The College Colors

In the wake of the Civil War, the increasing popularity of intercollegiate athletic competition, especially in baseball, led Trinity's student body to select college colors which would appear on uniforms. In 1868, the students adopted the combination of dark green and white, colors that had been used as early as the late 1830s on the uniforms of a popular undergraduate marching organization, the "Archers." The latter wore green turbans with black plumes, green frocks and white trousers. In addition, the officers, elected by the members, wore swords at their belts, while the rank and file carried longbows and black quivers filled with arrows. This distinctively attired group appeared at public festivities and in local parades, reportedly much to the delight of the young ladies among the spectators.

In 1877, the suggestion arose to change the colors, perhaps in anticipation of the move to the Summit Campus. Blue and gray were proposed as the new combination, but the student body postponed action. By the early 1880s, students again had become dissatisfied with the colors, complaining that they faded easily and became stained. Furthermore, the old slogan "Long Live the Green and White" had seemingly lost its punch, and there were no longer any undergraduates who had lived or studied on the Old Campus. Sentiment was strong for different colors suitable for the "new Trinity." In October 1883, The Trinity Tablet announced that the colors of dark blue and gold that the undergraduate body had just adopted were worn for the first time by Trinity athletes at an intercollegiate tennis tournament, tennis having recently become a popular sport. "The effect was very good," the Tablet noted. "The colors go well together, and the caps and jerseys of alternate stripes of blue and gold were very becoming." Blue and gold have ever since remained Trinity's colors.