re: the story of the Clemson colors (from below)

Sep 1, 2011, 7:02 PM

seems every year or so this is brought up. So much so that I have the page bookmarked in Joe Sherman's "A History of Clemson Football". Joe Sherman also wrote "There's Something in These Hills" so I think he's a pretty good source. My mom gave me this book in 1979 (she wrote that in the inside cover).

I have to say the sunset on Lake Hartwell is the wackiest one I have ever heard, especially since the lake has only been there about 50 years. Good one.

From the book.......(any typos are mine since I hand-typed this)

Page 1:

Purple and gold were Clemson's colors when my family moved to campus in 1925. There has been an evolution of colors over the years until they are now closer to purple and orange.

Page 50-51:

It is extremely doubtful that anyone can tell you with certainty how the Clemson colors swung from purple (and a rather pale purple at that) and gold to what for several years as described as "Northwestern purple and burnt orange".

But that those colors have changed, unofficially if not officially, is a fact and there is a story about it that is probably as good as any other explanation.

It says that in the early years of Jess Neely's tenure, he found it almost impossible to get uniforms in purple and gold that were "color fast". In other words, between constant exposure to the weather and the washing machines, the purple and gold faded markedly, and became difficult, if not impossible, to be recognized for what they were supposed to be.

A big economic factor here was the impossibility of adding replacement jerseys or pants to existing sets of uniforms. The newer uniforms made the older ones look ratty indeed. And complete sets of uniforms were hard to finance in the mid-30's.

So, working with color people in the school of textiles and with sporting goods manufacturers, Neely finally arrived at deeper colors (a slightly deeper color and a gold that became orange) that were more color fast in that hey held up to the rays of the sun, the agitations of the washing machine, and the carry-over from season to season.

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re: the story of the Clemson colors (from below)

Re: re: the story of the Clemson colors (from below)

i second the sunset theory. sometimes it's just breathtaking

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