'Indian Joe' Couldn't Take the Heat: Contractors Can't Save Inlaid Asbestos Tile

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Indian Joe, the guardian of all things sacred in the gym lobby of the Du Quoin High School since 1955, met his death by fire last week as asbestos tile was removed from the lobby floor.

The administrative staff and the asbestos contractor studied the dynamics of trying to save the mischievous mascot, but at the end of the day there was nothing cost effective about lifting the intrepid renegade intact.

Joe's head band, hatchet, moccasins and fringed trousers all curled in surrender to the heat guns used to remove the tile. In short, he couldn't take the heat.

The inlaid Indian--which has grown dull from decades of waxing and sneakered footsteps trespassing through the theater chains around him--is not forgotten.

He will no longer be the "in your face" Indian he once was because of passive fears that he's no longer politically correct.

But, "Joe" is expected to be called from the bench as a second string mascot of the great Indian athletic tradition--probably behind the more contemporary laced " DQ " that adorns much of the signage and sportswear around the school.

There is some thought to using "Joe" and the " DQ " in the design of bistro tables in the cafeteria commons, but no decision has yet been made. The architect and staff members are still tossing around ideas for decor in the new school.

The "Crazy Indian" was created in 1951 by the late R.P. Hibbs in concert with Lyle Flavel--a Du Quoin Township High School Board of Education member and executive of the Du Quoin Packing Co.--and packing company artist and advertising manager Jerry Givens, who actually drew "Joe."

By 1960 he would become the cover insignia for the "Flashlight" yearbook and his winsome personality has been the spirit of high school sports since. Hibbs had the foresight to copyright the Crazy Indian with the U.S. Copyright Office which is part of the U.S. Library of Congress. The Givens drawing was registered by Hibbs in the name of the Du Quoin Township High School under Guideline 17902 on March 23, 1951. At the time of a copyright like this one, the life of the copyright was 28 years. But, because no one renewed the copyright it can never be claimed again by any individual as their own.