A Fresno high school is losing mascot to newer campus. ‘Wish we could stay the Grizzlies’
Central East High School is set to lose its beloved mascot and name, the Central Grizzlies, as the school district finalizes splitting its flagship two-campus high school into two standalone schools.
The school’s athletics teams could, instead, be referred to as the Central East Kodiaks.
The Central Grizzlies have been synonymous with Central East High’s exceptional student athletics, including its varsity football program that won a state championship in 2019 and made a state championship game appearance in 2024.
For nearly three decades, the “west” and “east” campuses set to officially become separate comprehensive high schools with their own athletics teams in August operated as one school with one athletics department — Central High. The lion’s share of students attended classes on the east campus — now Central East High — at Cornelia and Dakota avenues that had long been recognized as the original Central High’s main campus.
The west campus at McKinley and Dickenson avenues outside of Fresno’s city limits retains the Central High School name.
District administrators are poised to finalize changes in May that would split various branding elements from the original Central High among the two high schools.
According to a December staff presentation, Central East High would keep its current school logo of a bear claw, as well as the original school colors of orange and black. The new Central High, meanwhile, would keep its “current crest” with orange and gray as its colors.
The pending mascot change has sparked controversy and confusion.
Central Unified administrators said that the decision to rename Central East High’s mascot as the Kodiak was based on results from a student survey. The Central East survey results showed that 64% of 1,500 students at Central East High supported a kodiak bear as their new mascot. A separate survey of 500 Central High students showed 72% of students who were polled supported taking grizzly bear as its mascot.
However, several students from Central East High told The Bee that they preferred to keep the Grizzlies, but their wishes were ignored.
Grace Hernandez, a Central East junior student who’s part of the school’s softball team, said students were presented the survey last semester during homeroom period. The survey included four species of bears to choose from, Hernandez said, though the grizzly bear was not an option.
“I chose the kodiak bear, I don’t remember why, I just knew we couldn’t (choose) a grizzly,” she said. “I wish we could stay as the Grizzlies, just because our sports are based here. I’ve always been a Grizzly.”
The Central Grizzlies represented the entire district’s high school athletics back when Central High, headquartered on the Central East campus, was the only comprehensive high school with more than 4,000 students. After Justin Garza High School opened in 2021, Central Unified began the process of making the original Central High’s east and west campuses their own comprehensive high schools.
The Central Unified board decided to separate Central High and Central East to balance the enrollment between the three high schools and meet the growing demand from homebuyers in west Fresno. Starting in the 2025-26 school year, all three high schools will have their own mascots, school colors, and logos.
Students from Central East said they are concerned about losing their school’s sports legacy. At the Central East campus, the “Grizzlies” branding is everywhere. The name is emblazoned on the walls of the gymnasium, hung on campus banners, and printed on its floor, wrestling mats and scoreboards.
“For the underclassmen, it sucks because they’re gonna have to redo everything and get new uniforms,” said Gabi Ramirez, a Central East senior student-athlete who won a softball scholarship at Northwest Nazarene University. “Even though we are graduating, it’s still not the best because we can’t tell our kids one day, ‘This is what I wore when I was a Grizzly.’”
It’s unclear which high school will possess the championship trophies and banners currently on display at the Central East campus starting next school year. Also unclear is which high school Central Unified will recognize for past sports accomplishments, such as Central Section championships and the 2019 state football championship, when the two high schools begin operating under separate athletics departments in the fall.
The school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Board President Naindeep Singh said those details have not yet been brought before the board to discuss.
“When people talk about Central Grizzlies, they’re talking about this school,” said Ella Bakholdin, a senior student-athlete who was awarded a softball scholarship at California Baptist University. “Softball, baseball, wrestling, all the water sports, they are all here. If they change (our name and mascot), all those sports accomplishments are going to the other school.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
