RAPID CITY, SD — Students and faculty gathered at the bleachers of Rapid City Central’s Gym to watch the procession of mascots from not just their school, but other local schools, organizations, and even the Rapid City Rush’s own Nugget, all in celebration of the school’s mascot, affectionately known as “Karl the Cobbler”.
Adopted in 1934, the Cobblers take their namesake from South Dakota Hall of Fame Coach Euclid N. Cobb, who was coach at Central for nearly 40 years.
The celebration comes on the 100-year anniversary of the mascot’s adoption, and students were treated to a pep rally, free throw competition, confetti cannons, and cake for the over 2000 attendees. “We just wanted to go big with it and throw a party,” said Assistant Principal Kayla McCaskell who reported that the cake alone cost at least $900 dollars, which was provided by a donation by Rapid Spa and Godfrey Break Service.
On the tail of this celebration, Central also announced the launch of the “Always a Cobbler” Fund, an endowment headed by the Rapid City Public School Foundation. The fund hopes to raise one million dollars to put toward funding school programs and activity costs for individual students, including “everything from orchestra and performing arts to mainstream sports football basketball, to cheerleading,” according to Principal Terry Lundeen. “Institutions of higher education use endowments to support and all of their programming, especially private institutions, and you can do that in K12 for activities. That’s where it’s stemmed from, and we’re just really excited about giving students more opportunities to participate and to have authentic experience”.