith is a sophomore at Hastings High. He’d like to thank the following for their assistance: Natalie Barry and Lisa Zimmerman at the Hastings Historical Society, Jeanne Newman and Brian McGuinness, and Mr. Merchant and Mr. McCann. He would also like to thank the Hastings Alumni Association.
I don’t know if this is happened to everyone else but in the original email the images did not come through it’s only when I went to the comment section my iPad sent me to Safari the email reappeared with all of the images maybe it’s just my iPad I don’t know anyway great job by Barney an interesting topic !
Hi, JJ – you’re the only one who mentioned that problem. Maybe it’s your iPad?
It’s very interesting to learn that the name was inspired by the actual color of a yearbook. I’ve thought about this for years and posited that the yellow jacket mascot must have derived from a play on the name of the village itself: Ha-STINGS. Who knows—it may have been a subconscious factor.
Did Hastings have a mascot prior to this?
Thank you for this article—well needed and well done.
You’re the second person who mentioned that possibility. Interesting!
We couldn’t find another mascot before the 1940s. We only have yearbooks from the mid-1920s on, and those early ones were thinner (fewer kids in each class) and most didn’t even have individual photos. So they didn’t contain a whole lot of info. We’re not sure what they had before the 1920s.
I always thought the yellow jacket was a reference to the word “stings” in the name of our village — HaSTINGS on Hudson!
Never thought of that – it could be!
Excellent article! Kudos to Barney Smith.
I always thought the name “yellow jackets “ came from the fact that there are so many actual yellow jackets around in Hastings every summer! Glad to be set straight.
I have Yearbooks from 1957, 1960 and 1961 that are all called “Yellow Jacket” on the covers, even though their covers are blue, gray and brown. There is reference to the Yellow Jackey staff in the “clubs” section.
I graduated in 1961 and cannot remember any other name than Yellow Jacket for the sports teams, cheerleaders, pom poms and student body. The team uniforms were always green and gold (yellow).
That is one of the reasons my favorite football team is the Green Bay Packers. I also played football at Manhattan after I got out of the Marines, and both of their uniforms were green.
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What an excellent blog! Great job by Barney Smith!
Great article! I always thought it was due to HaSTINGS. I have yearbooks from ’61 to ’65, all except the ’64 have ‘Yellow Jacket’ written on cover.
That photo haha.. that was a bit, we were protecting Buzz from paparazzi because he was simply too popular. It was also a year before “The Matrix” came out, obvious trendsetters. Great article, thanks!
Little late repyling to this but my thoughts are stil the same. The various yellowjackets are cute, colorful and conversation pieces – but from the standpoint of a varsity cheerleader for 4 years – 1947 thriough 1950 – it was not easy to lead the crowd in Go YellowJackets!!!! Ossining Indians and DF Eagles were much easier!!!!!!!!!!!