KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — There’s an old joke that says the University of Tennessee chose orange as its color so those who donned it could wear it to the game on Saturday, hunting on Sunday, and picking up trash on the highway during the week.
While that’s not the case, why out of the entire spectrum of colors is orange the color of the Vols?
It turns out the fascination with the mix of red and yellow has influenced the people in our area since Scots-Irish settlers made their way from Ulster in Northern Ireland to the mountainous frontier of Appalachia in the 18th century.
“The term ‘orange’ is taken by and used by the Ulster Presbyterians. It comes from the name of the king, William of Orange," said Tom Ryan of the Irish Heritage Society.
Orange may not be a primary color, but the most common reason given as to why orange is UT's primary color is that in 1889, for the very first field day at the university, the president of the school’s athletic association, Charles Moore, chose the colors of the daisy that was growing in abundance on campus.
The yellow-orange of the center and the white of the petals would represent The University of Tennessee during the field day festivities.
A prevalent rumor claimed that Moore was colorblind and was told the center of the daisy was orange—when it was actually yellow. No supporting evidence has been found to verify this claim, but what would our cheer be if the daisies were indeed yellow?
“I don’t know. Go Big Gold? We wouldn’t have yelled that. Go Big Orange is much better,” said UT student Nan Dickerson
There were other attempts to change the school’s color scheme. In 1889, the baseball team voted that their colors be red and black, and two years later, a parade for Governor Bob Taylor saw UT cadets wearing blue and white.
During their inaugural football season in 1891, the Vols faced off against Sewanee and students represented UT with Moore’s original choice.
Soon after, a vote was held to drop Moore's colors, but with no other color combinations agreed upon, the good ol’ orange and white proved victorious and has been a mainstay ever since.
As for the phrase “Big Orange Country”, you can thank former head basketball coach Ray Mears for that one. He was inspired by a Marlboro cigarette ad campaign and an Ohio team called “Big Red.”