Charlotte Latin School’s teams have been known as the Hawks since the school’s founding in 1970 — when construction began on its first buildings, workers noticed an abundance of hawks, especially red-tailed hawks, in the neighborhood. Over the years, the school has employed dozens of different logos in various contexts. Some were ready to wrestle, while some were clutching baseballs; some looked like an illustration in an Audubon guide while others looked like they stepped out of a Nickelodeon show. Today the school announced the new Charlotte Latin Hawk, designed to honor the school’s traditions while flying into the future.

Head of School Chuck Baldecchi told the Charlotte Latin community, “I want to thank Director of Athletics David Gatoux and Assistant AD and Sports Information Director Angel Trimble for the care and thought they brought to this project over the past year.” Starting in 2024, Gatoux and Trimble worked closely on a new logo with current student-athletes, alumni Hawks, coaches, parents, the school’s athletics staff and administrators, and design experts — a thorough collaboration meant to ensure that the new hawk will serve Latin well for many years to come.

Part of the impetus for the redesign was that the hawk logo seen most frequently in recent years was actually a $10 piece of clip art. The drawback of that hawk wasn’t obvious at first: the same logo could be seen on school sports teams all over the country, including New Hampshire, Tennessee, and even North Carolina, creating the real possibility of confusion and misidentification. “What I’m most proud of is that now we have a hawk that is uniquely ours,” said David Gatoux. While some other schools used Latin’s previous logo for raptors that included “Eagles” and “Falcons,” the new logo was specifically inspired by the hawks native to North Carolina. 

In a nod to Latin history, the vigilant eye of the new hawk is the same as the unblinking eye of the old hawk. That allows the oversized hawk eye images seen around the Latin campus, including on the walls of the Beck Student Activities Center, to remain in place, serving as a bridge between the two logos. The 2025 logo has already popped up in a few places — on the side of new Latin school buses, for example — but will make its official debut at Touchdown Tailgate tonight. The new hawk will be available to tailgaters in the form of spirit swag and car-window decals. And when the Varsity Football team takes the field at 7:00 p.m., their helmets will sport the new logo, as will the 50-yard line of the football field. At the center of Patten Stadium, the Charlotte Latin Hawk will make its debut as the focal point of school pride and commitment to excellence.