Yeates says there are about 80,000 living Beetdiggers. Damjanovich has been trying to track them down. "I told somebody, I'm going to get a private eye license after all this," she said.

So, for all you other-than-Jordan-educated folks out there, here's what beet diggers do: They harvest sugar-beet crops, common in the south valley at the turn of the century.

They would plow the beets, which grow sort of like carrots, use a beet knife to cut the green tops off and toss the yield into a wagon for transport to a sugar-processing factory, Crump said. The practice was so vital to the local economy that classes recessed for two weeks during fall harvest.

By 1961, Skinner recalls, the harvest break had been pared to two days. It shortly after disappeared with the vast farmlands, as did the tradesman name from the modern-day vernacular.

Except, that is, for Jordan High alumni. And even they have had to fight for Beetdigger Dan's life.

There was talk of changing the mascot this past decade, when the old school became Jordan Commons entertainment center, and a new one was erected down the street. But alumni successfully lobbied to preserve the historic Beetdigger Dan.

"The alumni said, 'Change the school song. But we give a lot of scholarships. As long as you keep that mascot, the Beetdiggers, we will make sure you have scholarships,'" Skinner chuckled.

"Not that I like to think that we blackmailed them in any way."

If you go ...

Jordan High's Centennial Celebration features a music and dance performance Friday at 7 p.m. and a Saturday car and memorabilia show and "entire school reunion" from noon to 10 p.m. Both are at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy.

Tickets are $10 and include a raffle ticket. They can be purchased at www.jordanalumni.com or the LDS Conference Center.

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com