Why is This Guy Wearing Red?
I threw this question out on Twitter last Friday, when I was at Highlander Stadium. I didn’t get any answers, so I’ll pose it again here.
Why is this guy wearing red? pic.twitter.com/6DuHSqRPqO
— Dan Koller (@DanKollerPeople) October 25, 2013
Anybody have a clue?
After polling my ’79-’81 fellow HPHS graduates- we have 2 good answers – the band used to wear these colors and it was one of the most common Scottish kilt but also stood for red for the blood of the patriots and blue for the water/lake/ river we protect.
Check with Beverly in the Alumni office. There is a treasure trove of information in there.
According to the HPISD history website, the original colors was Orange and Black. It goes on to say the original High School mascot was actually a Coyote. “When Coach Floyd Betts arrived to coach the first Highland Park football team in 1923, he changed the mascot to the Highlander and the colors to blue and gold.” So your guess is as good as mind as to why the Highlander on the building is not Blue and Gold/Yellow. http://www.hpisd.org/NewsAnnouncements/CentennialCelebration/HPISDHistory.aspx#1910
When I was a kid (’70s-’80s) the bagpipers in the highlander band dressed just like the Fighting Scot depicted on the stadium. That is to say, dark blue shirts and blue & red tartan kilts. I seem to recall the other band members wearing dark red jackets (almost but not quite maroon), black pants with a dark red stripe, and tall black beaver hats, giving an overall impression of similarity to the Queen’s Guard at Buckingham Palace. None of it matched the school colors at all. We wondered even back then why blue & gold wasn’t used, but we figured maybe the blue & red had some historical significance. Perhaps not. But the stadium was built toward the end of that era.