“UD athletic teams have been using red and blue as their colors since the early 1900s, when the school was known as St. Marys Institute,” wrote Bucky Albers in the Dayton Daily News. “At some point, the blue became identified as Columbia blue — the pale, sky blue shade used by Columbia University.”
In recent years, as throwback jerseys have become popular throughout sports, many Dayton fans have clamored for a return to the old blue, and that may happen soon. UD’s official men’s basketball social media accounts posted a photo of the Dayton logo set against a Columbia blue background on Tuesday night while also teasing an announcement that will be made at 7 p.m. Thursday.
— Dayton Basketball (@DaytonMBB) November 9, 2022
Could UD be set to show off a new look on the court? Many Dayton fans reacting to the news on Twitter hope so. They will be partly responsible for any return to the old colors — even if it’s a brief one — because of their many requests for it over the years years.
“It’s coming,” wrote Dan Sullivan, of the Talking Out Lowd podcast on Twitter. “We did it. You did it.”
“Oh this is incredible!” wrote Matthew Rego. “Cannot wait for this game on Friday night. Let’s ride. Go Flyers!”
“Definitely winning the dance this year,” wrote former Flyer Brooks Hall. “This sealed it.”
The Dayton women’s basketball team plays its home opener at 7 p.m. Thursday against Indiana State. The timing of the announcement means it could be tied to that game. The men’s team, which opened the season Monday with a 73-46 victory against Lindenwood University, returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday against Southern Methodist.
By the time of Minardi’s letter, UD had already started to turn away from Columbia blue to a darker blue.
“It happened slowly, imperceptibly at first,” he wrote. “The accent coloring for the cheerleaders’ uniforms went to dark blue. Then the team warm-up jerseys had a splash of the new blue. Now the university has painted the arena floor with the vile, dark shade. Even the official university letterhead is dark blue.”
UD introduced a new logo and color scheme with a darker shade of blue in October 1994.
“I like it a lot,” said sophomore guard Shawn Haughn then. “I’m glad they got rid of that Columbia blue. This gives us a tougher image.”
Dayton wore throwback Columbia blue, or “baby blue” or “light blue” as it was sometimes called, for two games in the 2007-08 season. They also wore alternate jerseys from the 1978-83 era the previous season for games against Massachusetts, Duquesne and Saint Louis and lost two of those three games.
Dayton hasn’t shown much variety in its uniforms in Anthony Grant’s six seasons as coach. The last major departure from the regular uniforms came in February 2016 when UD wore grey uniforms designed by graduate assistant coach Brian Frank.
“You get a new thing, a fresh new jersey,” senior forward Dyshawn Pierre said then, “and you start to feel a little better.”
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