Battle of the ‘Bos is a tradition for the Rocky community to come together to, not only celebrate the seniors nominated, but to raise money for local charities and celebrate the school culture. It is something that the students and staff look forward to as the school year winds down and seniors look to graduation.
While this event may seem to be a long-standing tradition, Battle of the Bo’s is actually a fairly new tradition at Rocky with a little known history–as the event has gone through many different forms and iterations and even disappeared entirely for a period of time; today’s Battle of the Bo’s would be unrecognizable to its inaugural night audience in 1989.
Mr. Rocky
Today’s Battle of the ‘Bos tradition began in the spring semester of 1989, and was known as Mr. Rocky. This original form of the competition and tradition looked a lot more like a pageant than the talent show that it is today. Additionally, this era of the competition was mostly men, and across multiple grade levels, not just seniors. It was not until 1994, when Shelly Greathouse was the first woman to compete in the Mr. Rocky competition.
The contestants competed against each other as a “Mr. ___,” representing a part of the school. There was Mr. Football, Mr. Tennis, Mr. Wrestling, Mr. DECA, etc. In 1994, Matt McCray won the Mr. Rocky crown as Mr. Choir, winning with a song tribute to RMHS, not dissimilar to Battle of the ‘Bos today.
Mr. Rocky also had an emphasis on fundraising, with the funds going towards student council for future events. While Mr. Rocky was a rudimentary and simple version of today’s signature talent show, it did not come without some issues.
Since its first year of existence, Mr. Rocky was under fire. Many of the participants “behaved inappropriately,” according to Betty Grant, Rocky’s assistant principal at the time. Others believed that Mr. Rocky had “no purpose” in RMHS, and it finally dissolved in 1995.
Mr. Matkin was a competitor in 1995, competing as Mr. Football.
“It was pretty similar to today. It was something where the whole school would show up,” he said.
Matkin described it as a “male beauty pageant.” His year only seniors competed, representing each part of a school community. His talent was “dancing to Tootsee Roll in a fat suit with background dancers in tank tops while throwing out actual Tootsie Rolls to the crowd.”
Matkin said that each competitor had been “warned about their behavior” and that they needed to be polite and appropriate during the interview portion of the competition. One contestant answered the question about what he would change about RMHS as he would “change the principal because I don’t even know who they are.” This was the final straw for Mr. Rocky and after this year there was no more of the competition until 2013.
Mr. RHMS
In 2013, the tradition and pageantry was revived in the form of Mr. RMHS acting as almost a middle ground between Mr. Rocky and today’s Battle of the ‘Bos.
Mr. RMHS contestants competed as a “Mr. ___.” Examples include Mr. Big Heart, Mr. Heart Throb, and Mr. Daddy. Mr. RMHS was still an entirely male competition, but it followed a very similar format to the modern Battle of the ‘Bos with candidates being interviewed, participating in a talent competition, and ironic swimsuit modeling along with the group dance.
Additionally, the shift towards charity and fundraising was more important than ever with candidates now choosing their own causes and raising money for them.
The winner in the talent portion was declared “Mr. RMHS” and the runner up “Mr. Give Next,” for raising the most money.
In 2019, Mr. RMHS went viral on TikTok and Instagram when a video of three seniors performing to “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X received over one million likes across both platforms. The competition was canceled the next year due to COVID-19.
Battle of the ‘Bos
After Mr. RMHS was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it reemerged as what we now know as Battle of the ‘Bos in 2021.
In the newest form, senior students and teachers team up to perform along with fundraising for a charity of their choice. The competition consists of a group dance, interview, and student-teacher talent. The competition is now co-ed and participants are voted on by the senior class officers who serve as judges.
Senior Troy Sorensen said that this year’s show was “really fun and the talents were better than previous years. The contestants worked really hard.”
He said that Ivan Austin-Groen and Dodridge had the best talent with their comedic tribute performance dedicated to Kayla Adsit and the fundraising concert.
Contestant Nathan Woodall said that his favorite part of being in the show was “getting to act silly with his friends while raising money for a good cause.”
Nathan’s chosen charity this year was the FoCo Cafe. In all, the eight contestants raised a total of $4,570.55 for their charities.
Nathan’s favorite moment was “getting to dance on stage with his dad” during the talent portion of the show.
How do you feel about the Battle of the Bos? Should there be changes back towards the history of the event? Leave a comment below!
