howeenterprise.com
Monday, August 31, 2015
Page #2
Remembering the birth of Spike, now 31 years old and former varsity cheerleader had a thought when she saw a true gray Bulldog mascot costume at the NCA store. Betty Terry immediately purchased the $600 Bulldog suit. "After we bought it, we went and asked Mr. (Donal) Gilstrap (the high school principal) if I could be the mascot." said Tina Terry. "He said okay, but you don't have a suit. I said, yes I do. We kind of didn't give him a choice." In the fall of 1984, the Bulldog mascot, not yet named, took the field for the first time. The Bulldogs were one of the only teams around to have a mascot but Terry remembered the first encounter with a rival mascot.
Janet Middleton, Jamie Middleton, Sarah Earls, Courtney Williams, Jennifer Finney, Adrianne Tidwell, Kelly Wrede, Melissa Boatman, Lindsay Nicholas, Ashley Stogsdill, Kelsa Bertrand, Kiley Huntsman, Tayler Earnhart, Hannah Holt, Kallie McClain, Megan Ing, Marissa Rose, Darby Stewart, Rachel White, and now Chris Blaszack is the first male Spike. When Tina Terry didn't get selected for varsity cheerleader, she didn't tuck her tail, she grew one. And the Bulldogs have never been the same since.
"The first other mascot was in Anna and I ended up motioning to the Anna Coyote to meet me in the middle of the field." said Terry. "We kind of did a little round of fisticuffs right before the game." Spike as a young pup in his first year In the early 1980's high school mascots were not abundant in North Texas and Howe had no intentions of having one either. But a cheerleading tryout that went awry for a returning varsity cheerleader led to the creation of something great. Tina Terry, a sophomore varsity cheerleader didn't make the cut her junior year and to make things worse, her sister Tanja was selected. Both sisters and their mother Betty went cheerleading outfuit shopping at the National Cheerleading Association (NCA) store in Dallas. The mom of the varsity cheerleader
Even though Terry was the first mascot as a junior and bought the suit, Gilstrap required her to tryout again against other competitors to be mascot again her senior year. Terry won the nomination against several competitors. Once Tina Terry graduated from Howe High School in 1986, the family donated the Bulldog suit to the school. Jodi Shannon took over as mascot and the name "Spike" first appeared that fall. Since that first fall of 1984, the Spike club has grown to several members. Following Terry and Shannon were Heather Turnbow, Brandi Whaley, Michelle Haynes, Casey Keene,
Spike in a "rumble" with the rival Van Alstyne Panther in 1984 in his first year
Spike, at age 30, after a playoff game last November
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