History Behind the Devil

As you may know, the Lodi School District’s colors are blue and white, but would it shock you to know they started as red and white? Prior to 1934, Lodi’s sports teams were represented by the colors red and white in their uniforms until coach John McDonald struck a good deal on new school uniforms for the basketball team, which happened to be blue and white. It wasn’t until 1964 that Joe Domershausen, a sports writer for the Wisconsin State Journal, wrote about the high school blue devil played by Bev Benish following a basketball game. It was shortly after that the official color scheme of royal blue and white for the devil was decided upon.

Mr. Dave Puls said, “Over time, the majority of our sports teams have moved away from red in the uniforms, except for the wrestling team, which proudly sports blue, red, and white.”

But why are school mascots so important? Many will say they provide a common label for students, alumni, and faculty.

Chris Persike would agree: “For me, it represents pride and tradition. I have a lot of pride as it was a part of my growing up as a Lodi grad.”

Clearly, our royal blue and white devil creates a sense of belonging not only for the members of our school body but also our community.