WATERSMEET, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan’s largest digital news company has published a list of the best high school nicknames in the country, with the Upper Peninsula being well represented.
Mlive counted down the top 100 high school nicknames and listed the Watersmeet Nimrods at number 5 in the nation.
For the record, Nimrod is not an insult; the character actually is a mighty hunter from biblical times. It was only mistakenly used as an insult in a Bugs Bunny cartoon from the forties.
The Nimrods have long garnered national attention, having been featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and were even highlighted in a series of commercials airing on ESPN.
George Peterson, superintendent of Watersmeet Schools, recounts the time when they were guests of The Tonight Show.
“Jay Leno called, and we took a flight out there to Hollywood. We were on the set with some actor….Um, who was that guy? Oh, Ben Affleck, yeah, Ben Affleck was the star who went on first, then The Nimrods came on. It was quite an experience,” said Peterson.
Also on the list were the Kingsford flivvers at number 55. Number one on the list of best nicknames was the Mount Clemens “Battling Bathers.”
