The school mascot for the Madison Junior School and High School is a Dodger, but this raises the question, what is a Dodger? If you google it, nothing comes up besides baseball games and cars. The answer dates back to 1935.

In 1935, Madison faced challenges due to the economic crisis of the Great Depression. However, the community was fortunate to receive a generous donation from Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, which helped to fund the construction of the town hall. This donation provided much-needed jobs for the people of Madison.

The town honored her to express their gratitude to Dodge by naming their school sports teams after her. And so, the Madison Dodgers were born. Today, the name Dodgers has become an important part of the town's history and identity, serving as a testament to the generosity and community spirit that helped to build Madison.

Why is our mascot a German Shepherd?  It all goes back to Dodge's thrilling dog shows, where many dogs worldwide were on her property known as Giralda Farms. Geraldine, who was deeply fond of German Shepherds, had a pet named Dodger, who never won any of the shows, but still held a special place in her heart. 

But why are our school colors maroon and gold?   For many years, our school colors were simply maroon and white. The Twombly's were another wealthy family who lived in Madison and made many contributions to our town. The color maroon is attributed to their collection of maroon Rolls Royces. Gold was added in the spring of 1968 because we wanted to be different from Morristown whose colors were also maroon and white. Adding gold was a student body request, and the Key Club wrote a petition and got it approved by the BOE.

Sources:

• "About the Vanderbilt-Twombly Estate "Florham" - Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU)

• Cunningham, John T. Images of America: Madison, NJ. 

• Magazine, Skylands Visitor. "Unhappy Dogdom." St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center at Giralda Farms. 

• Mitnick, Barbara J. Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge. Morristown, NJ: Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, 2000.

• Spelker, Scott. “School Spirit-Why We Are The Madison Dodgers And Other Minutia.” TAPinto, https://www.tapinto.net/towns/madison/articles/school-spirit-why-we-are-the-madison-dodgers-and. Accessed 24 April 2024.