Team Colour Meanings

[Bucks6thMan]

Here's an easy one -- The University of Maryland's colors of red, white, black and gold come from the state flag (which is one of my personal favorites out of all state flags, but I may be biased).

Nah, it's not bias. Maryland's flag is easily the nicest of all the 50, and this is comin' from a Wisconsinite-Michigander (both of my states' flags suck BTW).

[smzimbabwe]

The Washington Huskies purple and gold comes from a poem. The following is from the team website:

School Colors: Purple and Gold

Washington?s school colors, Purple and Gold, were adopted in 1892 by a vote of a student assembly on the original downtown Seattle campus. One patriotic group favored Red, White and Blue as the University?s colors, reasoning that ?since the school was named after the father of our country, our national colors should be the school?s colors.? The opposing faction argued that national colors should not be degraded for such everyday use. The debate was ended when a young English instructor, Miss Frazier, stood and read the following excerpt from Lord Byron?s ?Destruction of Sennacherib.?

?The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,

And the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.?

[maz]

Pittsburgh Black & Gold = City colors

[YELDARBfield]

Here's an easy one -- The University of Maryland's colors of red, white, black and gold come from the state flag (which is one of my personal favorites out of all state flags, but I may be biased).

Nah, it's not bias. Maryland's flag is easily the nicest of all the 50, and this is comin' from a Wisconsinite-Michigander (both of my states' flags suck BTW).

Yeah, Maryland's flag is nice, second only to Tennessee's!

[BlueSky]

I also heard that Home Depot owns the Atlanta Falcons, and the owner was considering adding orange to their scheme for marketing purposes.

No and no. Arthur Blank, one of Home Depot's founders, owns the Falcons. I've lived in Atlanta for 5 years and have heard nothing of adding orange, and it would be pointless since he's no longer with Home Depot anyway.

On another thread-related note, how about New Zealand's rugby team, who are named for the color of their uni's ?

[Steve-O]

Differences between UNC's (both Institutional colors and Athletic colors) and the Carolina Panthers:

PANTONE,

I tried to send this PM but your inbox is full I believe, you popular man you. I was just wondering if you happened to have the colors of the Everett Silvertips of the WHL. If you do, could you send them my way, that would be incredibly helpful! Thanks!

[Joshawaggie]

Aren't North Dakota's official colors pink (heheh) and green?

Yep. The official university colors are green and pink. The official athletic colors, though, are green and white.

Why pink is one of the colors, I don't know. And I can only imagine that the athletic colors are different from the university colors because the athletic department in no way wants pink as a color.

Its a simple answer, really. Paying tribute to our state flower.. the Prarie Rose.

[gueman]

I also heard that Home Depot owns the Atlanta Falcons, and the owner was considering adding orange to their scheme for marketing purposes.

No and no. Arthur Blank, one of Home Depot's founders, owns the Falcons. I've lived in Atlanta for 5 years and have heard nothing of adding orange, and it would be pointless since he's no longer with Home Depot anyway.

On another thread-related note, how about New Zealand's rugby team, who are named for the color of their uni's ?

Really? The all blacks are named from a typo. When the first Kiwi's toured England over 100 years ago, a writer wrote that the team was "all backs" because they were fast and fit. It was published as "all blacks". The name stuck.

[Davey]

The Leafs blue and white - blue skies and white clouds of Canada...or some pre stock market crash bs.

I thought it was because of White snow, and Blue sky ???

[tacoman]

Gotta mention my George Washington University Colonials. The Buff and Blue comes from the actual colors of George Washington's colonial army uniforms. I believe the New Jersey state flag is also "buff" shaded. Maybe there's a indadvertant correlation there as at least 1/4 of GW's student population hails from the Garden State.

[Yankee Legend]

I wonder...do the Houston Texans and the Texas Rangers have red, white and blue as colors because those are the colors of the Texas state flag?

[Kilomile]

The Italian soccer team U.S. Città di Palermo uses pink and black as their colors and are the only pro soccer team (pro anything?) to use this combination. They originally used red and blue but were changed in 1907 after the pink and black suggestion from count Giusppe Airoldi. He thought "the colors of the sweet and the sad" would be appropriate for a team that was then characterized by results "as up and down as a Swiss clock".

[BlueSky]

I also heard that Home Depot owns the Atlanta Falcons, and the owner was considering adding orange to their scheme for marketing purposes.

No and no. Arthur Blank, one of Home Depot's founders, owns the Falcons. I've lived in Atlanta for 5 years and have heard nothing of adding orange, and it would be pointless since he's no longer with Home Depot anyway.

On another thread-related note, how about New Zealand's rugby team, who are named for the color of their uni's ?

Really? The all blacks are named from a typo. When the first Kiwi's toured England over 100 years ago, a writer wrote that the team was "all backs" because they were fast and fit. It was published as "all blacks". The name stuck.

I stand corrected, thanks for setting me straight. Should have researched that instead of posting my own guess at the origin!

From the New Zealand Rugby Museum website:

>>

Wallace, one of the 1905/6 stars, speaking at the team's 50th Jubilee in 1955, gave his version of how the name originated:

"Now I'm just going to mention how we got the name of All Blacks'. These coves don't know, I was on the Committee and I know all about it. We played Hartlepool and we beat them 63-0, and the 'Daily Mail; an English paper, wrote up 'New Zealand team all backs' you see. So we were, all our forwards could pass as good as any back, and it was headed up 'New Zealand All Backs'. And the next match we went on, I think it was Somerset. This All Black' was a printer's error and we went on to Somerset and all around the town it said 'Come and see the All Blacks play; the printer had made a mistake and instead of All Back' he had got the 'l' in somehow and made it All Black; and that's how the name of All Blacks' originated and it's stuck ever since."

<<

[therebelas]

The Memphis Grizzlies were intended to become the Memphis Express, with orange and purple as the team colors.

When I first heard that, I emailed the Grizz' front office just to see. They didn't actually confirm the Express name in the reply, but they did say that of the names they tested, 'Grizzlies' tested best and a new identity was in the process of being created. Also, there are meanings and special names for their hues of blue, but I'm not sure what they are (PANTONE?).

Now a little tidbit about the University of Tennessee Volunteers. The colors of orange and white were chosen because they are the colors of the flowers (not sure what species) that grow outside the Univ. Center. Also, the checkerboard pattern pays homage to the checkered brick pattern that adourns the top of the Univ. Center. The alternate colors (baby blue and black) used by the women's and men's basketball teams are used (surprise!) for fashionable reasons.

Well, Beale Street Blue goes without saying... There is also Grizzlies Gold and I forget what the other blue is called.

One that is obvious is the purple/green/gold the Jazz wore for years --- Mardi Gras colors

Ole Miss adopted their colors from, as the strory goes, the blue of Yale and the crimson (red) of Harvard. And, obviously, the grey pants and, now, home basketball uniforms pay a bit of homage to the past.

[TruColor]

Grizzlies:

Remember...I've got all of these here:

Professional Franchise Team Colors

One other one - Purdue's colors of Old Gold and Black were also inspired by Princeton. They just changed the Orange to Gold (to be different, I guess)...

I should also mention that I've got my College Colors & Nicknames section up; although I still have a lot of work to do in getting it updated:

College Colors & Nicknames

[letterform]

The Leafs blue and white - blue skies and white clouds of Canada...or some pre stock market crash bs.

That's the first time I've ever heard that. Previously it was told that Conn Smythe's wife chose Blue and White because she liked the combination better than the green and white of the St Pats and the Leafs first year green and white sweaters. Kind of a simliar tale to the Chicago Black Hawks (no, I didn't spell that wrong) whose first uniforms logo and colours were made up by the owners wife.

[fonz]

The Italian soccer team U.S. Città di Palermo uses pink and black as their colors and are the only pro soccer team (pro anything?) to use this combination. They originally used red and blue but were changed in 1907 after the pink and black suggestion from count Giusppe Airoldi. He thought "the colors of the sweet and the sad" would be appropriate for a team that was then characterized by results "as up and down as a Swiss clock".

Palermo is my favourite soccer team! I think they actually look good in pink and black!

[winghaz]

Gotta mention my George Washington University Colonials. The Buff and Blue comes from the actual colors of George Washington's colonial army uniforms. I believe the New Jersey state flag is also "buff" shaded. Maybe there's a indadvertant correlation there as at least 1/4 of GW's student population hails from the Garden State.

That is absolutely one of the best reasons for a color combination I've ever seen.

I always wondered what the name of the tannish-goldish-yellowish color on the Colonial Army uniforms was. Now I know.

[Ben5]

Dear old Wake Forest got it's colors of old gold and black from the bible. Back in the day, the college was affiliated with the Baptist church. The black comes from the cover of the book, and the gold comes from the lettering and the sides of the pages.

[iowahoo]

I should also mention that I've got my College Colors & Nicknames section up; although I still have a lot of work to do in getting it updated:

College Colors & Nicknames

Pantone- I have a couple nicknames you can add to my two alma maters on there- Bowling Green, before being known as the Falcons, were called the Normals and the Teachers. Cornell College, before being known as the Rams, were called the Hilltoppers. Not sure on dates though.