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Clearfield drops ‘S' from nickname
Friday, August 24, 2012
By Rich Murawski Assistant Sports Editor
HYDE - Along with all the physical changes occurring at the Bison Sports Complex on the Clearfield Area High School campus, there has also been a small change in the school's nickname.
After going by Bisons for as long as most can remember, Clearfield sports teams will be dropping the ‘S' and pleasing English majors everywhere.
The decision was made after some talks about what should be done when lettering the end zones on the new turf football and soccer field.
"There was some thought that if we were going to do this and it was going to be permanent, maybe we better be grammatically correct," said Dr. Thomas Otto, Superintendent of Clearfield Schools.
"I was not involved deeply in discussion. It was informally discussed as they were getting the field ready. And we are really happy with those people who did some of the extra things to make the field look really nice."
Dr. Otto said he did question those who posed the idea to him about the significance of the name Bisons, and no one really had an answer.
"The people that I talked to who asked me if I had a problem with it being Bison versus Bisons didn't seem to know why it was Bisons," Otto said.
"I said, ‘I didn't understand why it was Bisons to begin with.' I thought maybe it was a community thing or a historical thing, but everyone that I talked to said they didn't know of any reason why it was Bisons.
"My understanding is Bison and Bisons have been used interchangeably for a number of years, so when it came down to this decision, the people who talked to me thought that if it was going to be permanent, we should be grammatically correct."
Even with the lettering in the end zone and padding on the goal post both reading Bison, Dr. Otto made it clear that there has really been nothing officially done.
"I don't know that the nickname was ever officially Bisons," he said. "I don't have that knowledge or background. So we didn't do anything officially. It just seemed like the right thing to do grammatically."
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