Orange You Interested?
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
There is no denying the unmistakable burnt orange that belongs to the University of Texas…but did you ever wonder where this unique color originated?
Legend has it that revered Coach Darrell Royal chose the colors because they helped his players conceal the football when they ran the triple option. Another version of the story is that back in 1885 a couple of students decided that the UT baseball team was going to need a boost of confidence playing against Southwestern University in Georgetown. They ran to the nearest store and bought up all the orange and white ribbon that was available, the largest supply of colors that the store had on hand. This orange and white color combo stayed in play for years but didn’t become official until May of 1900 when the school had a big vote of students, faculty, and alumni. The Board of Regents final outcome was: orange and white 562 votes, orange and maroon 310, blue alone 203, and various other colors ended up getting about 15 votes a piece.
Over the next couple years, many shades of orange were tried out until the Board of Regents finally decided on the Burnt Orange a.k.a Texas Orange in June 1967.
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Filed under: History, Sports, Texas by Stephen : 1 Comment » 
A great piece of orange-lore from the Aggie Side of things: The journalism building on A&M’s campus was originally built with some sort of Maroon colored building materials. The legend goes that a Tea-Sip architect chose the specific materials knowing that the maroon finish over a long period of time faded to burnt orange. I am not sure if the building is still standing (the journalism program has ceased to exist), but up until a few years ago- there was a burnt orange building on A&M’s campus. Gig ‘Em.