Rock Ridge Wolverines Introduced to the Iron Range

The wolverine mascot is a devil bear which is a combination of the Blue Devils and Golden Bears the current mascots for Virginia/MIB and Eveleth-Gilbert.

EVELETH, Minn. – The Hippodrome was packed on Thursday evening with 3,000 fans all excited for rivals Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl to take on Eveleth-Gilbert.

It was not the typical game as fans were also there from both schools to see the unveiling of the new school name, colors, and mascot when the two schools come together.

They will be the Rock Ridge Wolverines and their colors are green and black.

The wolverine mascot is a devil bear which is a combination of the Blue Devils and Golden Bears the current mascots for Virginia/MIB and Eveleth-Gilbert.

“It’s been a long process there have been over 50,000 survey responses from where we first started that people have paged through and multiple community meetings,” said JoJo Scott, the Eveleth-Gilbert Athletic Director.

Another popular option was the Heritage and colors submitted were plaid, pink, and purple.

The name Rock Ridge is based on where the new school is going to be built.

“The site that they are building the school on is just made out of rock so we will be doing blasting there and when it’s all said and done it’s going to be really beautiful with all the rock landscape that’s going to be around all the athletic fields and the new school,” said Josh Lamppa, the Virginia Athletic Director.

Despite all the coming changes in the communities it was clear many people are really excited about the future ahead.

“I think it’s great I think it’s a huge opportunity for all the kids in the whole iron range to get better access to schooling and sports and I think it’s awesome,” said Amy Rogge, a parent of a Eveleth-Gilbert hockey player.

Fans who enjoy the rivalry between the two teams still have some time to enjoy it.

The hockey teams will not combine for two more years.

“Fiercely united the new tagline is huge. When communities like Eveleth-Gilbert and Virginia are able to come together there will be a new rivalry,” said Scott.

The athletic departments say fans can see the future school’s teams coming together starting this spring with the track team.