Repurposing

[andycumbee19]

This is my all-time favorite "repurposed" logo - White Knoll High School in Lexington, SC:

Wow. Wu Tang Clan? Really?

That is awesome! Not really a logo I'd expect to see on a high school football helmet.

This one is also from South Carolina. We got us suh gangstaz here, son!

Whats funny about this one is that the guy who is the new coach here did the logo branding himself. He originally wanted to go with a Wofford College "W" logo. How he went from that idea to this is beyond me.

[Raymie]

I hate to bump again, but this logo also hit the mothership today and it's another mileage doozy. Valley Union (small school alert) 2007-[11?].

http://azhelmetproject.com/valleyunion08_10.jpg

And in related news:

http://sportslogos.net/team.php?id=3752

[raysfan24]

My high school uses the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets logo. My school payed Georgia Tech $1 to use the logo on merchandise, uniforms, etc.

[Raymie]

@raysfan24 I know I read that some other school paid a similar nominal amount to a university as well. I just love the airmiles these AZ schools are racking up with their logos ? the UK, Canada, AND Australia in one state!

Oh, and St. David (the Ti-Cats logo users) and Valley Union (Cardiff Devils gone blue) actually played each other during the year. They both play 8-man football.

[Ted Cunningham]

Union High in Mississippi also uses a recolored version of the Miami logo.

So did (up until just recently I believe) University High School in Morgantown, WV.

[bucknut40]

Going to a School that that used a modified Eagles logo. Honestly most high schools kids dont even see it as "stealing" or "taking". Heck it doesnt even cross most kids minds. I mean imo, if the school isnt using the whole idenity package and just using one logo I dont see a problem with it. It's high school, thats not multi million dollar market. Its really only a few thousand dollars when it comes to appearal and stuff

[Raymie]

If I ever get good at making logos and master Illustrator, I will begin a concept series entitled "Fixing Arizona's High Schools" with logos and football uniform concepts.

One thing that bugs me is that high schools are nowhere near consistent. Our football uniforms are in block font (third jerseys in a serif type), our girls' basketball uniforms are in Bank Gothic (with no trace of gold!), and boys' soccer is using some sort of Helvetica/Impact for its numbers.

[DustDevil61]

Probably not the best example, but my (HS) alma mater, Kanab HS in Utah, has more recently used a red Dallas Cowboys-esque star, though they've put "KC" inside of it:

Here's another star logo (white), along with a variation of the Wyoming Cowboys logo, at the school's official site. It's also found on the pants leg. The football team used to wear red helmets with a solid white Wyoming-esque logo (don't know if it was the exact same or not).

If I had any say (maybe I can find out), I'd go with a large, Copperplate "KC" (they have the Copperplate "KC" on the hats, sweaters, etc. that they sell), and put it over the star:

I like the Copperplate here, despite not being a big fan of the Copperplate font elsewhere. I actually like the star here, as it also could represent Kanab's history as "Little Hollywood," where many western films have been shot.

[Gothamite]

Going to a School that that used a modified Eagles logo. Honestly most high schools kids dont even see it as "stealing" or "taking". Heck it doesnt even cross most kids minds.

Then they have been let down by the educational system, parents, priests and anybody else who is charged with teaching them right from wrong. Now's the perfect time to start correcting that.

I mean imo, if the school isnt using the whole idenity package and just using one logo I dont see a problem with it. It's high school, thats not multi million dollar market. Its really only a few thousand dollars when it comes to appearal and stuff

1. Stealing only part of something is still stealing.

2. Petty theft is still theft.

[Raymie]

Some organizations couldn't care less ? especially in the case of the international logo imports in AZ. I doubt the Australian rugby league side, the Welsh hockey team or (possibly) the Ti-Cats care that much.

[ShlyKBMT]

From Southeast Texas

Port Arthur Memorial Titans

Beaumont Central Jaguars

Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin' Bears

Port Neches-Groves Indians

Vidor Pirates

Hamshire-Fannett Longhorns

Silsbee Tigers

Kirbyville Wildcats

[Raymie]

Holy smokes, Beaumont Central ? I've never seen any team rip off the UNUSED logo of any other team! That deserves some guts and praise! I'd immediately recommend for that helmet to be used by AZ's Desert Ridge, Desert View, or (with more black) Boulder Creek ? all of which have the same colors and mascot.

[bucknut40]

Going to a School that that used a modified Eagles logo. Honestly most high schools kids dont even see it as "stealing" or "taking". Heck it doesnt even cross most kids minds.

Then they have been let down by the educational system, parents, priests and anybody else who is charged with teaching them right from wrong. Now's the perfect time to start correcting that.

I mean imo, if the school isnt using the whole idenity package and just using one logo I dont see a problem with it. It's high school, thats not multi million dollar market. Its really only a few thousand dollars when it comes to appearal and stuff

1. Stealing only part of something is still stealing.

2. Petty theft is still theft.

Well what I meant by them not seeing it as stealing, I mean they dont realize were using another teams logo, not that they think its ok to steal...

I agree stealing is stealing but I do think people are making a bigger deal about it then it is. Im sure if it were as bad as people are making it these pro and college teams would have done something already

[Gothamite]

They will. There's just so much stealing that it takes a while to get around to addressing it all.

[Gary]

Glendale Union High School District in Arizona(yes I am familiar with the other teams as I used to be a high school football host for a radio station here in Phoenix) has some offenders as well.

Cortez Colts is using Southern Methodist's logo on their helmet. I do know they may be changing logos again for the upcoming season.

Independence Patriots my Alma Mater uses the Flying Elvis, but liscense the logo from the Patriots themselves

Thunderbird Chiefs uses the FSU Spear

Washington Rams uses a old style Rams helmet

Sunnyslope Vikings uses the Minnesota Vikings style helmet

Apollo Hawks uses the Army A with a Hawk

Glendale Cardinals use the old St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals logo with the permission of the organization.

Greenway Demons(Raymie talked about in the first few posts) uses a modified version of the San Francisco Demons wordmark.

Moon Valley Rockets are a mess, used a modified Titans logo with mv in the center, than ripped off the Houston Rockets before going with numbers on the helmet before switching to a new helmet later this year.

[Raymie]

I will respond to all of those. Sources are the Helmet Project and some of my own research that hasn't been posted yet.

Cortez: Changing AGAIN? Oh my goodness. This is silly! 2007 was the Rochester Mustangs logo-through-C-hurdle mark (in outline, no less, on white!). In 2010 they had a horseshoe, this year was the galloping horse.

Independence: So they do license the Flying Elvis. I believe I found an Independence helmet c.1980 with Pat Patriot. (Hint: The school was founded in 1976 or so.)

Thunderbird: Yes, but not always — they used a Tennessee T in 1980 and "Chiefs" script in the late 90s and early 2000s. Thunderbird's scheme is kinda hard to look at, and it rings bells of Mesa's Westwood. (I'm not a personal fan of Native American mascots without any specific meaning, either.)

Washington: No, they use the current Ram horns in purple on white and have for about the last five years at least. 2001 was a strange helmet with this design on it. The old Ram horns were used in the current scheme in the late 70s and 80s, and the helmets were purple with white horns from when the school opened up until the mid-70s.

Sunnyslope: Slope's used that for DECADES, about 45 years by my estimate. In 1962 though they didn't.

Apollo: Apollo's pretty nice.

Glendale: So they do license it? Pretty nice — and a coincidence that the Cardinals moved THERE, too.

Greenway: Greenway has a longer history with the Packers logo. We know they used it in 1978, 1985, and for several years before the Demons wordmark on the helmets.

Moon Valley: The term hot mess is correct to describe MV of late.

[quantum]

Somewhere I heard that to avoid copyright infringement your product must be 30% different than the original. Now I have NO idea how you measure 30%, but is there any truth to that statement?

Not a word.

Common misconception, but 100% untrue. If you start with a logo that isn't yours, it'll never be yours no matter what you do to it.

The original story from years ago has been twisted a bit.

Gothamite is absolutely correct. If you use a logo as a starting point, no amount of modification will ever make it yours.

The "percentage" story was in relation to the comparison of two logos where neither was based off another. It was merely a figure thrown out by either a lawyer or judge (don't remember which) that the similarity couldn't exceed a certain amount. So it was an arbitrary standard used by someone to determine infringement but has no standing beyond that person's judgment.

[Gary]

I know that Sunnyslope changed to look like Minnesota last year.

Indy used Pat through 88 before they changed to a INDEPENDENCE script that looks like the old Giants helmet. I believe 94 they switched to a block I, than in 98 when Epley took over it became the Flying Elvis.

Moon Valley has always been ahot mess when I went to Indy they would wear a weird Albany/Iniana Firebirds helmet.

I will agree with Apollo, always nice uniforms and better than the UofA

I know that Sunnyslope changed to look like Minnesota last year.

Indy used Pat through 88 before they changed to a INDEPENDENCE script that looks like the old Giants helmet. I believe 94 they switched to a block I, than in 98 when Epley took over it became the Flying Elvis.

Moon Valley has always been ahot mess when I went to Indy they would wear a weird Albany/Iniana Firebirds helmet.

I will agree with Apollo, always nice uniforms and better than the UofA knock off helmets they wore.

[eethy]

Can't find a photo...but Boys & Girls High School in Brooklyn, NY used the "Boyz" wordmark on their helmets in 1991.

[Raymie]

Wow!

And Gary, the flames MV used (at least if the Helmet Project rendering is correct) come from the Birmingham Fire of the WLAF. Valley Lutheran also uses them.

If you have any yearbooks, I would LOVE to see the football photos scanned! I'll privately send you my email to get them.

EDIT: Awesome. Thanks!