Electronic Attack Squadron One Three Zero Facebook and Shutterstock
The origination of the Dragon as Carroll's mascot dates back to the 1950s. Students of the then-Carroll Common school were looking for a mascot when student Tony Eubanks suggested the school's co-ed softball team be named "The Dragons."
The name stuck and years later, a search began to create an official Dragon logo for the newly formed Carroll ISD.
The fire-breathing dragon Southlake has grown to love was originally inspired by the insignia of the U.S. Navy Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ-130), also known as the "Zappers." A storied electronic warfare squadron established by the Navy in 1959, the Zappers originally flew AD-5Qs and EAK-3B Skywarrior planes during Carrier Airborne Early Warning missions and electronic countermeasures. Back then, the squadron was deployed from aboard aircraft carriers based throughout the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. In 2013, the Navy's oldest electronic warfare squadron supported Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
In 1984, Carroll Freshman Shawn Lynch was asked by a teacher to modify the Zappers squadron logo. He drew a tougher-looking dragon and set it within the state of Texas. Former Carroll Football Coach and Athletic Director Bob Ledbetter liked what he saw. "The next year it was on the football helmets. I was pretty proud of it," Lynch said.
Two years after Lynch's drawing, it was on the cover of the school’s yearbook, and 40 years later, Dragon fans can find the trademarked Dragon logo on a wide variety of items from hats and shirts to pillows and smartphone cases.
Electronic Attack Squadron One Three Zero Facebook