Our story begins in the year 2009. Barack Obama has just been sworn in as President, the new Call of Duty has just been released to wide acclaim and Roger Federer has just won his historic 15th Grand Slam. Amidst the momentous year, Lambert High School opened its doors to students, and the Lambert Longhorns were officially born. The saga behind the birth of Lambert’s beloved mascot is as intriguing as it is complex and dates back as far as 2005, before the school was even opened.

The process started with the school’s primary color, which according to Lambert Principal Dr. Davison was chosen before the building was constructed around 2005 with the dark red matching that found on the building’s window sills.

With this primary color in mind, a committee of future Lambert students from different age groups and schools were selected for input on the school’s mascot and color scheme. Students decided that the name sounded best with alliteration and that the accent colors should be black and white.

One of the original ideas propagated by administrators was to name the mascot after a Trojan. The name was intended to contrast with nearby Northview High School in Fulton County, as Northview is represented as the Titans. The possibility of the Lambert Trojans may have been an interesting prospect at first, but students didn’t agree.

“We expected them to say the Trojans,” Dr. Davison said when asked about suggested mascot names for the school. “Every single person went around and said that we hate that idea.”

With the initial idea being flattened by the committee, the task became creating a new mascot to represent the school.

“The committee really liked the alliteration of Lambert ‘L’, L something… and then one of the students in the back said, ‘my cousin goes to Kell High School, what about the Longhorns’… and as soon as we heard that, we were just like ‘oh my gosh, that just sounds right,’” Davison explained.

The history of the school’s mascot extends to the football field where a live longhorn was present during games. The supplier of the animal, Knight Farms, was not available for comment.

“There was a family that lived in Aberdeen, they didn’t have any kids, but they were really excited about the school opening… and so they asked us if it would be OK if they participated with us; they wanted to bring their steer up,” Davison shared. 

The Longhorn was eventually named Louie with the name being chosen by a community poll. Louie would appear in front of the stadium and on the field during every home football game, and students had the opportunity to meet the real mascot and take photos with him.

“I think it would be a unique experience, definitely yes,” current student Ishaan Chandran said when asked about reviving the old tradition. “It wouldn’t be your standard football game with a live cow.”

Unfortunately, the tradition only lasted three years with the time commitment of having to maintain and transport a large animal becoming too intense.

Others, however, maintain that the longhorn is iconic when it comes to Lambert’s identity as a school. From the real steer to school chants, the longhorn spirit is an essential part of Lambert pride.

“When you enter a pep rally, the longhorn mascot is right there,” Lambert junior Tanish Kamma explained. “He’ll also show up during cheers and sport celebrations. School pride at this school is synonymous with the longhorn.”