History of the Warner Robins High School Demon

For generations of students, alumni, and rivals, the Demon has been one of the most recognizable symbols of Warner Robins High School. Although the name sometimes surprises people unfamiliar with its history, the Warner Robins Demon was not created as a religious symbol. Its roots reach back to World War II, military aviation, and the remarkable story of the community that grew alongside what is now Robins Air Force Base.

A School Born in a Military Town

The story begins before Warner Robins High School existed.

In 1941, the United States War Department approved construction of a major Army Air Corps depot near the small community of Wellston, Georgia. Construction began that September, and the installation grew rapidly as the United States entered World War II. The town itself was renamed Warner Robins in 1942, honoring Brigadier General Augustine Warner Robins, and the depot became an important center for aircraft maintenance, supply, repair, testing, and training during the war.

Thousands of military personnel, civilian workers, and their families poured into the area. The population boom created the need for new schools, including the school that became Warner Robins High School. From its earliest days, Warner Robins High School was closely connected to a community whose identity had been shaped by aviation and the United States military.

It was within that environment that the school adopted one of its most enduring traditions: the Demons.

The “Screamin’ Demons”

Warner Robins High School's official history states that the Demon mascot was adopted in honor of the 7th Fighter Squadron, a World War II fighter unit known as the “Screamin’ Demons.”

The story of the squadron's nickname begins thousands of miles from Georgia.

The unit that became the 7th Fighter Squadron was activated in January 1941 and entered combat in the Pacific during World War II. According to official U.S. Air Force records, the squadron trained in the United States before moving through Australia and into New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan. The unit flew aircraft that included the P-40 Warhawk and later the P-38 Lightning. Its World War II campaigns included Papua, New Guinea, the Northern Solomons, the Southern Philippines, and other operations across the Pacific.

While serving in Australia in 1942, members of the squadron began developing the identity that would eventually make the “Screamin’ Demons” famous.

Research published by the Australian War Memorial traces the emblem to the squadron's experiences in Australia's Northern Territory. After American pilots were assisted and, in at least one case, rescued with the help of local Aboriginal people, members of the squadron sought an Australian creature to represent their unit. They were introduced to the legendary bunyip, a creature from Australian folklore. The Americans often rendered the name as “bunyap.”

The squadron developed a fierce, open-mouthed creature for its aircraft. Its six prominent claws represented the six .50-caliber machine guns carried by the squadron's P-40E Warhawks. The image appeared on the tails of the squadron's aircraft and evolved into the unit's “Screamin’ Demons” identity.

Remarkably, the 7th continues that heritage today. The modern 7th Fighter Training Squadron still identifies itself as the Screamin’ Demons.

The Demon Comes to Warner Robins High

Exactly who first suggested that Warner Robins High School become the Demons has not yet been identified in surviving records, but the available evidence shows that the name dates to the school's very earliest years.

A 2010 Macon Telegraph history of Warner Robins High School reported that the Demon mascot had already been selected as the new school was being established. The 1947 Pioneer, the school's first yearbook, records that Warner Robins High School's first boys' and girls' basketball teams were known as the Demons. 

The 1949 Pioneer records Warner Robins cheerleaders ending one of their cheers with: “Yea Demons!”

The following year's Pioneer contains another cheer beginning: “Demons, Demons, Rah! Rah! Rah!”

By the end of the 1940s, “Demons” was not simply the name of a team. It was already part of the language, traditions, and school spirit of Warner Robins High School.

Later yearbooks show that the identity only became more firmly established. By the 1960s, athletic teams were routinely referred to as the Demons, while girls' athletic teams also became known as the Demonettes, another reflection of how deeply the mascot had become woven into school life.

Demon Country Today

More than eight decades after Warner Robins High School's earliest students began cheering for the Demons, the name remains a central part of the school's identity.

It appears in athletics, the Demon Marching Band, the student-operated Screamin’ Demon Cafe, the glowing green eyes in Demon Valley, and the school's DEMON PRIDE expectations. Generations of students have worn the name, cheered it from the stands, performed under it, and carried it in their hearts as alumni.

What began during the extraordinary World War II growth of Warner Robins has become something uniquely its own.

The Warner Robins Demon is a link between the school and the history of the community that created it- a community built around aviation, service, determination, and pride.

From the Screamin’ Demons of the Pacific to the students who proudly call Warner Robins High School home today, the tradition never graduates.

We Can. We Will. We Must. Change Lives.