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2 more Long Island high schools change team names in response to NYS Native American mascot ban

Half Hollow Hills East and Comsewogue High School will change their names in response to New York State's ban on Native American mascots. NewsdayTV's Carissa Kellman reports. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.

By Gregg Sarragregg.sarra@newsday.com @Gregg_SarraUpdated July 12, 2024

Two more Long Island high schools have chosen new team names to comply with the state's Native American mascot ban.

Half Hollow Hills High School East will become the Red Hawks this fall, according to Deb Ferry, the director of athletics for the district. Comsewogue High School will become the Spartans, a change that will take place for the 2025-26 school year, the district's director of athletics, Matt DeVincenzo, said.

“We had a vote that included our faculty, students, community and administration,” Ferry said. “Red Hawks was the winner and we’re very happy with it. We’re also keeping our main school colors. They will remain red and black.”

Half Hollow Hills High School East will keep its school... — Half Hollow Hills High School East will keep its school colors of red and black as it changes its nickname to the Red Hawks. Credit: Steven Ryan

Half Hollow Hills East used to be the Thunderbirds, a name that has Indigenous roots.

WHAT TO KNOW

Half Hollow Hills East and Comsewogue join Brentwood and Sewanhaka high schools in changing team names to comply with the state's mandate against Native American mascots, imagery and team names.
Hills East will become the Red Hawks this fall instead of the Thunderbirds, a name that has Indigenous roots. Comsewogue will play one more year as the Warriors before becoming the Spartans the following school year.
Five districts have filed legal challenges to the mandate while four others are in the process of making the changes.

Public schools statewide using Native American mascots, team names and logos have until June 30 to change the names, logos and imagery on buildings, uniforms and playing fields, according to the mandate approved by the Board of Regents in April last year. The order fell under the Dignity for All Students Act, enacted to create a nonhostile learning environment for students.

There are 13 districts on Long Island affected by the ban.

There are five districts on Long Island that have filed legal challenges to the state mandate: Amityville, Connetquot, Massapequa, Wantagh and Wyandanch.

Brentwood High School recently changed its name to the Spartans, and Sewanhaka High School changed to the Ravens. Both schools had been the Indians.

Four other districts — Sachem, East Islip, Manhasset and Syosset — are in the process of making the change.

Ferry said the Dix Hills school is still working on a new logo and has to remove the old Thunderbirds logo and lettering from the turf football field.

“We’ll be forced to remove about 30 yards of turf in the middle of the field to take out the old logo,” she said.

The changes will cost approximately $110,000, Ferry said.

“We had a lot of success as the Thunderbirds and we hope to build on that winning culture as the Red Hawks,” Hills East football coach Alex Marcelin said. “I really like that we kept our primary school colors of black and red and we can mix in our chrome gray uniforms. There’s been a real positive feel around the name change so it’s all good as we move forward.”

Comsewogue's football team takes the field on Oct. 23, 2021,... — Comsewogue's football team takes the field on Oct. 23, 2021, when it played Kings Park. Credit: Bob Sorensen

In Port Jefferson Station, the Comsewogue School District is going back to its roots. According to DeVincenzo, each of the six schools in the district proposed a new nickname, and students and staff voted to go with Spartans.

“It was a very democratic way of selecting the new name and it made complete sense,” DeVincenzo said. “We were the Spartans 55 years ago when we only had middle school. We were the JFK Spartans. Transitioning from Warriors to Spartans is kind of cool, and I like it.”

John F. Kennedy Middle School still has the green banners of the Spartans teams from the early 1970s. When Comsewogue High School opened in 1972, the nickname was the Warriors, and the high school colors were changed to blue and yellow.

“The colors will remain blue and yellow with the Spartans,” DeVincenzo said.

For the Half Hollow Hills district, one issue remains. There are two high schools in the district. Half Hollow Hills High School West uses the Colts as its nickname. When the two schools combined to form a team, it would use the name ThunderColts, which won't work now that Hills East is the Red Hawks.

“The next process will be to figure out a mascot and official nickname for our combined programs within the district,” Ferry said. “We’ll tackle that next.”