School Colors: Garnet & Gold

The Garnet and Gold colors first appeared as the school colors of the Florida State College, based on a combination the class color of 1905 (red) and the colors of the football team (purple and gold). The colors carried over into the Florida State College for Women, and truly became codified with the rise of intracollegiate athletics and the Odds and Evens sports rivalry (c. 1913).

One of the earliest and most beloved traditions involving what would become the school colors is the FSCW “Color Rush.” Every year around Thanksgiving, the Odds and Evens would try to “capture” buildings around campus in the name of their year by raising their colors above the other team’s. The game would escalate until each team’s colors were hung off of roof tops from fishing poles.

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Mary Cobb Nelson's scrapbook, showing off the class colors of Odds & Evens and describing the Color Rush.

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Freshman Rat Cap, ca. 1950s. At one point, it was mandatory dress for incoming Freshmen students.

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The inaugural issue of The Talisman magazine, and the first mention of "Garnet and Gold" in the school's history.

School Colors: Garnet & Gold