Thursday Throwback: From Red/Black to Orange/Blue
The Pirates have always been Pirates, but they've not always been festooned in orange and blue.
Orange Coast College was founded in 1947 and opened its doors in the fall of 1948. OCC's mascot and school colors were chosen the previous spring.
Selections were made by student government officers enrolled at OCC's two feeder high schools at that time, Newport Harbor High and Huntington Beach.
The students agreed not to select their dominant high school color for OCC's new "branding" palette. That automatically ruled out the possibility of an orange and blue combination (Newport's colors were blue and gray; Huntington's orange and black). All other possibilities, however, were still on the table.
The school's mascot selected by the high school students was "Pete the Pirate," and the voting wasn't close. Pirates proved a popular choice. For a college destined to have an intimate relationship with the sea (sailing, rowing, swimming, surf team, sand volleyball, Marine Science Program, Sailing Center, etc.), it seemed appropriate for OCC to choose a nautically-themed mascot.
The selection of Coast's colors, however, were more of a challenge. The voting produced … maroon and gray. What? Those dreary tones don't begin to capture the drama of a rolling sea. As a result, the colors were never a hit with students.
In 1957, the blunder was corrected. During the school's 10th anniversary celebration, student government leaders voted to change the colors.
The officers voted to switch the colors to scarlet, black and white. The colors were thought to prompt an affection for Pirate ensigns, emblems and culture. The number two vote-getter was orange and white.
In changing its color scheme to scarlet, black and white, OCC joined a lengthy list of Southern California community colleges wearing (or soon to be wearing) red. Those schools included Santa Ana, Pasadena, Long Beach, Palomar, Saddleback, Santa Barbara, Chaffey, San Diego, Glendale and Imperial Valley.
Frankly, when I enrolled at Coast as a 17-year-old freshman in the fall of 1962, I had an immediate visceral reaction to the school's colors. It had everything to do with coherency. Prior to the first football game that year, I had no idea what our school colors were. OCC's gridders took the field for the season opener in … red.
"Just a moment," I complained to a mate. "Something's wrong. We're ORANGE COAST, not RED COAST." Red jerseys didn't make sense.
Thirty-three years later, in 1995, OCC's 50th Anniversary Planning Committee (meeting to lay the groundwork for a 20-month-long celebration, Feb. 1997-Sept. 1998) discussed "re-branding" the institution in honor of the 50th.
After months of deliberation, the committee recommended to the campus that the school's colors be changed and that a new logo be adopted. We also discussed changing the mascot from a Pirate to a Dolphin. Fortunately, that proposal never caught on.
The committee ultimately agreed that the colors -- orange, blue and white -- be recommended. They seemed to capture the zeitgeist of the place, plus they specifically communicated "Orange Coast."
In the spring of 1996, the committee chair – um, me -- was tasked with selling the idea to the campus. I first presented it to college president, Margaret Gratton. Margaret enthusiastically endorsed the idea. I then took it to the Athletic Division and its coaches, the President's Cabinet, the Administrative Cabinet, the Planning and Budget Committee, the Academic Senate, the Alumni Association and the Associated Students. All groups supported the recommendation without reservation, though there were dissenters.
The final decision, however, lay with the Associated Students. If they nixed the idea the whole campaign would be moot. Athletic director, Barry Wallace, and I presented the proposal to the Associated Students during an informational session. A week later, an open forum was sponsored by the ASOCC. I made a presentation at the gathering and answered questions. Several athletes spoke on behalf of the motion.
"It seems that almost every team we play wears red," a soccer player said. "We need to be unique. OCC isn't like any other school. We're distinctive. We're Pirates, and orange and blue should be our colors."
The motion passed and OCC officially adopted its new colors on April 18, 1996.
One of the first athletic teams to implement the new colors was the cheer and dance squad. During the 1996 football season, the cheerleaders and dancers wore orange and blue on the sidelines and shouted, "Go Blue!," while the football team wore scarlet and black. Transitions can be clumsy.
All athletic teams were required to implement the colors within three years. Most made changes far more quickly than that.
It's hard for me to believe that orange and blue have been Pirate colors for 24 years, now. They're ubiquitous on campus, and effectively communicate the concept of Orange Coast College.
Change can be a good thing.
