Before Penn Staters bled blue and white, they donned pink and black. 

In 1887, nearly three decades after the institution enrolled its first students, a committee of students representing the sophomore, junior and senior classes was appointed to discuss solid and combination colors to represent the Pennsylvania State College (PSC), the official name at the time of the institution. The committee’s selections were then to be presented to and voted upon by the student body. 

An excerpt of the October 1887 edition of The Free Lance, a predecessor of The Daily Collegian, reads:  

“Of the colors presented the combination dark pink and black was unanimously adopted by the students.” 

It was an era when many institutions of higher education across the country were proclaiming their own college colors, presumably to distinguish athletic teams from one another on the playing field as intercollegiate competitions became more prominent. Penn State organized its first football team in 1887, playing — and winning — two games that year, both against Bucknell University.  

Other organized sports at PSC in the late 1880s included baseball, cricket, tennis and general athletics — now known as track and field. One of the earliest reports of a PSC team wearing the newly adopted colors appeared in the March 1888 edition of The Free Lance:  

“Your local editors thought the interest in baseball and athletic sports was in general flagging, but this is not the case. The truth is the local editors have not had enough interest in those sports to inquire about them. What would have been our surprise if we had not known before that the baseball team will make its debut in brand new suits which were adopted at the club’s last meeting. It shall consist of a cap of the college colors, a black jersey, a pink belt, white pants and black stockings.” 

Editors of the November 1889 issue of The Free Lance noted:

“Our football team makes quite a good appearance now when they come on the field. All owing to the uniform, don’t you know.”

Choosing the college colors 

There is little official documentation on the selection of Penn State’s original colors of pink and black and the eventual change to blue and white. George R. Meek, who graduated in 1890, served the first editor of the La Vie yearbook, and was the first graduate manager of PSC athletics, recorded his recollections. An extract from his reminiscences reads: 

“There were no college colors when I came here in 1886. There was a story that the colors blue and white had been established earlier and then forgotten. I was responsible for the selection of colors. We wanted something bright and attractive, but we could not use red or orange as those colors were already used by other colleges. So we chose a very deep pink — really cerise — which with black made a very pretty combination.” 

Meek explained that he worked with a company in Philadelphia, the E.K. Tryon Company, to have pink-and-black-striped flannel made especially for the Pennsylvania State College. 

“The blazers and caps they made from this material were very popular,” Meek continued in his reminiscences. “I had to buy them myself and sell them, but I managed to make out financially. We had to give them up finally because if they were in the sunshine about three weeks, the cerise faded so that the stripes became white and black. So, the colors were changed to navy blue and white because pink was not a fast color.” 

The recollection of Meek was one of two first-hand accounts recorded by Abbie Cromer, curator of the Penn State Collection, who researched the adoption of Penn State’s colors in 1947.  

Another recollection that Cromer included in her research was from Francis J. Pond, class of 1892 and a member of the faculty from 1893 to 1903. 

Pond’s recollection is recorded as saying:  

“The early colors of Penn State were pink and black. In those days they had a yell which went something like this: 

Yah, yah, yah. Yah, yah, yeh. 
Wish-whack. Pink, black -— 
P.S.C.

"Around 1888, when Penn State played Dickinson on the front campus, as there was yet no athletic field, they gave this yell, and the substitutes of the Dickinson team made a parody of it which went like this:  

Yah, yah, hay. Yah, yah, yeh. 
Bees wax. Bees wax — 
A.B.C.

This so disgusted the boys that soon after they not only changed the college yell but also the colors from pink and black to blue and white, and so they have remained ever since.” 

The colors remained pink and black until at least 1890, as documented in La Vie. In its earliest years the yearbook was published annually by the junior class; so, the 1891 issue of La Vie would have been published in 1890 by the class of 1891. The college yell published in this issue still refers to the colors of pink and black.

What is the true story? 

In March 1947, Cromer sent the reminiscences of Pond and Meek to Penn State’s assistant to the president, in charge of student affairs at the time. In the cover letter, Cromer wrote: 

“Attached is a copy of the several items I have been able to glean concerning the adoption of the college colors. Francis J. Pond, class of 1892, and George R. Meek, class of 1890, both became distinguished alumni of the college, but I am inclined to believe Mr. Meek’s story as he was a senior, prominent in campus athletic activities when the change was made. Also, I am a bit prejudiced in favor of Mr. Meek’s story because he told it to me.” 

In the letter, Cromer added, “On one point there is general agreement: The Athletic Association selected the colors navy blue and white in 1890. Your guess about the true story is as good as mine.” 

Becoming blue and white 

According to April 1890 issue of The Free Lance, the Athletic Association held a meeting on March 18 of that year for the purpose of adopting college colors.  

“The association, being dissatisfied with the work of the committee on colors, discharged it and then took the matter in charge itself. The combination finally adopted was navy blue and white.” 

It is unknown why the colors of navy blue and white were selected, but the date of that meeting coincided with a visit to campus by a representative from E. K. Tryon, Jr. & Company, a general athletic outfitters business in Philadelphia. 

The combination of navy blue and white was quickly adopted by the students. The Free Lance reported that the company’s representative “brought a splendid line of samples of athletic goods during his short stay and booked orders amounting to almost three hundred dollars.” 

In May 1890, The Free Lance reported: 

“Most of the goods ordered by the students of E. K. Tyron & Co. Have arrived and certainly speak well for the firm. The blazers and caps in college colors are splendid samples of workmanship and make a very fine appearance. Indeed everyone has reason to feel satisfied with the work of the firm.” 

Penn State athletes, students and fans have worn navy blue and white for the last 134 years. During each Homecoming game at Beaver Stadium, fans throwback to the original colors by forming a pink and black “S-Zone” in the student section. Periodically, Penn State teams will pay homage to the original school colors with its players wear pink and black uniforms or warmup gear at select athletic events.