It's official, the Yuma Indians are now the Yuma Outlaws! That decision was made Friday morning, September 29th, as the Yuma girls volleyball & the football teams took to play that Friday night, under the brand new name. Voting for the new name started back at the beginning of August, with a total of 96 nominations, that was ultimately narrowed down to the 'Sweet 16'. With names like Threshers, Hawks and Cyclones eliminated, with the name Outlaws beating out Pioneers in a run-off earlier. This is all the result of a new Colorado law that was passed in 2021, which made schools across the state, change their American Indian mascot names, and eliminate all references and images of those old mascots, in compliance with the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs. The deadline for this was set for June of 2022, and if schools did NOT make the changes, they would face heavy monthly fines. At the time Yuma decided to go with 'Just Be Yuma' for a time, until a new official mascot would be named. Yuma has a history of naming new mascots, as the school changed from the 'Cornhuskers' to the 'Indians' back in 1935.
