The Traditions of North Carolina Tar
Heel Blue Basketball Jerseys
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According to the University of North Carolina's
official website, here's how the famous colors of
North Carolina's basketball uniforms originated.
Origin of the University Colors
As symbols of unity among Carolina students,
alumni, and fans, the school colors of light blue and
white were first used around 1800 to distinguish
between members of the Dialectic and
Philanthropic Literary Societies. Throughout the
nineteenth century, students were required to be
members of either the Di or the Phi. The Di's color
was light blue, and the Phi's was white.
At University commencements, balls, and other
social events, the student officials, managers, and
marshals wore the color of their society, blue or
white. Because the Chief Marshal or Chief Ball
Manager represented the whole student body, not
just his society, he wore both colors.
When the University fielded its first intercollegiate
athletic teams in 1888, the question of what colors
to wear had already been answered. Light blue and
white had come to symbolize membership in the
University, not in a single society.
Light blue and white have been considered the
University's colors for more than a century. With the
tradition so firmly established, a popular bumper
sticker states that God must be a Tar Heel because
he made the sky Carolina Blue!
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