It’s painted on the walls, it’s worn on t-shirts and it’s infused into the school’s language — Southern Utah University bleeds red and uses its school color to send a message of pride and success.
Although the shade has become synonymous with the school’s mission, red hasn’t always been its staple color. In fact, since its founding in 1897, SUU has switched its school colors a handful of times.
A brief history of SUU told though color
In its first years, SUU, which was then called the Branch Normal School, adorned nearly the same colors it does today: a shade of red and white. Though at the time, these colors were chosen to mimic the University of Utah’s school colors, since BNS was established as a branch of their teacher-training college.
By 1913, when the school became the Branch Agricultural College, it shifted its branding to copy the look of Utah State University’s Aggies. The school took on blue and white as it became a branch of USU.
The southern Utah school would go through a few changes over the next couple of decades that would set it apart from other higher-education institutions in the state.
In 1953 BAC eventually became known as the College of Southern Utah. With that change, the school began to develop its own collegiate identity, and in 1961 its colors were switched yet again to coral and turquoise.
Linda Beuchele wrote in the school paper, the Thunderbird, that when CSU switched to the Thunderbirds from the Broncos, a committee of faculty members and students selected the vibrant hues because they honored the area’s Native American heritage better.
“Coral means West and turquoise means South; hence, Southwest,” Beuchele wrote.
This color palette remained as CSU became Southern Utah State College in 1971, but not without its own set of challenges.
Apparently, coral and turquoise were difficult colors for manufacturers to produce at the time, so coral eventually defaulted to orange and turquoise was substituted with blue that in some records is referred to as royal, and others as a soft, “Columbia” blue. Either way, these colors didn’t seem to stick with the student body.
“Really, no one can be blamed for not knowing SUSC’s school colors. It seems they’re not to be seen anywhere,” Beuchele continued. “Not on the Thunderbirds in the student snack bar. Not on the cover of the school yearbook, Tavi. Not even on the team uniforms.”
The colors’ lack of representation around campus could be blamed on a variety of factors, but the results show that these shades did not foster school spirit.
In 1983 President Gerald R. Sherrat called for the colors to be changed to scarlet and white with royal blue as an accent.
A 1983 edition of the Thunderbird featured student feedback on the color change:
“Well, the school colors last year were baby blue and orange, but I knew they were trying to change them,” said SUSC student Natalie Jones. “I’m glad they changed them to red and white because they’re stronger, bolder colors — not as passive as blue and orange. Red is more competitive.”
As time went by and SUSC became a four-year university, the royal blue was dropped. However, the scarlet hue has cemented itself as a T-Bird staple and is still used to this day.
Why red?
“When that change was made by President Gerald R. Sherratt, it wasn’t just red and white, it was red and white with accents of blue,” said Ron Cardon, vice president of alumni and community relations at SUU. “He did that intentionally so that it spoke to our heritage with the University of Utah — to our Branch Normal School roots — and then to our BAC roots.”
Although it is hard to pinpoint why or when SUU retired the blue accent, Cardon believes it was a matter of forgetting the color, rather than just discarding it.
He mentioned that there was an era where shades of grays and blacks were desirable accent colors for sports teams to have, which SUU opted for over the blue. In fact, black has been added to the official list of school colors along with white and red, which remains the center of attention.
“When people think of SUU, they think of red,” Cardon said.
Even though red was initially picked to honor the school’s ties to the University of Utah, SUU has made the color its own over the past few decades.
“Through the years the marketing and communication office has done a nice job of coming up with the right shade of red,” he said. “I think there has been a deliberate effort to make sure our red is slightly different (than the U of U’s).”
Not only has the marketing department created a red that is unique to SUU, but they have also made efforts to increase its visibility on campus.
“It’s interesting to me over the past several years how we’re seeing a lot more red around campus,” said Cardon. “During the 80s and 90s when our campus grew tremendously … there wasn’t a whole lot done to incorporate school colors.”
He pointed towards the implementation of SUU red in new buildings such as the Dixie Leavitt Business Building and Bristlecone Hall, and even in the remodel of the Sharwan Smith Student Center. Though the student center now is almost trademarked by its bright red accent walls, the original design heavily featured a shade Cardon mentioned was coined, “the fry-sauce color.”
Though SUU is dedicated to uplifting its current school colors, the university still acknowledges its history through the use of throwback jerseys and merchandise. In 2022, during the 125th anniversary of the institution, SUU brought coral and turquoise back to sporting events and the campus bookstore.
“I really like seeing those retro uniforms because it really speaks to our alumni,” he said. “There are alumni from that era that really took — and still take — great pride in those colors.”
The red tradition
Now, it is the color red that current students take great pride in. It has become an integral part of the campus story. Not only is the shade worn at sporting events and put on flyers, but it has also become the basis for many university traditions — namely: Red Friday.
One of SUU’s official traditions is that campus community members wear red on Friday. Not only does this encourage students, faculty and staff to exercise their T-Bird pride through something as simple as their clothes, but it also becomes a gateway into tradition keeping at SUU.
The tradition keeper program promotes 50 different campus traditions, all relevant to SUU and the surrounding area, and rewards students for completing these traditions with various prizes. Wearing red on Friday is a simple tradition for T-Birds to begin with.
It’s the Student Alumni Association at SUU that runs the tradition keeper program, and Red Friday is one of the traditions that they promote the most.
“Wearing red allows me to find my sense of community and feel at home,” said SUUSAA Marketing and Involvement chair Mia Vazquez. “It creates a connection and love that I can’t get anywhere else.”
Another tradition kept by most SUU students is Paint the Town Red, an event during the first week of the school year that introduces freshmen to the various clubs and programs they can get involved with on campus. After visiting different booths, students are invited to dip their hands in red paint and leave a handprint on an expansive mural.
Beyond traditions for current students to keep, SUU’s presidential ambassadors host promotional weekends all throughout the spring semester called Red Riots, where high schoolers spend the night at the university, getting a taste of the T-Bird experience and what it means to bleed red.
At SUU, the color red is more than just a merchandising tool; it represents pride for the university and its surrounding community. Compared to 1983, when most students could not even identify the school color, SUU red has championed T-Bird Nation.
Author: Heather Turner
Editor: Isaac Allen
Photos courtesy of SUU and the SUU digital library
eic@suunews.net
This article was originally published in the April 2025 edition of the University Journal
