The odds aren’t very high that Ripon High will again be able to officially refer to themselves as the Indians.

It’s a situation that understandably has Ripon High and Ripon Unified School District officials walking on eggshells.

Ripon Unified, like the other roughly 1,000 school districts in California, is ultimately a state school district and not a local school district.

A challenge to the California Racial Mascots Act passed by the California Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024 went into effect July 1 of this year will not get any traction.

The name Indians and any Native American name deemed derogatory can’t be used by a public school that isn’t under control of a federally recognized tribal organization.

The door was left open by a crack — if that — where a public school could secure permission to use such names if they get the official OK from what basically would be a federally recognized tribe sponsoring such a use.

School officials, so far, have avoided a blow up that would do Ripon little good.

The intent of the law is clear.

And it would be more than futile for a massive debate that, at the end of the day, would have to hang on the assumption Ripon knows better what is deemed derogatory to indigenous natives as opposed to indigenous natives themselves.

There is roughly a hundred years of buy in and tradition with Indians as the Ripon High mascot.

It is also reflected in a lot of monikers from the school newspaper that has been known as the Smoke Signal to the back-to-school student event referred to as the Pow Wow.

For now, Ripon High will be officially known as Ripon.

It’s a safe bet school officials are hoping against hope that the loss of Indians as a mascot will not spark what at the very least would be uncomfortable protests.

There are likely two potential paths forward.

One would be to ultimately decide on a new mascot.

The other would be to go sans mascot.

Not having a mascot is rare among educational institutions in the United States with sports teams.

Perhaps the highest profile example of a school dropping a mascot that is almost perfectly aligned with Ripon in terms of the name involved is Stanford University.

For more than 40 years, the university sports teams were known as the Stanford Indians.

That changed in 1972 after 55 members of the Stanford American Indian Association successfully petitioned for Indians to be dropped as the mascot.

Stanford simply opted to officially go forward by being referred to by one of its two official school colors, which is cardinal.

Cardinal represents neither fowl or religious figure, just a color shade.

Ripon can’t exactly go that route for more than obvious reasons given its colors are red and white.

Students at Stanford eventually came up with an unofficial mascot, the tree, that the band had been using.

The university today still has no official mascot.

Think of it this way.

Stanford just doesn’t hear a different drummer drumming. They hear an orchestra.

Stanford, sans mascot, is the all-time leader in NCAA team championships at 139 — 71 in men’s sports and 68 in women’s sports.

The Cardinal also is a world leader with producing Olympian medalists with 335 so far, including 162 gold medalists. Behind them is USC.

And when it comes to academics, Stanford is consistently in the top five of every ranking.

Not bad in terms of what they achieve in sports and academics without an official mascot, per se.

The Stanford tradition is even stronger today than when the Indians donned university programs.

That’s the winning tradition was built by generations and not be a mascot to rally around.

It goes for Stanford University and it goes for Ripon High.

If and when there is a process to determine a new mascot for Ripon High students and alumni might want it keep in mind lions, tigers, and bears are a dime a dozen.

Instead, they might want to look toward Joyce Kilmer and Stanford University for inspiration.

It might sound nutso, but almonds deserve consideration.

It is tied directly to Ripon’s psyche.

And it clearly would reflect Ripon’s uniqueness and small-town values.

Losing Indians as a mascot isn’t the end of the world.

Those that have walked the halls of Ripon High walls will always see themselves as “Indians”.

What really matters is not the name of the mascot but what Ripon High represents.

Never lose sight of the fact Ripon High traditions, academic achievements, sports glory, and memories still live on and will continue to produce all of that and much more whether they are known as the Ripon High Grizzlies, Ripon High Almonds, Ripon High (whatever animal) or simply Ripon High.