Cornell Big Red is the athletic team of Cornell University, a private research university founded in 1865. It is the only Ivy League university founded after the American War of Independence. Cornell University is located in the small, quiet New England town of Ithaca, a four-hour drive from New York City.
Cornell University is a member of the prestigious Ivy League and a doctoral university with very high research activity; it is annually ranked among the top twenty universities in the United States and the world. Cornell faculty members include Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, Turing Prize winners, MacArthur Award winners, and Fields, and National Academy of Sciences medalists. However academic and research activities are not the only “thing” of the university. The Cornell Big Red athletic program is considered one of the strongest in the country.
Cornell Big area teams compete in the First Division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a part of the Ivy League. For many people, the word Ivy League is associated with the pinnacle of American higher education. The League’s 8 most prestigious institutions – Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University – annually receive tens of thousands of applications from ambitious students from all over the world. However, about 8% of applicants get in – the selection process in the League is very strict.
Ivy League universities were established long before the American Revolution. However, the term “Ivy League” has emerged relatively recently. The name acquired official status in 1954: the presidents of eight U.S. educational institutions formed a sports intercollegiate committee responsible for holding student competitions. This sports association was called the Ivy League.
There are 37 athletic teams from Cornell University in the NCAA Division I that compete in the Ivy League. The Cornell Big Red, the university’s varsity team, is well known for its lacrosse and wrestling teams; the school also has a strong hockey program.
What is Cornell Big Red?
Cornell Big Red is the name of an athletic program at Cornell University, New York. The program consists of 37 men’s and women’s teams, which compete in various sports disciplines, including Ice Hockey, Basketball, Fencing, Lacrosse, and many others.
In terms of visual identity, Cornell Big Red teams look very strong and brutal. The logo features not only the geometric “C” from the secondary version but also a large depiction of the program’s mascot, the Big Red Bear nicknamed Touchdown.
The logo, used by Cornell Big Red at the beginning of the 2000s, featured an image of a brown menacing bear with a thick black outline, crossed by a two-leveled inscription in white and red, inscribed into a bold black frame. The upper level of the lettering featured a white “Cornell” in small capitals, while the bottom “Big Red” was written in large red geometric characters with a thin white outline.
In 2018 the Cornell Big Red logo was significantly changed. The bear was redrawn, even though it kept its color palette and angry face. Now the Cornell Big Red mascot is “hugging” the heavy red letter “C” in a double white and black outline. The minimalist lettering made the whole logo look more confident and brutal.
The only character on the primary Cornell Big Red logo is the bold geometric “C”, drawn in a custom designer typeface, with an octagonal shape. The angles of the uppercase letter are balanced by the smooth contours of the bear.
As for the color palette of the Cornell Big Red visual identity, it is based on the two official program’s shades — the Carnelian Red and white, with an addition of brown in light and dark tones, and black accents, used for the outlines.