Cairo Georgia has a unique history. First, the name is pronounced as Ka-row, not the same pronunciation as the city in Egypt. It was called the ‘syrup city’ because of the production of Karo Syrup. The sweet concoction was reflected in the high school when they coined Syrupmaker Band for their high school band. The name caught on as the football team was also named the Syrupmakers. Thankfully, they didn’t carry the themes further with other products that were made included pickles and butter. Eventually, fans and students alike demanded a name change for their local sports teams and they settled on maids for girl’s teams and makers for boys teams.
Syrup might have been an original supporting reason for naming and work in Cairo, but the high school is also known for its sports and academics. Cairo High School received the distinct award in 2005 and 2006 as the SAT Region Winner for Class AAA and Region-1 AAA. Students have shown quality gains in math and read SAT scores in a three year gain average. In both 1990 and 2008 the football team was named AAA State Champions. Spend some time at Cairo High School and you will be astounded by the number of academic clubs, organizations and even tutor assisted programs.
Cairo High School offers their students a wide variety of sports choices: Basketball, football, soccer, Cross Country, Swimming, Track, Golf, Tennis and Wrestling. Most of the sports are offered with both boys and girls teams. However, beyond the obvious popularity of football, Cairo High School is incredibly serious about their basketball.
Parents, kids, teachers and alumni support the basketball teams in both attendance and positive attitude. To Cairo High School, basketball is a way of life and they have a right to be so serious. Cairo High School produced Teresa Edwards, former professional basketball player and an Olympic Gold Medalist. She holds the honor of being both the youngest and oldest basketball gold medal winner in the history of the Olympics.
Cruise down the halls of Cairo High School and you will see the kind of support they have for their basketball team. It’s not uncommon to view the latest donut drive that they kids are doing to raise money for the team. The school’s red and black colors are displayed everywhere along with their motto – “With Pride We Give Our Best”. Team game schedules are also available in a multitude of venues. Home games have the bleachers filled and everyone groups together to arrange attending the away games. The popularity of both the boys and girls teams shows the team spirit of the school.
While Cairo may be a comfortable town in Georgia, where neighbors know and help each other, their pride in their town has shown that they are doing something right. Cairo has produced some of the top players in sports like baseball’s famed Jackie Robinson as well as Ernest Riles and Willie Harris. Other notables have been Bill Stanfill, Bobby Walden and David Ponder in football notoriety.