Good Tiger, Good Dog

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Starting this week and going through Labor Day, Halloween, Election day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s is, let’s say it all together, Football !   If you love football, really love football, then there’s no such thing as too much football, too much commercialization of football, too much in-depth analysis of football, and too much over the top hype of the whole thing.    Team stats and depth charts and coach’s favorite offense, it’s all very important, every detail.  But if you fade back a few decades to a Friday night at Mitchell Field down where some of the buildings of Southeastern Tech now stand, you could see more of a true, bread and butter brand of high school football.  There wasn’t a lot of glitz and hype.  Sure, we were the Tigers, but we didn’t have a roar on the PA system every time we got a first down, and we didn’t have some eager-beaver 9th grader running up and down the sidelines in a tiger costume.  Instead, in the early 1960’s a “canine legend” appeared on campus and thereafter came to be the true mascot and first Bad Dawg of SHS.  Towser didn't look anything close to a tiger, but our principal, Mr. Bill Fordham took a liking to him and as they say, “that was that”, and nobody I ever knew was going to argue with Principal Fordham.  Towser was a husky black and white spotted Heinz 57 breed, definitely not Westchester Kennel Club material but he definitely had the air of a celebrity.  He ambled around campus at will and was often seen riding around in Mr. Fordham’s car appearing not too interested in anything.  I think that was just an attitude he developed to attract the attention of young, adoring female students.  However, on football Friday nights, he was all business.  As game time neared, all of a sudden, there was Towser.  He might be marching in front of the band or participating in the presentation of the Homecoming court or maybe just making an unauthorized stroll out to the 20-yard line to get the crowd stirred up right before kick-off. Whatever he had planned, it always seemed appropriate, and the fans totally loved it.  Towser was there for every school event all year-round.  He ruled the roost from Church Street down to Kite Road and any other dogs who might have wandered onto the campus got a personal notification from Towser that there was a one-dog limit in the area.  He was not a cuddly, sentimental animal.  He would let you pet him, but he would rather build a relationship based on leftovers from your lunch or French fries from the concession stand.  I’m not sure how long Towser lived, but he was there when I started high school and still there when I graduated.  I think the High School yearbook was dedicated to him one year, and if it wasn’t, it should’ve been.  He was a good, simple dog who liked football.  That’s not a bad epitaph for man or beast.  Go Towser and Go Tigers!