Nothing hits like a good throwback logo. While athletic departments have spent millions of dollars refreshing their brand identities, sometimes the vintage look just hits harder. We love retro designs, so we’ve compiled this list of our absolute favorite throwback logos in college football.
Tulane Angry Wave Logo
The Angry Wave logo was designed in 1964 by Eldon Endacott, manager of the Tulane Bookstore, and Art Evans, art director for Angelus-Pacific Co. Tulane had been using Greenie, a bubbly college football player, as their mascot, but athletic director Rix Yard wanted to commission something “more aggressive” – well, what’s more aggressive than an Angry Wave? That being said, this throwback logo has stolen the hearts of nearly all college football fans who see it.
UConn Sad Husky Logo
The infamous “Sad Husky”, beloved by Connecticut fans and utilized by many as a Twitter Avatar. believe it or not, the “Sad Husky” was the first Husky logo utilized by UConn, though only for one year (1959). While UConn athletics is almost certainly better off with their more aggressive modern rebrand, “Sad Husky” remains the ultimate “cult classic” throwback logo.
Clemson Country Gentleman Logo
The concept of the Clemson “Country Gentleman” was originally a mascot played by a cadet at games, lasting from 1939 into the 1970s. The mascot would sport a purple coat and a cane and was meant to represent the southern charm and hospitality associated with Clemson. This mascot was accompanied by the phrase “a Clemson man needs no introduction”, which you’ve likely seen on many Clemson bumper stickers since. Though the Country Gentleman mascot has long since been retired, the design from the original stickers sold at Judge Keller’s store in Clemson remains one of the best throwback logos in college football.
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Logo
A lot of these logo rebrands came from athletic departments wanting to “toughen up” the schools branding, to make them better fit for a contending college football team. Hawaii’s throwback logo confirms that sometimes, the original is just better. What many don’t know is Hawaii’s mascot was originally “The Deans”, but in the final game of the 1923 season, a rainbow appeared above the football field (this sounds like legend, but is true). Media deemed the team “the Rainbows”, which also fit due to the auspicious nature through which native Hawaiians viewed rainbows. The above Rainbow logo was used from 1982 to 2000, when the team rebranded to just the “Warriors”. Personally, we wish they still used it.
Oregon Retro Duck
The Oregon Duck retro logo is perhaps one of the most recognizable in college football – not just because it’s one of the best, but because it bears an uncanny resemblance to a certain Disney character. Well, the reason the Oregon Duck bears that resemblance is because he originally was Donald Duck. Walt Disney was friends with the Oregon athletic director at the time, Leo Harris. Disney gave Harris permission to use Donald Duck as the university’s athletic logo – an agreement that lasted (despite various questioning from Disney’s legal team) until 2010, when the current Oregon Duck formally branched off from Donald. Some vintage Oregon duck logos do vary a bit more from the original Donald Duck logo, as shown in the design above.
Purdue Pete Logo
While assembling a list of the bets throwback logos in college football, you need to include some “cursed” candidates. While Purdue Pete may be scary, his infamy vaults him into our list of the best retro college football logos. Art Evans was commissioned by the owners of the Purdue University Bookstore in 1940. What you may not know is that the logo existed for 16 years before the university created the physical mascot we all know (and fear) today.
Syracuse Otto the Orange Logo
No college football vintage logo list is complete without Otto the Orange. Much like Purdue Pete, Otto may be better known for his mascot form. However, in the case of Otto, the mascot did exist before the logo. Otto the Orange was designed by the Syracuse cheerleading team after the previous mascot, the Saltine Warrior, was removed after petitions from students due to its negative portrayal of a Native American. While Otto first appeared in 1980, he wasn’t made the official mascot of Syracuse until 1995, when it was decreed as such by chancellor Buzz Shaw. Since then, many iterations of the Otto the Orange logo have come about, but we must say that the cuddly original depicted above is our favorite.
UCF Citronaut Logo
On the list of “logos we’re devastated went away”, the UCF Citronaut may be #1. While other vintage logos on this list were more traditional depictions of the same mascot, the UCF Citronaut logo reflect a different mascot entirely. The Citronaut was the first logo of Florida Technical University, FTU, which would become UCF in 1978. The Citronaut logo was designed by Norman Van Meter, the brother-in-law of university president (at the time) Charles Millican. It combined two major aspects of Central Florida industry, citrus farming and space exploration. After just a single year, students voted to change the university mascot to “Knights of the Pegasus”, which has transformed into the UCF Knights of today. The next official usage of the Citronaut logo was on a UCF baseball uniform in 2014, which led to a boom of interest for and designs of the amazing throwback logo.
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