April 20, 2015 at 3:47 p.m.
The Hodag reigns supreme
Rhinelander mascot wins statewide contest
The Hodag reigns supreme
The Hodag on Friday was crowned champion of the WisSports.net/Frontier Communications Mascot Challenge, surviving nine weeks and six rounds of head-to-head voting to become the last mascot standing in the Wisconsin prep sports website's 64-mascot field.
The Hodag knocked off the Hortonville Polar Bear by more than 4,200 votes (23,400 to 19,133) in the championship round. To the victor go the spoils and Rhinelander High School will receive a $1,000 prize from Frontier Communications as the mascot challenge champion.
RHS activities director Brian Paulson said the Hodag's championship run was spurred on by much more than its uniqueness.
"Not only (is it) the best mascot, but I also think look at the community support for the Hodags," he said. "I think overall, all the alumni, people that have moved to the community like myself ... (the Hodag) is something we take a lot of pride in."
It was a fierce competition for statewide bragging rights. In the end, the Hodag racked up nearly 60,000 votes in six rounds of voting, more than any other mascot.
"An incredible 545,622 votes were cast in the 10 weeks and 63 individual head-to-head polls during the Frontier Communications Mascot Challenge," WisSports.net general manager Travis Wilson explained. "We had high hopes the campaign would be successful, but the response we got was beyond anything we could have imagined. It was only appropriate that the 43,533 total votes in the finals between Rhinelander and the Hortonville Polar Bears was the highest single total of the Challenge ... There were numerous other instances of the margin of victory being less than 1 percent as well. All the communities showed great support for their local schools, which was great to see."
Wilson added the support from Frontier and communities across the state helped make the contest so successful.
"Again, a huge shoutout goes to all the communities that participated in the Mascot Challenge," he said. "Many athletic directors, principals, administrators, and other school staff shared and encouraged voting, and it was incredible to see all the social media chatter from the students and supporters.
"Frontier Communications was the perfect partner to help us produce the Mascot Challenge, and their support is what allowed us to put an idea 10 years in the making into action."
The contest started slowly for the Hodag, but it picked up momentum each round. Rhinelander cruised past the Watertown Luther Prep Phoenix 1,816-565 in the opening round and beat the Hayward Hurricanes 3,514-1,252 in round two. Next the Hodag defeated the Watertown Gosling 7,819-6,932 and the Mineral Point Pointer 5,837-4,107 to advance to the semifinals.
That's when the Hodag fever really took over. Locked in an intense battle with the Washburn Castle Guard, Hodag Nation responded in droves in the final day of the five-day semifinal match, erasing a four-digit deficit in the final hours to win 17,547-17,065.
That momentum carried through to the finals where, aside from a couple of short-lived leads for the Polar Bear, it was all Hodag.
"I know everybody at the high school - every high school kid - took school pride, making sure they wanted to win this," Paulson said. "Not only was it at the high school, but there were emails going out to all the students, each day to be able to vote, because we have their (school) email addresses, all the staff members were able to vote once a day and, the next best part, was Central (Intermediate) and other elementary schools decided to take time out of their day and give an opportunity to vote. That's what school pride's about. A lot of younger kids learned what pride is and for a community to come together like that, that's special."
Not only did the school work to get out the vote, a massive social media push appealed to those in the community and Hodag natives across the nation.
"Thank you to the River News, the Athletic Booster Club, the Hodag Schools Foundation (for sharing information about the contest) time and time again on social media, also Channel 12," he said. "Everybody on social media kept trying to share this and trying to touch as many people as we could to be able to vote for the Hodags. We're very fortunate for that. We have a lot of entities and if I missed anybody, thank you to them too. Thank(s) (to) the community and all the alumni. It's pretty awesome. Everybody knows Rhinelander because of the Hodag."
That support did not go unnoticed by Wilson and the WisSports.net staff.
"Most people in the state (and beyond) know about or have heard of the Hodag. That name recognition is a plus certainly. However, it wouldn't matter what name recognition would have meant without incredible support from the Rhinelander community itself," Wilson said. "And that extends to numerous media outlets getting involved and promoting the Challenge, from newspapers to TV stations and more. It's a great testament to the pride and support from the community to win the Mascot Challenge."
Response on social media was widespread following the Hodag's victory. A post on the Rhinelander Athletic Booster Club's Facebook page celebrating the victory had been shared by more than 320 users as of early Monday afternoon. The social media website estimates that post reached nearly 24,500 people.
Congratulatory comments flew in from as far as Washington, Texas, Idaho, Virginia and North Carolina on The Northwoods River News' Facebook page. "Once a Hodag, always a Hodag," one Facebook user exclaimed. Another, commenting on the Athletic Booster Club's post said, "The Hodag is kinda like the Packers. It's in the blood no matter where you are!"
It's not the first time the Hodag has been recognized as a unique and popular mascot. In 2013, the mythical creature from the swamps of McNaughton defeated the Ashland Oredocker, the Kaukauna Galloping Ghost, the Kimberly Papermaker and the Mellen Granite Digger in a USA Today survey identifying Wisconsin's best high school mascot. The Hodag finished 20th overall in the nation in that contest.
According to the WisSports.net contest page, the winning mascot, "will receive $1,000 for their school's athletic or general fund." Wilson said WisSports.net and Frontier Commincations will work with district administration to do a formal presentation of the award at a later date.
Paulson said while no determination has been made on how to spend the money, he would like to see it reinvested into growing the myth and legend of the Hodag mascot.
"What should we put back into it? Our mascot won a special prize so how else could we show our mascot in our school and out in our community," he conjectured. "I think it will be something special and hopefully we'll be able to show it off at the beginning of next school year."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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