When ASU’s parent institution, San Angelo Junior College opened in 1928, the school colors started out Black and Gold. The colors stayed true through the 1930s and on into the 1940s, until the time that the college, by then known as San Angelo College, moved from its downtown location to its current campus on West Avenue N.
By all accounts, the change from black to blue occurred in the late 1940s when funds were tight for the community-supported San Angelo College. By one account it was cheaper to buy a blue bus rather than a black one. Another account indicated that athletic uniforms in blue were more economical than those in black. Thus, the frugal board of trustees bought blue.
Then in 1953 SAC’s trustees formally and officially changed the colors from Black and Gold to Blue and Gold, though the shades of both varied until 1967 when ASU´s President standardized the school’s colors.
Utilizing the Pantone Matching System, which printers use to standardize ink colors, he selected Pantone Blue 287C for ASU Blue and Pantone Gold 123C for the ASU Gold. Those remain to this day the official ASU colors.
The development of the internet tinted ASU colors once again, requiring some additional standards. On a properly calibrated screen, the equivalent for ASU Blue is R36-G83-B151 and for ASU Gold is R240-G195-B59.
So, the next time you cheer for ASU Blue and Gold, remember you are also cheering for Pantone 287 and Pantone 123.