Carlmont’s mascot Monty, a Scottish Highland warrior with the full name Carl Monty, represents the Carlmont Scots in his blue and white Scottish attire.
Going back to the earliest available records, the yearbooks, Carlmont has always been the Scots. However, there were very few mentions of Monty and only a few pictures scattered through the years.
There is a lack of other sources as well; only a few people remember Monty’s origin. Very few of the teachers currently at Carlmont have been there long enough to recall what Monty was like in the early days of Carlmont.
While Monty is a Highlander warrior, an inhabitant of the highlands of Scotland, Carlmont has never been the Highlanders, always the Scots, even going back to the 60s.
But Gregg Patner, one of Carlmont’s vice principals, provided the real reason that the Scots and Monty represent Carlmont.
“Because the school is built in the ‘highlands,’ a highlander warrior became the mascot,” Patner said.
The Scots and Monty represent Carlmont because of Carlmont’s location within Belmont, the Highlands, not with any connection to Scottish heritage.
In the 1985 yearbook, there are features of another mascot who was featured alongside Monty, at one of the school rallies, the Bagmen. He was meant to represent the bag in a bagpipe. Reminiscent of a muppet, Bagmen sported a baseball cap with Carlmont printed across the front, a comically large nose, and cartoon eyes.
The most recent rendition of Monty’s outfit features a solid headpiece and outfit made of foam, which makes the mascot more kind-looking.
However, he maintains a similar silhouette of the old Monty with his hat, sash, and kilt with the plaid pattern, still calling back to the Scottish theme.
P.E. teacher David Heck, who has been at Carlmont since 1997, recalled the old version of Monty.
“The old version was not nearly as good as this. The new one is more professionally done, but it’s really the person inside that brings it to life,” Heck said.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Carlmont’s spirit was not only limited to Monty, but many friendly competitions between grades at Carlmont occurred in this era.
“They used to give each class a clan name, and we would compete against each other throughout the year in various contests (cheering competitions at school assemblies for exmaple). Classes always sat independently of each other at rallies and assemblies. culminating in the Highland Games where each class had a tug of rope team, a balloon toss team, and more,” said Terry Stogner, who attended Carlmont from 1956-1960. “Points were kept throughout the school year, and the seniors seemed to always win.”
Although incorporating Scottish culture within school activities has changed over the years, Monty has continued to be our mascot.
“He’s a motivational, motivational speaker without speaking,” Heck said.
