A Spoofhound is born
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, JAN. 23, 1965
Food for Spoofy is important, believes Polly White as she feeds the begging Maryville High School mascot, Barbara Wempe. Wempe is wearing a new Spoofhound mascot head made by Terry Gomel.
As residents of Maryville know, they have an unusual high school mascot — the Spoofhound. The Spoofhound was first mentioned on Oct. 5, 1922, in local newspapers, but where did this name come from?
The origin story is that Coach L.E. Zeigler was unhappy with the football players’ lack of focus at practice one day. He had recently been to a carnival and saw some ceramic dogs that were called Spoofhounds. The figurine was created by a World War I veteran and was often found at carnivals and sold as kids toys in the 1920s. Even though they were affectionately known as “the hound of a thousand wiggles” (at least according to an ad in the Tulsa World newspaper in 1923), Coach Ziegler had a different impression. He thought they were ugly and supposedly yelled at the Maryville football team, “you fellas look like a bunch of Spoofhounds!”
The name caught on from there within the team, and what originally had been a criticism soon became a point of pride. Before too long, the unofficial title became the official mascot for the school.
In 1954, the high school welcomed a newly designed mascot. George Wagner created the new version of the mascot and said it was made of “odds-and-ends” including cotton, paper, metal and even some of his wife’s buttons. In addition to the full-size mascot, he also made a miniature Spoofhound made of metal, and he presented both to the high school.
Just 10 years later in 1965, Terry Gomel created a new Spoofhound mascot head. To make it, she molded chicken wire around a football helmet, added ears made of studded pantyhose and used a rubber ball for the nose. She covered this base with several layers of papier-mache, and then painted on the face and other details. The new costume was worn by members of the pep squad at home football games.
Although there had been several versions of the Spoofhound over the years, the Hi-Lights at Maryville High School held a contest in 1977 for a new drawing of the mascot. All community members, including students and faculty, were eligible to participate, and the submissions were judged by the Hi-Lights staff, the student council and school administration.
To be the Spoofound mascot is a serious endeavor. Shawn King took on the role at the age of 14 and was later quoted in the Boston Globe newspaper as saying, “People think you just put on a costume, jump around and act stupid, but it’s not that simple.” After graduating from high school in 1997, King became the mascot at Southwest Missouri State University (known as Missouri State since 2005) and even attended a special training camp called Mascot Mania held by mascot consultant Dean Schoenewald.
The story of the Maryville Spoofhound is just one of the unusual tales of Nodaway County. Visit the NCHS Museum at 110 N. Walnut Street to learn more about the history of this region.
The museum is open March to December on Tuesdays to Fridays from 1-4 p.m. and on the second Saturday of each month from 9-11 a.m.
We also host monthly programs and are free to the public. Upcoming events include a program about quilts with Erin Mullins on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 11 a.m. and a cemetery walk at Oak Hill Cemetery on Sunday, Sept. 21, at 2 p.m.
Be sure to stop by the museum on Sunday, Oct. 12 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for our Soup Buffet Fundraiser. For $15 you can eat in or take your soup to go.
Learn more about the museum’s work on our website, nodawaycountymuseum.com. You can contact us at [email protected] or at 660-582-8176.
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, OCT. 29, 1977
Spoofy is shown through the years as part of a 1977 contest to redesign the drawing of the Maryville High School mascot.
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, JAN. 20, 1954
George Wagner, right, an “ardent Spoofhound booster,” created new life-sized and miniature Spoofhound mascots in 1954. Pictured is Maryville High School cheerleader Carolyn Ogden, center, holding the life-sized “Spoofie” while her father and school board president Homer Ogden, left, holds the miniature.
