Ever since the 1960s, the Saranac Central School District has been playing sports under the name “Chiefs.” This fall, the school will be adopting a new name. The Saranac Spartans will be representing the school across the fields and the courts going forward. “The community has been very supportive of the name change,” said Saranac Athletic Director Brent Denis. “We have a tremendous amount of responsibility to respect the past… but we’re moving forward.” It’s a bittersweet feeling for those who have graduated under the name Chiefs, most recently the class of 2023. Lia Parker is one of those athletes who has enjoyed success as a Chief in her senior season, winning three of the nine girls’ sectional championships in soccer, basketball and flag football. “If one class had to be the last Chiefs, I think ours definitely is a good way to go out,” Parker said. “I think we left behind something great for the name of the Chiefs. I think the classes coming up will make a good start to the Spartan name.” Now, it’s time to move forward and embrace the new identity. The process to change the name consisted of a town-wide name suggestion leading to multiple names narrowed down to a top two between the Wolves and the Spartans. With the Spartans getting an over-400 vote advantage, it led to an official new name that those going back to school in the fall will look to embrace. Carson Duffield, a sophomore at Saranac High School, pictures himself returning to the football field and the basketball court as tough and fierce as the mascot he depicts in his mind. “I think it shows that we’re a strong force that wants to win, and we’re aggressive,” Duffield said. It’s something that the whole community outside of the players is eager to see play out. Dylan Everleth, Saranac’s head football and girls’ flag football coach, was also a student at Saranac. Before he graduated in 2011, he witnessed the initial logo change from the Native American chief logo to a mountain with stars on top of its peak in the early 2000s. Everleth is excited about all the possibilities for what a new logo and mascot will look like for the Spartans as an added motivation to showcase a different sense of school spirit under the change. “It’s been hard not having something that directly represented what we were here as a school,” Everleth said. “We really have something now once we have a logo that we can show off around the school and have pride into.” But regardless of what the future generation will look like for the Spartans, Denis is not planning on removing the colors they’ve been wearing since their origins. “No matter what, we are red and white,” Denis said. “We can either be given an identity, or we can create one. With Spartans, I hope that everyone can get on board and can create their own identity.” Denis would add that a logo design will be finalized by Sept. 1, 2023. With the team’s new picture, he and the rest of the Saranac sports community hope they will still add more sectional, regional and state titles to their trophy case.
Ever since the 1960s, the Saranac Central School District has been playing sports under the name “Chiefs.” This fall, the school will be adopting a new name.
The Saranac Spartans will be representing the school across the fields and the courts going forward.
“The community has been very supportive of the name change,” said Saranac Athletic Director Brent Denis. “We have a tremendous amount of responsibility to respect the past… but we’re moving forward.”
It’s a bittersweet feeling for those who have graduated under the name Chiefs, most recently the class of 2023. Lia Parker is one of those athletes who has enjoyed success as a Chief in her senior season, winning three of the nine girls’ sectional championships in soccer, basketball and flag football.
“If one class had to be the last Chiefs, I think ours definitely is a good way to go out,” Parker said. “I think we left behind something great for the name of the Chiefs. I think the classes coming up will make a good start to the Spartan name.”
Now, it’s time to move forward and embrace the new identity. The process to change the name consisted of a town-wide name suggestion leading to multiple names narrowed down to a top two between the Wolves and the Spartans.
With the Spartans getting an over-400 vote advantage, it led to an official new name that those going back to school in the fall will look to embrace. Carson Duffield, a sophomore at Saranac High School, pictures himself returning to the football field and the basketball court as tough and fierce as the mascot he depicts in his mind.
“I think it shows that we’re a strong force that wants to win, and we’re aggressive,” Duffield said.
It’s something that the whole community outside of the players is eager to see play out.
Dylan Everleth, Saranac’s head football and girls’ flag football coach, was also a student at Saranac. Before he graduated in 2011, he witnessed the initial logo change from the Native American chief logo to a mountain with stars on top of its peak in the early 2000s.
Everleth is excited about all the possibilities for what a new logo and mascot will look like for the Spartans as an added motivation to showcase a different sense of school spirit under the change.
“It’s been hard not having something that directly represented what we were here as a school,” Everleth said. “We really have something now once we have a logo that we can show off around the school and have pride into.”
But regardless of what the future generation will look like for the Spartans, Denis is not planning on removing the colors they’ve been wearing since their origins.
“No matter what, we are red and white,” Denis said. “We can either be given an identity, or we can create one. With Spartans, I hope that everyone can get on board and can create their own identity.”
Denis would add that a logo design will be finalized by Sept. 1, 2023. With the team’s new picture, he and the rest of the Saranac sports community hope they will still add more sectional, regional and state titles to their trophy case.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
