[2] The school is named for John Coffee Hays, a frontier defender, Texas Ranger and hero to those he fought to protect.

He achieved fame after leaving Texas in 1849 for California, where he became the first elected sheriff of San Francisco and helped found the city of Oakland.

The school mascot was a Yosemite Sam-like character dressed in the standard gray uniform of the Army of the Confederate States of America known as "Colonel Jack".

As with other institutions which draw upon confederate imagery, Hays High School encountered controversy on and off for years before ultimately discarding the confederate flag as an official symbol in 2000 and banning it from official functions entirely in 2012,[3] followed by retiring Dixie as a fight song in 2015 and replacing it with the school's original fight song, On, Wisconsin!.

Hays High School competes in these sports -[5] Cross Country, Volleyball, Football, Basketball, Powerlifting, Swimming, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, Track, Baseball & Softball.