Beetdigger plaza bricks up for sale

Mark Hunter called from Jordan High School in Sandy, wondering if I could be of assistance to a fellow Beetdigger.

It seems that Jordan is wrapping up its century celebration — the school turned 100 this past school year — by building a Centennial Plaza adjacent to the school entrance that will consist of bricks engraved with the names of Jordan students past and present.

Hunter, the school's longtime athletic director, wondered if I could "get the word out" that the bricks are on sale now at $40 apiece at www.jhs.jordan.k12.ut.us.

Two things one Jordan High alum says to another when he calls and finds out he doesn't owe him money:

(1) What? and (2) When?

Actually, there's a third but it's usually unspoken: "Doesn't it get old going through life having to explain what a Beetdigger is?"

A Beetdigger — let's get this out of the way now — is, as the name implies, a person who digs beets. Back in the old days, after the invention of the wheel but before the invention of the automatic beet harvester, sugar beets had to be dug up at harvest time and topped with a long curved knife.

When Jordan High School first opened its doors in 1907, and for a good many years after that, instead of being filled with houses, condos, parking lots, movie theaters, Burger Kings, auto dealerships, the South Towne Exposition Center, professional soccer stadiums, Wal-Mart, Lowe's and shopping malls, the surrounding fields were filled with sugar beets.

So many sugar beets that every fall at harvest time the high school kids got two weeks off to help dig up the beets.

Hence ... drum roll please ... the name.

So that's the story and at Jordan they're sticking by it. Despite at least two major campaigns over the years to change the nickname, it has hung around like the royal family. There are simply way too many Beetdiggers who still own beet knives to change it.

Sherma Yates is one of them.

I called Yates because Hunter told me she was a good example of a loyal Beetdigger alum who has already bought plaza bricks. She bought eight, he reported, and he has the $320 check to prove it.

I learned that Yates graduated in 1961 — Jordan's golden anniversary — and she bought her bricks in not only her name but in the names of her favorite teachers, including journalism teacher Oralie Rawson, drama teacher Glen E. Sacos and art teacher Jay Shirtliff, and also her favorite principal, G. Reed Sanderson.