Team Colors

[Jamikel]

Panthers' blue supposedly came from "Carolina Blue".)

I've heard people say this, but I've never seen any proof. The only explanation I've ever heard for the Panthers' colors is that Jerry Richardson's son chose the name and colors for the team. I think it's more likely that he just went with colors that were trendy at the time. Though thankfully, the Panthers' black, blue, and silver have had more staying power than a lot of other trendy 90's color schemes.

[tBBP]

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

Good ol' "Florida Orange". I'm not sure how they came about the actual original creamsicle shade (paging ColorWerx!!!!), but I wouldn't doubt that since orange is one of Florida's two state colors (the other being blue--and now y'all know how the Univ. of Florida Gators got their colors), that had something to do with it. Now what's interesting is that I remember reading that originally they intended to trim it with a darker orange...ended up being red instead.

[Gothamite]

Panthers' blue supposedly came from "Carolina Blue".)

I've heard people say this, but I've never seen any proof. The only explanation I've ever heard for the Panthers' colors is that Jerry Richardson's son chose the name and colors for the team. I think it's more likely that he just went with colors that were trendy at the time. Though thankfully, the Panthers' black, blue, and silver have had more staying power than a lot of other trendy 90's color schemes.

You might be right - I think that's an assumption people keep making. Richardson's original proposal was black and royal blue. The actual color Columnia blue/silver/black scheme was created by the league.

I don't remember this, but apparently the original uniforms unveiled only had one set of pants - black.

[TornadoGTS]

In that second pic, I can kinda vaguely see the basis for the "Panthers logo represents the 2 states" conspiracy lol

[tBBP]

Panthers' blue supposedly came from "Carolina Blue".)

I've heard people say this, but I've never seen any proof. The only explanation I've ever heard for the Panthers' colors is that Jerry Richardson's son chose the name and colors for the team. I think it's more likely that he just went with colors that were trendy at the time. Though thankfully, the Panthers' black, blue, and silver have had more staying power than a lot of other trendy 90's color schemes.

You might be right - I think that's an assumption people keep making. Richardson's original proposal was black and royal blue. The actual color Columnia blue/silver/black scheme was created by the league.

I don't remember this, but apparently the original uniforms unveiled only had one set of pants - black.

I remember that as well. And to Jamikel's point, I too like that the Panthers' color scheme--hell the uniforms themselves--had/has staying power. The other expansion cat team's scheme could've had staying power had they not screwed with it so much--but we won't go there right now. Back to the Panthers...I also still kinda wish they'd go with just the ericcson cellphone blue & black as a base w/ silver trim if needed (kinda like that NFL NPC concept I did some time back).

[TruColor]

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

Good ol' "Florida Orange". I'm not sure how they came about the actual original creamsicle shade (paging ColorWerx!!!!), but I wouldn't doubt that since orange is one of Florida's two state colors (the other being blue--and now y'all know how the Univ. of Florida Gators got their colors), that had something to do with it. Now what's interesting is that I remember reading that originally they intended to trim it with a darker orange...ended up being red instead.

Yeah, the original color (before Pantones were widely used by the NFL) was slightly lighter than was used after 1980 or so. When the Bucs unveiled their "Classic Throwbacks" in 2009, they went with this shade of Orange for the uniforms, and the helmet facemask color:

And then, they used this color for the logos:

This last shade was the color used official by the team from 1980 (or so) through 1996.

As I've mentioned in the past, I have a 1976 Style Guide sheet for the Buccaneers. Back in the '70s, licensees and uniform manufacturers were supposed to match colors to these Style Guide sheets. They provided tear-off color chips to be used for color matching. The Bucs sheet shows a slightly lighter Orange than was used in the '80s and '90s. But it wasn't as extreme as what I've shown above.

[GriffinM6]

Miami's colors are orange, green, and white after the colors of the orange tree.

[Ted Cunningham]

Panthers' blue supposedly came from "Carolina Blue".)

I've heard people say this, but I've never seen any proof. The only explanation I've ever heard for the Panthers' colors is that Jerry Richardson's son chose the name and colors for the team. I think it's more likely that he just went with colors that were trendy at the time. Though thankfully, the Panthers' black, blue, and silver have had more staying power than a lot of other trendy 90's color schemes.

You might be right - I think that's an assumption people keep making. Richardson's original proposal was black and royal blue. The actual color Columnia blue/silver/black scheme was created by the league.

I don't remember this, but apparently the original uniforms unveiled only had one set of pants - black.

I remember that as well. And to Jamikel's point, I too like that the Panthers' color scheme--hell the uniforms themselves--had/has staying power. The other expansion cat team's scheme could've had staying power had they not screwed with it so much--but we won't go there right now. Back to the Panthers...I also still kinda wish they'd go with just the ericcson cellphone blue & black as a base w/ silver trim if needed (kinda like that NFL NPC concept I did some time back).

To the royal/black point, I had an uncle who lived in Winston Salem when the expansion happened and he picked up a Panthers t-shirt for me. (I was 9ish at the time?) It was a heather grey shirt with the Panthers logo and 'Carolina' above it and 'Panthers' below it in a nondescript block typeface. The blue on the shirt was royal though, instead of the current shade. So I'm assuming this was a promotional item as the team's typography/wordmark wasn't even completed or included. I always thought that royal blue looked better than the current blue they use. Frankly, I probably only think that because of that shirt!

[Jamikel]

the team's typography/wordmark

One aspect of the Panthers' identity that definitely hasn't had staying power.

[TruColor]

Here's an interesting comparison:

=

Same color.

[BlueSky]

Panthers' blue supposedly came from "Carolina Blue".)

I've heard people say this, but I've never seen any proof. The only explanation I've ever heard for the Panthers' colors is that Jerry Richardson's son chose the name and colors for the team. I think it's more likely that he just went with colors that were trendy at the time. Though thankfully, the Panthers' black, blue, and silver have had more staying power than a lot of other trendy 90's color schemes.

You might be right - I think that's an assumption people keep making. Richardson's original proposal was black and royal blue. The actual color Columnia blue/silver/black scheme was created by the league.

I don't remember this, but apparently the original uniforms unveiled only had one set of pants - black.

That article was a shocker. A buyer pays hundreds of millions of dollars for a franchise and the league still has the last word for the name and colors? Wow...

[Gothamite]

Yep. That's pretty standard throughout the major sports. That's what happens when you buy a franchise in something, you cede a lot of control over the marketing to the head organization.

Leagues also have veto power over names. "Panthers" was Richardson's choice, but he had to submit it to the NFL for approval.

FWIW, the owners of the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets submitted a list of potential names to the NHL, which gave them back a short list of two approved names: "Blue Jackets" and "Justice". The owners got to choose between those two.

[epper]

Correct me if Im wrong, but I've read the NY Mets' colours were chosen to pay homage to the former NY teams that left the city: blue for the Dodgers & orange for the Giants.

[leopard88]

It has been discussed here before, but the Atlanta Falcons' black, red and gold (small part of original helmet stripe) were meant to combine the colors of Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia. Obviously, Tech has lost out over the years.

[Billy B]

It has been discussed here before, but the Atlanta Falcons' black, red and gold (small part of original helmet stripe) were meant to combine the colors of Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia. Obviously, Tech has lost out over the years.

I always thought that they had chosen red and black for their colors then added the thin gold stripe to the helmet to make Tech fans a little happier about a team in Atlanta wearing Georgia's colors.

[leopard88]

It has been discussed here before, but the Atlanta Falcons' black, red and gold (small part of original helmet stripe) were meant to combine the colors of Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia. Obviously, Tech has lost out over the years.

I always thought that they had chosen red and black for their colors then added the thin gold stripe to the helmet to make Tech fans a little happier about a team in Atlanta wearing Georgia's colors.

That may be more accurate. Either way . . . Original Atlanta Falcons = Univ. of Georgia + Georgia Tech.

[B-Rich]

Correct me if Im wrong, but I've read the NY Mets' colours were chosen to pay homage to the former NY teams that left the city: blue for the Dodgers & orange for the Giants.

I've heard that, too. But it also helps that those colors are the same as those in the City of New York flag, and also are used by the NBA New York Knicks.

FWIW, there is a lack of concrete evidence and some discrepancy, but there is a general rough agreement as to how LSU's colors of purple and gold came about by an interesting occasion. As I read it once, the original idea of school administrators was to have the university's colors be blue and white to match the state flag. However, in 1893 that all changed. As per the LSU website,

"It is believed that those colors (purple and gold) were worn for the first time by an LSU team in the spring of 1893 when the LSU baseball squad beat Tulane in the first intercollegiate contest played in any sport by Louisiana State University. Team captain E.B. Young reportedly hand-picked those colors for the LSU squad.

Later that year, the first football game was played. On November 25, 1893, football coach/chemistry professor Dr. Charles Coates and some of his players went into town to purchase ribbon to adorn their gray jerseys as they prepared to play the first LSU gridiron game.

Stores were stocking ribbons in the colors of Mardi Gras ? purple, gold and green ? for the coming Carnival season. However, none of the green had yet arrived at Reymond?s Store at the corner of Third and Main streets. Coates and quarterback Ruffin Pleasant bought up all of the purple and gold stock and made it into rosettes and badges.

Nice story, but it has a few holes. First of all, I don't think any store-- especially one in Baton Rouge-- would be "stocking up" ribbons for the "upcoming Carnival season" (roughly January and February) in November. Plus, did the players wear rosettes and badges on their uniforms? Or were they for the fans in the stands to wear?

I've also heard variations on this-- that it wasn't in Baton Rouge, it was in New Orleans; that it was for spirit ribbons and badges for attendees of a baseball game and the ribbon was on sale AFTER Mardi Gras; that Tulane had already had picked green as their color, so LSU was left with purple and gold; or that LSU got to the store in New Orleans first and selected purple and gold first (with Coates declaring that the purple and gold looked "tiger-ish") thus "leaving" Tulane with nothing but the green which they bought out and which became their colors.

I have a feeling that somewhere in the middle of all that is the correct story. And ever since 1893, LSU has been purple and gold.

[xTr1pleXx]

Of my teams, the most interesting story is the Jets - they got their colors from owner Hess gas stations, which were owned by the same person who owned the Jets at the time (and would own the Jets for decades to come).

The Knicks got their blue and orange colors from the New York City flag (which also plays into why the Mets wear blue and orange, though they also have the other reason of honoring the Dodgers and Giants).

I'm actually not entirely sure how the Yankees wound up on midnight blue and white. Nearly every baseball team back before the 1930's had a red, white, and blue color scheme, with the Yanks as somewhat of a curious exception (very ironically, given their name). The Yankees did wear some red on-and-off in their very early years, but had completely dropped it by the time Babe Ruth was acquired in 1920. From that point forward, there was no red in the Yankees uniforms, and the top hat logo was not yet designed. I believe it was only after the top hat logo was designed in 1947 that red became a part of the Yankees' color scheme (though I'm not sure when the Yankees began wearing jackets with red trim on them, the ones they wore towards the end of the DiMaggio era). The midnight blue makes perfect sense, given that most teams wore some form of navy, but how they chose that as basically their only color, and eschewed red, I don't know.

Eventually, with the decreasing usage of the top hat logo and preferring the current Yankees wordmark (which is always rendered as either blue lettering on white or white lettering on blue) over the wordmark derived from the top hat logo (which was always colored in red, and hasn't been used in decades), red was once again all but dropped from the Yankees' color scheme, only seen in the top hat logo (which also, might I add, has a lighter shade of blue from the normal "Yankees blue"), and in a very brief revival of the DiMaggio-era jacket around 2000 or 2001 (that was immediately shelved after a season, I believe). Once again, the Yanks were simply a blue and white team.

In the past couple of years, the team has begun to incorporate gray as a 3rd color, simply because it's the closest thing we have to a 3rd color (if you exclude the red from the top hat logo, which the Steinbrenners have always downplayed), due to the road jerseys. Gray has been incorporated into the new Yankees' road BP jerseys, which were only made to sell more BP jerseys (since anything with a Yankees logo on it will sell like hotcakes), and then incorporated into the Yankees' re-color of the MLB logo in 2010 (one of the last teams to recolor the MLB logo into their color scheme). Many players have also worn gray gloves (Bobby Abreu being the most notable example) or gray sweatbands during road games (mainly Robbie Cano) ever since 2006 or so, which might have helped bring along some of the emphashizing of gray on the road (outside of the MLB logo, the Yanks don't incorporate gray into anything at home). It's basically a road-only color, which makes sense, since that'd how it came into the color scheme. If the Yanks ever decide to start increasing the usage of the top hat logo again (don't count on it for as long as a Steinbrenner owns the team, as Hal has shown no inclination to use it more often), they may recolor it into predominantly blue and gray though. But I can't see that happening for now, since the Yankees have completely moved to the interlocking NY being the main representation of the club (which makes sense, since it's far more iconic and isn't dominated by a color not seen anywhere else in the team's identity).

[GeauxColonels]

Nice story, but it has a few holes. First of all, I don't think any store-- especially one in Baton Rouge-- would be "stocking up" ribbons for the "upcoming Carnival season" (roughly January and February) in November.

Why not? You have to remember that this is in the late 1800s and supply chains and inventory management were not even a fraction as sophisticated back then as they are now. I don't think it's unreasonable at all for the store at that time to begin stocking up on Mardi Gras items a few months in advance. And, let's not forget, that the "Carnival" season technically starts on January 6...well before the Mardi Gras feast. And, my final point, there are many Krewes that hold tableau balls in late fall through early winter to prepare for the bigger celebrations to come. So, I don't think that story has nearly as many holes as some argue.

[DaRadniz29]

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

Good ol' "Florida Orange". I'm not sure how they came about the actual original creamsicle shade (paging ColorWerx!!!!), but I wouldn't doubt that since orange is one of Florida's two state colors (the other being blue--and now y'all know how the Univ. of Florida Gators got their colors), that had something to do with it. Now what's interesting is that I remember reading that originally they intended to trim it with a darker orange...ended up being red instead.

Actually that might not entirely be true with how Florida got their colors. UF got their colors of Blue and orange from the two schools that merged to create the University of Florida.

At least that's the story according to the UF website: third paragraph down.

1910 » Orange And Blue Chosen As Official Colors » UF acquires its colors from the two schools that united to form the new school. The University of Florida at Lake City had school colors of blue and white and East Florida Seminary in Gainesville had orange and black.

I also heard PSU got their colors from faded uni's turning the colors in the sun. Not sure if it's true.

Some people think that the San Jose Sharks two primary colors are Teal and Burnt Orange. That's incorrect - While the shark have always had burnt orange in their logo (hockey stick) they made it a full accent color with the updated logo. The Sharks eyes have also become burnt orange. However, the sharks have always had Teal and Black as their two primary colors, with Teal being the primary as far as I can remember.

Some feel that the Sharks are moving to Black as their primary b/c that's what they at home games in the playoffs. I'm not sure this is true either, but I have heard the rumors. I'd prefer the Sharks to go back to a gray/ metallic silver on the uniforms. They can keep the orange on the logo. But it's not so much the orange as it piping/striping on the home and away uniforms... to me they just look like minor league baseball uniforms.