Pickens High School

Infobox Secondary School
name = Pickens High School

city = Pickens, SC
country = USA
type = Public High school
motto = Above and Beyond Excellence
principal = Marion Lawson
district = School District of Pickens County
colors = Royal Blue and White
enrollment = 1456 students (2007-2008)
athletics = SCHSL Division AAA Region 1
mascot = Blue Flame

Pickens High School is a high school located in Pickens, South Carolina. It is the second largest high school in the Pickens County School District in South Carolina. At 138 years old (founded in 1870 as Pickens Institute), it has been serving Pickens County longer than the local university, Clemson University.

Alma Mater

The Pickens High School Alma Mater goes as follows:

Hail to thee our Alma Mater,
Pickens High of well known fame,
Whose history's rich with proud achievement,
Whose past has won a great name.

Hail to thee our loving mother
Who lives in past and future too,
Thy name shall shine in glorious splendor,
Shaped by faith and ideals true.

Now thy faithful sons and daughters,
Loyal still as years go by,
Pledge to thee our firm devotion,
Alma Mater, Pickens High.

Food Fight Bowl

Pickens has a very fierce rivalry with another local high school, the Easley High School Green Wave. For more info on this rivalry, click this link. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Fight_Bowl]

Bruce Field

Bruce Field has been the home of the Pickens Blue Flame football team since September 3, 1950 when the stadium opened. The land originally belonged to the Bruce family, who decided to donate the land to Pickens High. PHS honored them by naming the stadium after them. Although the rated stadium capacity is six thousand, attendance varies from unimportant games where attendance is around five thousand to Food Fight Bowl where attendance can get around eight thousand to even ten thousand. The features of the stadium include a working PA system, two sets of restrooms, scoreboard, souvineir shop (called the House of Blue), two field houses, two concession stands, and outside the Blue Flame's field house is the good luck charm, a sculpture of the Blue Flame sports logo. The 50 yardline logo is the Blue Flame sports logo, the endzone has the word "PICKENS" in blue block letters rimmed with white with the logo of PHS's primary sponsor, the Peoples National Bank, on either side of the endzone, and the "G" that marks the goaline is blue rimmed with white. Also, on top of the scoreboard is a metal cone-shaped gas burner with the words "BLUE FLAME" inscripted on it. The burner is set off from the pressbox when the team enters the stadium, the Blue Flame gets a score, or when the 4th quarter is over and the Blue Flame has won. Due to the chemical composition of the gas used (methane), the flame burns a bright blue.

Football music

"Pickens the Brave", a variation of the famous "Scotland the Brave", is used as the pregame entrance fanfare of the Blue Flame. Due to the location of Bruce Field in relation to the high school, the Blue Flame must walk across Jewell Street to get to the stadium. When the team enters the stadium at 6:30 PM (kickoff is always at 7:30 with the exception of the Food Fight Bowl, which is at 8:00), they first walk down a hill behind the scoreboard near the east endzone, then walk along the north sideline until they reach their own field house. They walk in single file and when they start walking down the hill, the commentator plays the bagpipe version of "Pickens the Brave" through the public address system to encourage the Blue Flame.

The Pickens fight song is titled "When the Flame Goes Burning In". In the early 1980s, three trombone players on the Blue Flame Marching Band decided to play "When the Saints Go Marching In" at a pep rally. The fans loved it so much that the band director took the song, sped up the tempo, added a second part and a drumline, and named it the new fight song.

External links

[http://pickens.phs.schoolfusion.us] PHS website
[http://www.htosports.com/pickensblueflame] Unofficial football website

ources

* Pickens High School website
* "The Big Blue" published by the "Pickens Sentinel"
* [http://www.maxpreps.com/FanPages/Team.mxp/AreaID-4782e52e-d2e7-4c44-839a-a473e1b26c60/SchoolID-f5b30949-b8d9-43cc-a4fa-d60d1ecf4f95/Boys_Varsity_Football_Fall_07-08/SouthCarolina maxpreps.com]
* Pickens County Courier