Corralling a New Name : Memorial: City officials want to rename a school in honor of gunslinger Wyatt Earp, who once lived on the site. The idea draws fire, however.

Legendary Wild West gunslinger Wyatt Earp may soon get caught in the middle of another shootout--this one over his name.

City officials say they may try to commemorate Earp by renaming Mt. Vernon Middle School in his honor.

Over their dead bodies, counter those who feel the 70-year-old Los Angeles campus should continue to memorialize the country’s first president instead of one of its last gunfighters.

Famed for his quick draw and sure aim during the 1881 gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Ariz., Wyatt Earp lived for 25 years at the site of the current campus. He died in a bungalow at 4004 W. 17th St., on the eastern side of the present school grounds, at age 80 on Jan. 13, 1929.

The name change was suggested by City Councilman Nate Holden, who visited the Mid-City campus Thursday with historians Carl Chafin of Culver City and Jeff Morey of Long Beach. They met with seventh-graders to outline the significance of the site--and the contribution made by Wyatt Earp to America’s western expansion.

Holden said he learned of the school connection from aide Roger Galloway, a former writer for the TV series “Legends of the West,” who researched the onetime lawman’s background for the show.

The councilman said he plans to ask actors Hugh O’Brian, James Garner, Kurt Russell, Bruce Boxleitner, Burt Lancaster, Kevin Costner and Harris Yulin--each of whom have portrayed Wyatt Earp--to contribute money to a proposed reading center at the school.

“They’ve all derived financial reward from Wyatt Earp. Maybe they’d like to share a little of it,” Holden said.

“I like the sound of ‘Wyatt Earp Jr. High.’ I think renaming it would be appropriate. It would draw attention to the school and the city.”

Board of Education member Barbara Boudreaux said she was unaware until recently that Earp had lived and died at the school site. She said she would consider taking the name-change proposal to the board.

Several seventh-grade boys quickly endorsed the idea. “The name, Mt. Vernon, is kind of corny,” said Larry Luckett, 12. Said Travon Glescoe, 13: “Mt. Vernon is a geek name. Mt. Vernon is a street or something. There aren’t any mountains around here.”

But several seventh-grade girls rolled their eyes at the gunslinger name. And school historian Charles Laraway said he would oppose a name change.

“I wouldn’t be very happy. There’s a lot of history to this name. When the school opened, it was an exact replica of (George) Washington’s home, Mt. Vernon,” said Laraway, who has taught at the school since 1957.

Principal Leonard George said the school initially was to have been called Washington Jr. High when it opened in 1926. But it became Mt. Vernon when officials decided to open Washington High School in 1927. The Mt. Vernon replica disappeared when the school was rebuilt after being damaged in the 1971 earthquake.

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School officials said campus names have been changed in the past. But this one sounds like it might need some special consideration, said Beverly West of the school district’s school design and construction branch.

“It would go in the books as ‘Earp, Wyatt Middle School,’ ” West cautioned. “Maybe they should rethink this one.”

Even if Earp School wouldn’t make traditionalists throw up, it might still sound like it.