HELENA — With Friday night’s Class AA state championship game fast approaching, you’d be hard pressed to find a Helena Capital Bruin not proudly rocking a bright-colored mohawk.
“Yeah, every time we make it to the state championship game, we get colored mohawks,” said senior offensive lineman and team captain Vaughn Wirkus. “And based on your position, that’s what color you get.
"So, it’s just kind of like a fun thing we like to do as a team-bonding experience. And it brings us closer together, and it’s something to laugh about the whole week. So, it makes things a little less serious.”
The mohawk tradition dates back to Capital’s 1993 state championship team.
“I’m feeling good. I know it looks good,” said senior wide receiver and team captain Ryan Martinie of his silver-dyed mohawk. “I went skin to win on the sides. Pretty much took it all the way down. Wanted to go all in for it for the last ride.”
And the colors of the mohawks aren’t random. They’re used to indicate a player’s position — or even to represent a player’s status, like team captain.
“All the captains have to get the same color,” said Martinie. “But the dye didn’t really work on us, so we kind of got whatever we got. Supposed to be silver or titanium. I don’t know, whatever you want to call this. That’s what it is.”
Players said the mohawk tradition is as much about preserving history as it is about fun haircuts.
“It’s definitely important for us to keep this tradition going because it kind of remembers the past,” said Wirkus. “You know, our school has been around since 1973. So, we have a long history, and we like to keep that tradition going.”
Fellow senior and team captain Cole Graham seconded Wirkus’ focus on history.
“Yeah, I mean it’s been since 1993,” said Graham. “So, it’s just something they’ve done when they get to the championship game, so we just got to keep it going, and hopefully later on down the road we’ll still do it.”
