When I was in High School in the Twin Cities back in the 1960's a bunch of mostly white suburban kids decided for some reason that they should form "social clubs".
These "clubs" wore prescribed styles of haircuts, pants, shoes, shirts, and of course "gang" colors for their hero jackets.
Hero jackets are letterman jackets with leather sleeves.
It became so ridiculous that these mostly pasty-faced white boys were required to check their gang jackets at the door of the many dance clubs in the Cities at the time to keep the slap fights under control.
I did have a letterman's jacket in my school colors that was earned in athletics.
All this to say that one of the "gangs" took the name Ptarmigans which when it was looked up in Birds of North America were described as a mostly flightless, rather dumb arctic bird.
One of my enduring memories is The Ptarmigans from Edina getting their asses kicked by the Blue Hippos from Fridley in the parking lot of Mr. Lucky's, started by the Hippos calling the Ptarmigans "Stupid Birds".
But the name stuck.
Life was simpler then.
