Jackpot High Still Waiting for the Winning Numbers

Hitting the jackpot for the people of Jackpot, population 1,000, will mean having their high school football team, the Jackpot Jaguars, win their first game.

Nevada’s newest high school was opened last month when 46 students, 23 boys and 23 girls, started classes in the town’s new $1.4-million facility, much of it funded by jackpots missed by gamblers at the three casinos in this northeastern Nevada hamlet hard by the Idaho state line.

All 23 boys, freshmen through seniors, went out for English teacher-football Coach Fred Ball’s team.

“We’ve improved with each game except last Saturday’s,” said cheerleader Yogi Gomez, 14, a freshman and one of five female cheerleaders at Jackpot.

Yogi and the other cheerleaders lead students and supporters--there is no band--in singing Jackpot’s school song to the tune of the University of Michigan’s fight song:

Hail to the mighty Jaguars! Hail to our hometown heroes! Hail! Hail! to Jackpot High our spirits won’t die! Hail to the fighting Jaguars! Hail to ole Silver and Blue! Hail! Hail! to Jackpot High the com-pe-ti-tion will die! Alas, the competition hasn’t died yet. The Jackpot Jaguars, however, have been severely wounded, having lost to Richfield, Ida., 60-0; to McDermitt, Nev., 42-0; to Carlin, Nev., 52-12; to Carey, Ida., 40-14, and to Wells, Nev., 66-6.

With just one game left this season--today at Alamo, Nev.-- it appears that the mighty Jackpot Jaguars will have to wait until next year to hit the jackpot.

But basketball will soon be here, and all 23 boys in the school are going out for that team, too. The first game is scheduled in Jackpot High’s new gym Dec. 6. Who knows what glories lie ahead?

Students had suggested that their teams be called the Jackpot Slot Machines, but all of the other schools in their league are named after animals, so, opting instead for alliteration, they selected an animal that begins with the letter J.

Gambling in Jackpot is the only reason for the town’s existence. The streets are named Lady Luck Boulevard, Roulette Avenue, Snake Eyes Drive, etc.

In previous years, high school students from Jackpot were bused to the high school in Wells, Nev., 140 miles round-trip each day.

Now, they have a school of their own, but the glory days have yet to arrive.