Team Colors

[BJBerthiaume]

Hey everyone. I was just daydreaming the other day and somehow my brain drifted towards the topic of team colors. Now I know some teams, if not most have explanations/reasons for their colors, but don't exactly know of many besides those of animal teams (Cardinals, Ravens, etc.) and stuff. Some others, like the Celtics, Red Sox, etc., are pretty self-explanatory. Anyways, if anyone knows of any reasons for specific team colors, I would love to hear them.

[Billy B]

George Halas chose orange and blue for the Bears so that they would be the same as his alma mater, the University of Illinois.

[phutmasterflex]

Colorado Rockies for purple mountain majesties

[JTernup]

Lamar hunt wanted Columbia blue and red for the Dallas texans (now kc chiefs) but the owner of the oilers took that first so Lamar chose red and yellow/gold as his second choice.

[ColeJ]

and bud adams chose columbia blue and red for the oilers simply because columbia blue is his favorite color, and he liked how red looked next to it.

[AndrewPF]

The Bruins took brown and gold originally because the owner at the time also owned a chain of supermarkets, and he wanted to match the team's color to the company's.

[vmd9]

The Bruins took brown and gold originally because the owner at the time also owned a chain of supermarkets, and he wanted to match the team's color to the company's.

Isn't this the case with several teams? I can't really remember but I think the Houston Astros were changed to match the owners company.

As far as other reasons, I know the Browns obviously had to choose Brown, but the orange was taken from Bowling Green.

[ADW77]

The Broncos originally went with mustard yellow and brown because that's the colors the high school 'all-star' uniforms they purchased on discount in 1960 were.

They had an open fan vote for the change in 1962 and the fans chose orange and blue.

[Kiltman]

Of my teams..

Penn State - Originally Black & Pink, when the sun faded the colors they looked blue & white. People thought it looked much better, and thus our eyeballs were saved

Sixers - 76ers... American revolution... Red, White, and Blue.. Makes sense.

Phillies - Not sure,I think for the same reason as the sixers though now. But they've been Black/white, Blue/gold, powder blue/maroon, and various reds/white.

Eagles - No clue, and something that has always perplexed me. We are Midnight Green now though because it was the 90s and people did stupid things.

Flyers - As an expansion team they wanted their own identity. Orange was nothing like what was in the league at the time. At least that's what I've heard.

[rmered]

Aussie Rules is my sport, so here's a little background on the teams in it.

Adelaide are based on the colours of the state of South Australia. Navy, Gold & Red

Brisbane get their colours from a merger with Fitzroy. Both wore Maroon, Brisbane because it was the state colour of Queensland, and Fitzroy who were formed in the 1880s because it was the only colour available that was not Blue that could be dyed into canvas.

Carlton were one of the first teams in the competition to wear jerseys, socks and caps being the original point of differetiation.

Collingwood wear Black & White stripes because one of the founding members had seen a South Australian state team wear those colours in a recent game

Essendon wear Black with a red sash because they were the colours of the founders Beer company. McCracken's Brewery.

Fremantle were Purple as it is the mix of Blue representing East Fremantle and Red, representing South Fremantle Football Clubs.

Geelong wear Blue and White hoops because these were the first uniforms that could be imported into the colony that were not all Blue.

Gold Coast wear Red & Yellow, the colours of a Life Saving cap. They also have Blue for the ocean.

Hawthorn wear Brown and Gold because when they joined the VFA there were already teams with the jumpers they wore, so they replaced their Blue with Brown, which was thought to be the only masculine colour available to them.

Melbourne wear Navy with a Red Yoke because they wore Red socks, so Red trimmings were added to their Blue jumpers to differentiate them from Carlton, who added White.

North Melbourne. Like Geelong, they wore Blue and White hoops, so to distinguish them, they changed them to vertical stripes.

Port Adelaide wear Teal Black and White because they joined the AFL in 1997 from the South Australian league. They could not use Black & White, their original colours due to Collingwood already wearing them

Richmond wear Black & Yellow due to those colours being the other socks variation available at the time. Again

1880s

StKilda wear Black & Red because these were the third shipment of jumpers from England. Again, not Blue or Blue and White hoops. They added White to differentiate them from Essendon.

South Melbourne. The same shipment of 'not Blue' contained Red & White hoops. They wear Red & White today due to this

West Coast. Blue for the Indian ocean, Gold for the beaches

Western Bulldogs Started as Blue & White because that's all you could get, added Red from the caps of the local rowing team who won three trophies in a row.

[BlueSky]

Supposedly the Saints' black & old gold were chosen because original owner John Mecom's money came from the oil business, and oil's nickname is "black gold." White is also an official team color IIRC.

The old New Orleans Jazz chose purple, green and gold (actually closer to yellow) because those are Mardi Gras colors.

[Enio125]

The Bruins took brown and gold originally because the owner at the time also owned a chain of supermarkets, and he wanted to match the team's color to the company's.

Isn't this the case with several teams? I can't really remember but I think the Houston Astros were changed to match the owners company.

As far as other reasons, I know the Browns obviously had to choose Brown, but the orange was taken from Bowling Green.

The Browns got their orange from the Massillon Tigers high school team where Paul Brown played in the 1920's and coached in the 1930's. The Bengals also got their orange and black from the Massillon Tigers.

[tBBP]

I read somewhere that Kurt Osaki had the idea of "cannonballs" in his mind when he thought up the pewter & red color scheme for the Buccaneers. At the time, Ol' Man Glazer also wanted a complete departure from the team's past, and as such, (my beloved) creamsicle was all but junked, save for the little bit of trim in the numbers, pants stripes, & the football in the team logo (which actually isn't even the same creamsicle color I don't think--it seems a good bit darker). As such, we now have the Buccaneers in all their red & pewter glory. (For what its worth, Osaki's company also created the identity for the Baltimore Ravens and I believe the Philadelphia Eagles as well. For anyone who cares, he's also the one responsible for the University of Hawaii athletic identity...he's also a Hawaii native.)

Florida State's garnet and gold is a weird one. It's a long story I ain't got the time to get into since I'm on the road right now, but the basic gist of it is this: the original Florida State University was actually near where the present day University of Florida now sits. A piece of that broke off & became Florida Seminary school or something to that effect...then the school moved up to Tallahassee & became an all-womens school, with the colors purple & gold. If my memory's right, sometime in the '40s, it became co-ed, and chose garnet as a mixture between the original red & former purple. The nickname obviously came from the nearby Seminole tribes.

Far as the Philadelphia Union goes...those colors were yanked right off the Philadelphia civic flag and tweaked a good bit. (And the funny thing is, on the actual uniforms themselves, the lighter blue, which is more of a columbia on Philly's flag, is more akin to the Carolina Panthers' blue--which I find as an odd coincidence since the Panthers' blue supposedly came from "Carolina Blue".)

[TruColor]

The old New Orleans Jazz chose purple, green and gold (actually closer to yellow) because those are Mardi Gras colors.

Oh here we go...

[Gothamite]

Yeah, ignoring that.

The Brewers inherited their royal and gold from the Seattle Pilots, buying the team only one week before the start of the season.

The Packers took their traditional navy and gold from Curly Lambeau's alma mater, Notre Dame. He experimented with adding green off and on throughout his tenure (perhaps because of the city name?), an experiment which continued under his successors and which was finally finalized a decade later under Lombardi.

[TruColor]

Purdue's Old Gold and Black is apparently a variation of Princeton's Orange and Black; Princeton had one of the most popular and successful football programs back in the day, and Purdue took it and tweaked it.

[gdu]

TCU?s school colors are purple and white?purple for royalty, white for a clean game

[TruColor]

Far as the Philadelphia Union goes...those colors were yanked right off the Philadelphia civic flag and tweaked a good bit. (And the funny thing is, on the actual uniforms themselves, the lighter blue, which is more of a columbia on Philly's flag, is more akin to the Carolina Panthers' blue--which I find as an odd coincidence since the Panthers' blue supposedly came from "Carolina Blue".)

'Cause...I just gotta:

<---> <---> <--->

Those last two show the Carolina Blue used by the North Carolina athletics teams and the institution respectively.

[oldschoolvikings]

I read somewhere that Kurt Osaki had the idea of "cannonballs" in his mind when he thought up the pewter & red color scheme for the Buccaneers. At the time, Ol' Man Glazer also wanted a complete departure from the team's past, and as such, (my beloved) creamsicle was all but junked, save for the little bit of trim in the numbers, pants stripes, & the football in the team logo (which actually isn't even the same creamsicle color I don't think--it seems a good bit darker). As such, we now have the Buccaneers in all their red & pewter glory. (For what its worth, Osaki's company also created the identity for the Baltimore Ravens and I believe the Philadelphia Eagles as well. For anyone who cares, he's also the one responsible for the University of Hawaii athletic identity...he's also a Hawaii native.)

OK, that works for the red and pewter, but where did they get the original oarnge from?

[Jamikel]

UNC's oldest student organizations are the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies, which are the university's debate and literary societies. The colors of the societies are light blue and white, respectively. When it was time for the university to field athletic teams, these colors were the natural choice.