Memories of garnet and gold: Photos of Osceola and Renegade
In 1947, the institution on top of the College Avenue hill in Tallahassee was reorganized and converted from a fine women’s college, named “Florida State College for Women” (FSCW) into a coeducational one, “Florida State University” (FSU). FSU immediately began an intercollegiate athletics program, including football. While there had been an intercollegiate athletics program (including football) at the institution prior to 1905, very little was remembered or known about the sports traditions of the earlier time.
Consequently, FSU started pretty much from scratch in developing its sports traditions and symbols. First, “garnet and gold”, were selected for the athletic teams. The colors were of a combination of colors used by FSCW in its intramural sports programs. Before its second football game in 1947, the nickname “Seminoles” was selected for FSU’s athletic teams. Thus, began FSU’s quest to personify and utilize the native-American name that had been adopted. In 1950, the marching band was named “the Marching Chiefs” and the program adopted a fight song with a reference to “being on the warpath.”
When I was in school at FSU during the mid-50s, the band was led by a pair of male twirlers costumed as Indians known as the “Flying Seminoles.” A few years later, an FSU male gymnast, known as “Sammy Seminole,” dressed as an Indian, did flip-flops and acrobatics along the sideline. At some point there was a costumed bird, “Tommy Hawk,” roaming the sidelines.
Then along came Bill Durham. As a student, Bill had at one time proposed the idea of utilizing a horse and rider as a symbol for FSU’s teams. The idea had been rejected. But in 1977, the idea got the support of Coach Bobby Bowden’s wife, Anne. With her encouragement, Durham, made the arrangements necessary to get the project going. This included finding an appropriate horse and rider and getting not only the approval of the Chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida but receiving a costume from the tribe to be used by the rider.
The idea was launched in 1978 and quickly received the approval of FSU fans. At first, it was referred to as a “horse and rider.” Not long after, the rider was given the name, Osceola after the famous Seminole warrior and one of the leaders of the Seminoles during the Second Seminole War. Since then, “Osceola and Renegade” have become well known throughout the college athletic world and as a proud symbol of FSU’s athletics. Bill Durham continues to keep a hand in the development of this symbol, although his son, Alan, is now the main man in charge.
At the beginning of each home FSU football game, Osceola rides Renegade to the middle of the field and plants a burning spear. In recent times they have gone to bowl games and participated in parades as well as performing at some Seminole Tribe of Florida festivities.
On numerous occasions I have enjoyed taking pictures of this very popular symbol. Here are a few of them.
