The Ford City Sabers and Kittanning Wildcats will soon be replaced by the Armstrong Riverhawks ... or is it River Hawks?

The answer depends on who you ask. The school board unanimously approved the one word spelling of the Armstrong Junior-Senior High School mascot in 2013. But the district this year trademarked the two-word nickname River Hawks — named after the Osprey bird of prey.

The conflict has led to a lack of a uniform moniker for the school that will open in the fall.

The hockey, wrestling, football and boys basketball teams on Facebook pages use Riverhawks — even though the hockey uniforms say River Hawks — which is what the marching band, band boosters and district administration use on their online sites.

The bowling team has been competing as the Riverhawks since last year. Coach Tom Shaner said no one told him it was wrong.

“I never really thought about it. It just always flowed better as one word,” Shaner said. “But, jeez, now that I know it's two words, I'm going to make sure that's how it's written out.”

Teacher Jason Venesky, who was on the committee that recommended the mascot's adoption, said it was meant to be spelled out as two words.

“I submitted it as two words, just because ‘riverhawk' isn't actually a word,” Venesky said. “I guess it's just easier to write as one word instead of two, but I've been correcting people ever since.”

Despite adopting Riverhawks as the mascot, the school board always intended that the two-word version be used, President Joe Close said.

“I'm not sure if it was a typo, but it's something the school board is going to have to take a look at and perhaps pass a clarification,” Close said. “It's not a big error, but it's still something that should be cleared up.”

Venesky realized Riverhawks was being used more often than not when he was setting up Facebook pages for the school's marching band and band boosters.

“When I typed in ‘River Hawks,' nothing came up in Facebook. But when I typed it as one word, I got lots of results,” Venesky said. “When I saw that, I just thought, ‘uh oh.' ”

And the rogue “Riverhawks” didn't stop online. Trib Total Media adopted it as its style for use in news and sports stories since the school board approved that spelling — and only recently was the Leader Times alerted that Riverhawks is incorrect. Venesky said he's seen sports sign-up sheets throughout Ford City High School with the mascot written as one word.

While he hasn't been correcting each sheet with a red pen or scolding coaches, Venesky said he likes to remind students and administrators of the the proper spelling. But he fears Riverhawks may be too entrenched to go away.

“I'd be willing to bet that when my kids go to the high school in seven years, I'm still going to see it written down as one word instead of two,” Venesky said. “And I'll still be shaking my head.”

Brad Pedersen is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-543-1303, ext. 1337, or bpedersen@tribweb.com.

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