Ask the editors - March 12

How did “Rams” come to be the mascot for Portales High School?

There is some evidence the nickname for Portales’ school sports teams was the “Yams” in the 1920s.

PHS Principal Art Ontiveros said that’s probably because Portales was known for having high-yielding sweet potato crops.

The flag of The Portales Valley News in 1926 referenced Portales as “The Sweet Potato Town, U.S.A.”

The school’s 1926 yearbook was titled “The Yam,” and has a picture of a large sweet potato on the front cover.

But the Yams were mostly out and the Rams arrived during the school year of 1926.

According to the school newspaper, the Baby Yam, published Oct. 12, 1926:

“In assembly a very important matter was discussed. I hope we all know that the former name for the Portales football team was ‘Comets,’ which was a fitting and proper name, because of our swiftness.

“But being swift was the least of the Portales teams’ accomplishments, and having seen that the team was very hard hitting, we decided to change the name from ‘Comets’ to ‘Ram.’ (Because, as you all know, the Ram is a very hard-hitting, obstinate animal.)”

The Yams didn’t go away entirely that school year. One local news report referenced a game between the Yams and the Rams, apparently an intra-squad game or possibly a matchup between the varsity and junior varsity.

But the student body quickly embraced Rams as their nickname.

“Several of the students ordered ram heads and megaphones for the football game between Ft. Sumner and Portales,” the school paper reported soon after the name-changing assembly.

“The ram heads are to wear on our sweaters and the megaphones are to let our team know that the whole student body is backing them. These with the pep meeting we held Thursday night show the enthusiasm which the student body is putting forth this year.

“We are going to make this the best all-round year in the career of the Portales High School.”

What would you like to know? Ask the editors.

Grant McGee: [email protected]

Landry Sena: [email protected]