Storm Front Coming: Taconic Athletic Teams Get New Nickname

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Get ready to hear even more of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" at high school basketball games.

 

The Pittsfield Public Schools Friday announced that the new nickname of the Taconic High School athletic teams will be the Thunder.

 

The first use of the new moniker will come Friday evening, when the Taconic Thunder boys basketball team hosts an MIAA Division 5 quarter-final game on Valentine Road while the Taconic Thunder girls basketball team hits the road in its quest to reach next week's state semi-finals.

 

But Taconic's new logo will have to wait a little longer. According to a news release from the school district, it is in the process of developing logos and graphic designs to go with the new nickname.

 

The School Committee decided in 2020 to retire the school's former nickname, the Braves, "in an effort to change the nickname to one that does not reference Native American culture."

 

"The rebranding process evolved to include multiple opportunities and steps in an effort to elicit input from the student body, staff, alumni, community members, and school officials," the news release read.

 

The district received help in its rebranding efforts from Heard Strategy and Storytelling, a Shutesbury marketing firm.

 

In 2018, the Gill-Montague Regional School Committee selected Thunder to replace the previous nickname at Turners Falls High School, whose athletic teams previously had been known as the Indians.