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BACKGROUND
The Brush Beetdiggers
In early days, beets were plowed out of the ground, picked up with the hook of a beet knife and topped with the blade of the knife. A hoe was used by the beet workers to dig and to find adequate spacing of about six inches between plants. During most of the time the Brush plant was in operation, approximately 80-90 percent of the land in the area grew beets. It was a good cash crop and haul damage was minimal. In the mid-1940’s the first mechanical puller, topper and loader were developed.
Presently, there are over 17,000 acres in the Brush, Fort Morgan area committed to the growing of beets. The local Western Sugar Company has a waiting list of farmers that would like to contract to grow them. The people of Brush think the mascot of a Beetdigger is unique and appropriate.
Brush Beetdiggers Attain a National Prominence
The Brush Beetdiggers was chosen as the second most unusual mascot in the nation by a contest run by Cable News Network (CNN). Brush adopted the Beetdigger mascot because of the great amount of beets that were grown here in earlier years. During beet harvest, school would be dismissed so students could help. Many times when those students came back to school or to practice, other students would call them the beetdiggers, thus the name became popular and was given to the entire group of students that attended Brush High School.
Legend has it that a contest was held in which students submitted their choice of mascot names with a car going to the person whose choice was selected. The car was given to a boy who couldn’t have played on the basketball team without his own transportation since he would have had to ride the bus home and miss practice. It has been told that it was already decided this student’s choice of mascot would be the one selected to enable him to participate in basketball. His choice was the Beetdiggers.
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