Maryville High School (Missouri)


Maryville High School is the public high school for Maryville, Missouri. It is the only institution to have the Spoofhound for a mascot. It is a Missouri State High School Activities Association Class III school. The present high school building on the southwest side of Maryville opened in the 1965-66 school year.
The school is officially Maryville R-II High School. The R-II refers to 1959 consolidation when 23 school districts voted to reorganize as one district. The reorganization involved the main Maryville school along with 22 rural districts that had one-room school houses. Several other communities in Nodaway County voted in the same election and Maryville was the R-II district in that consolidation.

History

Founding 18471867

First Building 18671882

The school's original colors were red and white. When Northwest Missouri State University opened in 1905, the college colors were also red and white. The college changed its colors to green and white. The high school later changed its colors to green and gold. Maryville High School football games were played initially by the school at First and Vine,at Bearcat Stadium in the 1940s, and from 1953 to 1962 were played at the football field at Beal Park east of the municipal swimming pool ; and then mostly at Bearcat Stadium from 1963 to 1975 on the college campus. In the late 1976 the high school began playing its football games in a stadium on its own campus which has been nicknamed the "Hound Pound".
Since 1962 Maryville has played in the Midland Empire Conference. From 1937-1962 it played in the Northwest Missouri Conference.
State Championships
Runners Up
The school's marching band has won many awards and has gained national recognition in its past years. Including appearing on the Today Show before marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1990. They have been invited to march in the New Year's Day Parade in London, United Kingdom. In 2008, they were invited to the National Adjudicator's Convention in Chicago, Illinois. They have also participated in the Independence Day Parade in Washington, DC. In the 1980s90's over a third of the student body was involved in the Spoofhound Marching Band. In 2011, the Marching Spoofhounds marched in a Magic Kingdom Parade at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Mascot

The school mascot Spoofhound is based on a Plaster of Paris souvenir mascot that was distributed in 1921 during the American Legion convention in Kansas City, Missouri that was held in conjunction with the dedication of the Liberty Memorial. That mascot was based on a drawing by World War I veteran James D. Laingor who made a drawing that was a compilation of 20 photographs of mascot dogs of various World War I units. Laingor copyrighted the image of "Spoof hound and Goof" in 1921. The image was turned into a statue which Laingor sold via his company "Spoof Hound Novelty Company" at Room 360, 2006 Central Street, Kansas City, Missouri. The headline on its advertisement in American Legion Magazine said, "Meet the Spoof-Hound, the ugliest critter in existence." The text said, "You buddies who are coming to Kansas City are going to meet the onriest looking Son-of-A-Gun that ever came down a Company street. He's the Spoof-Hound." Laingor was a University of Missouri Journalism School student and said he had originally used the name to describe his coffee club.
Spoofhound statues left over from the convention sold at carnivals in 1922.
Leslie Edward Ziegeler, who coached high school team said his players looked like a bunch of Spoofhounds. The name stuck and as the 1923 football season began the team was called the Spoofhound by the Maryville Daily Forum.
In the 1940s, Ziegler became the superintendent of schools for Columbia, Missouri where the mascot is also named for an early 20th-century doll—the Kewpies. The image of the Spoofhound has evolved over the years. From the 1950s to the mid 1970s, drawings of it showed a softer more filled out creature called Spoofy.
In 1977 the "Hi Lights" the high school publication which appeared weekly in the Forum ran a contest entitled, "Spoofy - Does he have a face?" in which they sought a redesign to a more aggressive Spoofhound. The winner of this contest was the school art instructor Brian L. Lohafer. Lohafer was also a coach and he led the football Spoofhounds to state championship appearances in 1984, 1994, 1996 and a basketball state championship appearance in 1995. A variation of the mascot he designed is still the mascot of the school.
ESPN recognized the Spoofhound as one of its top mascot names and enshrined the Spoofhound in their "Mascot Hall of Fame." As of 2016, no other academic institution or sports club had adopted the nickname.

Notable alumni

Following the closing of the Missouri Academy in 2018, Maryville High School is the only high school remaining in the community. In addition to the schools listed below the Maryville system also historically had 22 rural one-room school houses that were consolidated in 1959.