​Daniel (Dan) Smith, class of ’62 (via GED, attended ’60 & ‘61)

On September 19, 1935, Times Reporter, Springer Gibson first used the term “Pounders,” saying,

“Coach Dean Petersen’s highly touted Central ‘Purple Pounders.’” The 1938 Champion yearbook uses the term Purple Pounders to report the 1937 football season.

“During the 1920s, the team had been referred to as the ‘Purple Hurricane’ and ‘Purple Warriors’ in the Digest and Champion accounts,” but ‘Purple Pounders’ was the nickname that lived on for the rest of Central’s school history.

Chattanooga Central H.S. “Hammer & Anvil” Icon

Limited information is available about the origin of Chattanooga Central High School’s Hammer & Anvil logo. Suppose the students had organized a design competition for a school logo. In that case,research shows that the winning designer might have drawn inspiration from the 1948 Champion cover when creating the ultimate design. That 1948 cover featured a muscular arm close to the Hammer & Anvil’s resulting design. The 1951 Champion was the first time any Hammer & Anvil logo usage could be found on the cover of a yearbook. Nothing can be found in later Digests or school-wide publicationsthat discuss the cover, and no narrative in the 1951 Champion explains the cover. 

The logo next appears on the 1955 Champion cover in a reversed view. So, the 1951 Champion appears to be the original use of the Hammer and Anvil logo. This will be the historical account until someone comes up with an earlier drawing.