Emmerich Manual Moves On

 Manual drops its nickname as school transitions to new leadership

             The old nickname "Redskins" will officially be retired at Manual High School after more than 90 years.

            The Indiana High School Athletic Association approved a merger of the sports teams at Christel House Watanabe and Emmerich Manual, which currently occupy the same Southside building. The merger “allows the schools to increase sports offerings and provide many more opportunities for student athletes as the Manual program winds down” by the end of the 2022-23 school year.

            The new name: The Christel House at Manual Eagles. The new colors: The eagle mascot and logo will incorporate the blue and gold of Christel House and the red and white of Manual. The old name, which first appeared in articles referencing Manual’s sports teams in the early 1930s, will officially go by the wayside.

            Christel House, a charter school, assumed management of Manual in July of 2020 after the school was returned to Indianapolis Public Schools after a state takeover in 2012. Christel House executive director Sarah Weimer said it was clear through the innovation agreement with IPS that keeping some of the Manual tradition alive was important to alumni.

                        Manual, which opened in 1895, is one of the state’s oldest schools, though nicknames of athletic teams were not commonplace until the late 1920s and early ‘30s. In newspaper articles, teams at Manual were frequently called the “red and white” until 1930, when the nickname now being dropped became prevalent.

[Edited from an article By Kyle Neddenriep, Indianapolis Star, July 13, 2021]