Alumni of Santa Maria High School say Sammy Saint needs to be saved, and they’ve embarked on a campaign to do just that. They’re also determined to show the school’s true colors while they’re at it.
The Santa Maria Saints’ mascot — a caricature of a saint dubbed Sammy, wearing a mortarboard with a halo — has long been emblematic of Santa Maria’s oldest high school, whose athletic teams take to the fields and courts of play sporting red and white uniforms.
Mirroring a trend in college and pro sports for alternate looks from traditional home and away colors, however, some Saints teams have been donning black and red uniforms with a fleur-de-lis stylized lily appearing as the school logo.
It’s not a good look to some alums.
“That’s not Santa Maria High School, and that’s what I’m fighting for,” Gaylen Clark, an SMHS graduate who also taught there for 35 years, told Noozhawk.
School and district officials deny that the colors or mascot are to be replaced, but alumni say the proof is visible on the fields and in the stands where black colors and the fleur-de-lis — the symbol also used by the New Orleans Saints in the NFL — are easily spotted.
Several Sammy supporters showed up at a recent trustees meeting of the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District to express their concerns about the black uniforms and non-Sammy logo creeping onto the school gear.
At the same meeting, football players spoke out while wearing the new jerseys — black with red numbers outlined in white.
“I cherish and value the tradition that Santa Maria High School represents, and I am here to save that tradition, which, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is being phased out,” Clark told the board.
An online petition to save Sammy and keep the colors had drawn 1,785 signatures as of Sunday night. In the first three hours after its creation, the petition had received 500 signatures of support, according to Toni Balaam, a 1983 graduate.
“There’s a lot of traditions here that we want to hold,” she said.
Luis Villa, a captain of the varsity football team and a multisport athlete, said it’s not fair for community members outside the school to give the players a hard time.
“These uniforms are being used once or twice a year,” he said. “Our intention was never to change the school tradition or colors.”
Villa said players thought it would be cool to wear the uniforms for a special “black-out” game against crosstown rival Righetti High, and they raised the money for the uniforms.
Another team captain, Miguel Ayala, said the Righetti Warriors — whose school colors are purple and gold — donned black uniforms for their big game against neighboring rival St. Joseph High School.
“If you really want to see our black uniforms go away, we would like to see all the people who signed the petition to come help us raise money by attending games, purchasing our fundraising products,” Ayala said.
“These people should join the booster club and help support us in a positive manner,” he added.
Ayala questioned why the Santa Maria football players were being targeted when other teams are wearing black uniforms.
Alumni are equally upset that the black-themed uniforms don’t stop at the football teams or special game uniforms. Warm-up suits for other teams also are primarily black, and cheerleaders use black pom-poms, according to posts on a Save Sammy the Saint Facebook page that has since been taken offline.
The fleur-de-lis is on helmets and shirts, rather than other traditional logos, such as Sammy, the initials SMHS with a halo, or others.
As opposition to the changes spread on social media, district officials tried to calm the concerns.
“We are not changing the SM on the football helmets, and Sammy the Saint is staying and was never going anywhere,” said Kenny Klein, the district’s public information officer.
“We have not had any discussions about these alleged changes and there are no plans to do so in the future.”
Principal Joe Domingues, himself a Santa Maria High graduate, is drawing ire for the changes, although one commenter noted on the petition site that he would have to answer to a certain alum close to home.
“Relax — Joseph wouldn’t dare change this because his dad would disown him!” the post reads.
School district trustee Victor Tognazzini’s assurances failed to appease the alumni, and left some feeling that their concerns were being ignored.
Clark asked the school board to at least hold staff accountable and keep them from phasing out the school’s century-old tradition.
“The administration has said they are not changing the colors or the mascot but it’s evident that they are,” Clark said, adding that she regularly attends games to support the school and that her family has donated thousands of dollars to help student athletes.
“And because I’m forever a Santa Maria High School Saint,” she said, before reciting part of the alma mater ending with “hail the red and white.”
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.