Being that color is major part of the theme of this blog (see my 2021 analysis of school color shades), I got to thinking of the cool, funny and ridiculous names that the Pac-12 teams use for their colors. This weekend both WSU and ASU wore dark gray uniforms.
Anthracite Gray
Washington State has a nice official palette of red and gray...or should I say "Crimson" and "Gray" But the shade of dark gray that WSU (and ASU) wore this weekend is alternately referred to as "Anthracite." The official University Brandbook does not actually mention "Anthracite," and this currently-trendy moniker appears to be a Nike thing, which makes sense since the teams that flaunt it are Nike teams. A quick Google image search shows Purdue, Arkansas, TCU, Air Force and Kentucky being the most common teams to join WSU in this name:
But calling dark gray by this name has been all the rage in this decade of ALL consumer products being gray! Its certainly sounds cool, but who actually knows what anthracite is? Well I'll tell you...it's basically coal, and the name is just a cooler way of saying charcoal gray.
Nightmare Green
Oregon is known for its many colors, but their most recent addition to the color vocabulary is the color that they went all-in for last weekend in their victory over BYU in week 3. In 2019-20, Oregon did not have a black uniform component, and they made up for it with this really dark green that looks black in some light and olive green in others. What cemented its future use were back-to-back victories in it in the Pac-12 Championship game and the Rose Bowl. At one point, Oregon's dark green was also called "Thunder Green."
Grellow
Oh, my Duck fans certainly remember this green-yellow mashup color, and the name "grellow" is certainly not an official moniker, but a name that unhappy fans have attached to this really ugly, unlucky helmet color. It only got worn four times in 2006-2008 for good reason since they lost 3 of those times. Ironically the first time they wore it was a bad loss vs. BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. But you might say that it was the father of the various color-changing helmets that have popped up lately. If you google grellow now, you ironically get a lot of references to grey+yellow which is due to the popularity of grey the last 15 years. The modern day version of this is the "Lightning Yellow" which is a staple of the Oregon brand. Some people liken it to highlighter yellow.
Natural White
When Oregon State redid their uniforms in 2019 they went with an off-white that they call "Natural" The press materials play up the idea that this color is organic and grounded like the Beavers. In my opinion this color works well with the warm orange and black and wood texture..unlike the dishwater-like "Bone" look that the LA Rams have pulled out with this same idea. Funnily enough, if you look at the OSU academic branding, they use some really cute names for their brand colors separate from the athletic department: Beaver Orange, Paddletail Black, and Bucktooth White. Makes you smile.
Cardinal
A mention of Pac-12 color theory would not be complete (if tangential) without mentioning Stanford. Their nickname and actual brand color is "Cardinal" Not the bird, but the shade of red. According to the web, the color was adopted in 1891 even before they picked "Indian" as mascot. In 1972, they rightfully dumped the Native American mascot and just went with "Cardinals" a confusing reference NOT to a bird but the color. In 1981 they made it an official singular "Cardinal" The other notable color-only nickname is the Syracuse Orange, while other schools use color in their name like the California Golden Bears, Alabama Crimson Tide, Tulane Green Wave, Duke Blue Devils....
So what did I miss? Any other color-name themed anectdotes? Tell me in the comments?
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