Elmira District Boys Soccer

The Elmira City School District on Tuesday announced the new nickname and colors for the district's combined high school athletic teams.

The teams will be called the Elmira Express; the primary color will be red, with white and black accents.

Of the nickname, Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter said: "It's not only a symbol of a great person who did great things in our community and went on to stardom, it's also a reminder of what put Elmira on the map back then."

Hochreiter was referring to legendary scholar-athlete Ernie Davis and the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, which ran through Elmira.

"It serves a lot of purposes," Hochreiter said of the name. "It's a little bit of a history lesson to some of our students, and it's a great honor in recognition of the past."

The Elmira School Board voted in April to merge the Elmira Free Academy and Southside High School athletic teams starting in the 2011-12 school year as a way to save money.

Since then, the district has been working out not only the identity and colors of the merged teams, but also issues such as where the teams will play and who will coach them.

In ballots cast by district residents and high school students and staff on Friday, Saturday and Monday, Express narrowly beat Titans, 567 to 549, the district reported.

The red, black and white combination won over a teal, black and white color scheme, 620 to 495.

The balloting, which the district said was not binding, but would advise a committee of students, parents and coaches, followed a preliminary round of online polling at the district's website.

The district will next consult with the committee to determine options for a new logo and a mascot, Hochreiter said, noting that the design might be a locomotive, a high-speed bullet train or something else entirely.

Those decisions are not as time-sensitive as the name and colors were, he said.

"I don't think we could meet any sort of deadline to put a new emblem in the EFA turf yet, or at center court (at Southside)," he said. "It may be a little while, but we also don't want to rush anything."

Hochreiter said he has received a number of inquiries from people who want to create the design.

Some art teachers have recommended students make designs as a special project. Other art teachers have asked about doing the design work themselves. And alumni who now work as artists have also asked about designing a graphic.

"We had a recommendation today of doing an art show, asking everyone and anyone who wants to weigh in," Hochreiter said. The committee may also decide about a mascot, he said.

"I guess you could have an old-school railroad conductor, or an old-school train engineer with the overalls," Hochreiter said. "You can have a lot of fun with it."