SELECTION
OF THE SCHOOL MASCOT
During the summer of
1998, the school principal (Dr. Richard Fenchak) sent letters of
interest soliciting the selection of a school mascot via a vote
to the freshmen students who had registered to become the first
class at Archbishop Carroll High School, the Class of 2002. The
first Carroll High students thus selected the “Bulldog” to be
the school mascot.
Thus, we quickly
needed photos of a bulldog. Dr. Fenchak remembered that some
friends in Columbus, Georgia had a bulldog. Approached by him,
“Dooley”’s owners agreed to supply Dr. Fenchak with several
pictures of their bulldog. (As you can see, “Dooley” is very
photogenic!) And so he became “our mascot,” though he lived in
Columbus.
HISTORY OF THE
BULLDOGS WHO HAVE SERVED AS MASCOTS
During the fall of
1998, “Dooley” was succeeded as the school mascot by “Archie,” a
bulldog here in Miami owned by the parents of a Carroll High
freshman. Because “Archie” was a puppy, he was rather small for
us to use in our publicity photos. Therefore, all photos that
called for a bulldog to appear, (newsletters, etc.) continued to
feature “Dooley”.
“Archie” acquired
celebrity status in November of 1999 when he was reported
“missing” from the home of his owners. Channel 7 TV (Miami)
learned of this when someone called their “Hotline.” The
station put out a “missing dog” report that included the
conjecture that perhaps he had been “dognapped,” since, after
all, he was a “Mascot” for the school! This was not the case,
however. “Archie” was discovered the next day at the home of a
neighbor. How it all happened was that “Archie’s” owners had a
window cleaner who came to their home to clean windows. At the
same time, the family owned another dog in addition to
“Archie.” When the window cleaner was annoyed by the “yapping”
of the outside dog, he put that dog inside the house and
“Archie” out!. Still a puppy, and no doubt excited to be in the
great outdoors, “Archie” used his newly found freedom to wander
away down the street where he was found by a neighbor.
Following his return to his owners, Channel 7 sent a news crew
out to cover the story here. They featured our bulldog on the
Noon News, broadcast remote from a truck here on campus. What
publicity and what a star “Archie” was! It was a good time for
all! It was short-lived, however, because, unfortunately, two
years later, “Archie” was struck and killed by an automobile.
We later learned that Archie was deaf and thus probably not
aware of the danger posed by the presence of the vehicle that
killed him.
With
“Archie’s”death, “Dooley” resumed his role as school mascot.
As mentioned previously, “Dooley's photos had been used in all
Carroll High publications from the time the school opened in
1998, even during “Archie’s” reign. So, in a sense, “Dooley”
never left his role.
In the summer of
2002, “Dooley's Columbus, Georgia family decided that they could
no longer keep him because they had a growing human family. They
asked if someone here at Carroll High might be interested in
giving him a good home. The Carroll High administration leaped
at the opportunity to bring him to Miami!
Our school secretary
at the time had just lost a bulldog and thus was very eager to
take “Dooley” in. He made his debut at the “Meet the Teachers”
night on September 17, 2002 in the Bulldog Gym. Since then, he
has made numerous appearances at school pep rallies and sports
events since then. While his owner left our employment in the
spring of 2005, “Dooley” continues as our official school
mascot. The next page contains some photos of “Dooley”.
EXCLUSIVE
PHOTOS OF “DOOLEY”
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