University of Arizona sends Cease and Desist letter to small Ohio high scool

This type of thing happens all the time at the high school level; Your local school either can’t or won’t come up with a logo of their own, so they innocently “borrow” the look of a famous pro or college team. The vast majority of these schools get away with it, but sometimes you see a big-time college or pro team go after the small school, and this is one of those times.

For years, Johnathan Alder High School in Ohio has been using what they refer to as the “Alder-A” logo. I’m sure that this logo looks a bit familiar to our friends out west in Tucson.

Oh wait, this doesn’t just look a bit familiar to something the good folks out in Tucson would recognize; That looks exactly like the University of Arizona’s athletic logo!

As a result of this not-so coincidental similarity, the University of Arizona has sent Alder High School a Cease and Desist letter, and the school is complying. The community isn’t happy, but they’re complying.

Some people in Plain City are puzzled how and why a school so far away would care what a high school in Central Ohio wears.
“(Arizona is) 2000 miles away,” said Kerri Ferguson, who also works at Main Street Treasures. “What do they care for a little farm community and a very small school?”
The superintendent said the school won’t have to destroy its uniforms with the logo on it. They will simply phase it out.
“People will be sorry to see it go,” Peters said. “There’s a lot of sentiment out there that will definitely be upset about that and I know we definitely have a lot to sell that has the block A on it.”

I mean, I could understand Alder’s case if they made any sort of tweak to the logo other than recoloring it. Shoot, the A in the middle of the logo is the same shade of red as in Arizona’s original design. It’s sad that this piece of tradition has to go away, but Arizona owns the mark, so Alder’s got to let it go.

What do you guys think? Do you agree with Arizona going after the small school, or do you think that they should just let this go by the wayside?