The cowhide game is coming up very soon, and Redwood is ready to keep the hide home. Ag Mechanics teacher Mr. John Coon explains the history behind the Cowhide up until the present time.
By Jaydyn Mendoza and Vincent Cha
Some people may think that the Cowhide game is just a rivalry, but deep down, it has roots and a background behind it. Agriculture teacher here on Redwood Campus, Mr. Coon, informs us about the story of the cowhide, how it was created, and branded.
Mr. Coon first said, “So we don’t actually brand it. We actually stamp it with leather stamping tools.”
Coon explained where the original cowhide is now and said, “The original cowhide is hanging in the district office. And it was the pride and joy, of course, and it was the main trophy.”
At the time Coon had been working at Redwood for 5-7 years, and he shared that they would stamp the numbers really large, and the cowhide was running out of space.
Coon also explained that they needed a new cowhide for more space. At the time, they had an athletic director known as “David Weaver”, and he had found a replacement for the cowhide that Coon elaborates by saying, “It was ginormous, but it wasn’t just tanned leather; it had hair on it.”
So Coon gives us detail on how it was too fancy a print. So they could not stamp or brand it. So during that time, they took 2 helmets from both sides: Mount Whitney and Redwood. They then cut both helmets in half and made them face each other.
Coon explains how it didn’t catch much attention. They only kept that cowhide for maybe 3-4 years. After those years, they decided it was time to go back to the original look.
Coon knew this very famous saddle maker in the Paso Robles area known as “Richard Vieira”. Vieira sadly passed away from old age.
At this time, a former superintendent, Todd Odo, had told Mr. Coon to “take the old cowhide, go over, and let’s try to match it.”
But before Richard Vieira passed, Coon explained that he had told Vieira it was a very big trophy from the valley, with great value for the two schools, and explained what they wanted it to be. So Richard and Coon bought a giant piece of leather that looked close to a cowhide.
They cut it out in the exact shape of the original, with the same lettering on it. Coon explained that instead of putting big numbers for example, 2026, we put much smaller numbers so we could have years and years of ongoing wins between the two schools.
Jaydyn Mendoza
I am a freshman journalist, that writes about football,basketball,baseball,and track and field. My favorite food is raising canes and I play basketball. I'm 5,5 132 and my shoe size is a 9
Vincent Cha
I am a journalist working for the redwood Gigantea and I like writing about sports, I also really like basketball.
Tags: cowhide '26, rangers, redwood gigantea, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, redwood sports, rhs, visalia ca
