The name Kewpie is as exclusive to Hickman as the spirit that the name suggests. The name itself dates back to 1909, when the first Kewpie was created by an Ozark resident named Rose O'Neill. The Kewpie first appeared in the Cresset in 1914 in a dedication to the basketball team, whose loyalty to the school and to the Kewpie motto to keep smiling has won the state championship. The story can be heard as told by Sam Church a 1914 Kewpie, who was there when the "Kewpie" became the mascot of the Columbia High School, to his great niece, Lucy Church in the 60s at the Church family reunionn in Kansas City. See Sam's story and learn a little about the "The Kewpie of the Century."

There have been several stories making the tie between the Kewpie and the old Columbia High team. The one most generally thought of as authentic, until Lucy Church appeared in May of 2009, is about a game in which the Kewpies were playing against a school with much larger players, and were described by reporters as smiling Alike Kewpies, even though they were being outmanned. No matter what the story, the unique name and spirit associated with the Kewpies is something that every Hickman graduate carries with him or her always.

Finally and coincidentally on the 100th anniversary of Rose O'Neill's Kewpie, the first account of the "Kewpie" becoming the mascot of Columbia/Hickman High School, was finally told by someone who was there and told by the first Kewpie to letter in four sports and captain of the Columbia High School Basketball Team of 1914, Sam Church.

Thank you Lucy for sharing this story and thanks to Sam for telling it Lucy!

Life

LET me but live my life from year to year,
With forward face and unreluctant soul;
Not hurrying to, nor turning from the goal;
Not mourning for the things that disappear
In the dim past, nor holding back in fear
From what the future veils; but with a whole
And happy heart, that pays its toll
To Youth and Age, and travels on with cheer.

So let the way wind up the hill or down,
O'er rough or smooth, the journey will be joy:
Still seeking what I sought when but a boy,
New friendship, high adventure, and a crown,
My heart will keep the courage of the quest,
And hope the road's last turn will be the best.
 

Henry Van Dyke

There are six distinct parts. It’s foundation is a ribbon of support.
The letters on the ribbon are D.H.H.H.S. which stand for
DAVID H. HICKMAN HIGH SCHOOL.

In the lower right corner is the lyre indicating MUSIC, to the left
are the palette and brush, the emblems of ART.  In the upper right
rests the lamp of eternal KNOWLEDGE, and opposite this section
to the left is the wreath of VICTORY which sympolizes not only
the physical victory but also the moral victory for which we all strive.

Above the emblems of music, art, victory and knowledge shines the
torch of TRUTH AND ACHIEVEMENT.  This torch guides us
in unselfishly passing on to others the knowledge we have gained
from the various fields mentioned.