Harvard University sponsors over 40 varsity teams. The Harvard Crimson has been incredibly traditional in its brand identity – the logo has stayed the same for over 65 years.
The Harvard Crimson logo adopted in 1956 features a crimson shield housing the large letter “H.” The letter has a thin black outline, while the trim of the shield is black and white. While the logo is pretty minimalistic, it is also recognizable and possesses a certain degree of retro elegance.
Until 2002, the teams used the Harvard’s own logo. It depicts a burgundy shield with three open books arranged in a triangle formation on it. There are letters written on them, together they say ‘truth’ in Latin. There are brown laurel wreaths encircling the shield, with a white strip that says ‘Harvard’ in their bottom.
In 2002, they adopted a simpler logo: just a burgundy shield with a big white ‘H’ in the middle.
The 2020 redesign removed the black outline around the letter and the shield that was present in the previous logo. The letter itself was smoothened a tad.
The men’s basketball team has competed in five NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournaments, in three National Invitation Tournaments, and in the 2010 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The women’s team has won the Ivy League eleven times. It has competed in the NCAA Tournament six times.
The team, which also uses the primary Harvard Crimson logo, played its first official game in 1873, and thus, is among the oldest in the world. They boast thirteen national championships and twenty College Football Hall of Fame inductees.
The helmet design of the Harvard Crimson program is based on a solid crimson-red background, black grille, a bold black geometric “H” in a thin white outline, and three bold stripes in the center: a wide black one enclosed between two thinner white ones. Due to the color palette and minimalistic geometry, the helmets of the players look super strong and stylish.
Almost all uniforms of the Harvard Crimson athletes are executed in the official color palette of the university: crimson red, black, and white. With just one exception: the white version of the football uniform.
The main football uniform of the Harvard Crimson program features solid red pants and jerseys with white logos and numbers, and black gaiters and collar lines. As for the white version, the only white thing here is the jerseys, while the pants are executed in a cream fabric, and the gaiters are black. All decorative elements on the jerseys are colored crimson red.
The basketball uniforms of Harvard Crimsons are super simple: the home one is composed of white t-shirts and shorts with crimson red stripes on the sides, while for the games away the players of the teams wear black sets with the same red stripes on both shorts and t-shirts.
There are two options for the Harvard Crimson soccer uniform: the total white one for home games, and the solid crimson red for the games away. Both versions have minimum decorative elements and details. In both cases, the gaiters feature the same color as the uniforms.
The Rugby players at Harvard University have a very intense uniform in terms of colors. The t-shirts athletes wear on the field have a horizontally striped pattern in red and black, while the shorts and gaiters are solid black.
One of the strongest universities in the Ivy League has all the possible sports facilities for its athletes. Apart from regular football and basketball arenas, the Harvard Crimson athletes also use ice-hockey ground and several spots for rowing.
Opened in 1956, the Bright-Landry Hockey Center is the home ground for the men’s ice hockey team from Harvard University. It was renovated twice, in 1979 and 2014, and today its capacity is just a bit over 3 thousand seats.
Harvard Stadium is home to the Harvard Crimson football team, the Boston Cannons lacrosse team, and the Boston Breakers women’s soccer team. The facility itself is shaped like a horseshoe, standing out from many others. The stadium was built in 1903 in record time — it took only 4,5 months.
Built in 1926, the Lavities Pavillion is one of the oldest basketball arenas among all NCAA programs. Originally, the pavilion was used for athletes of different disciplines, but in 1982 it turned to basketball-only. The facility has a capacity of 1,6 thousand seats.
The main facility used by the men’s rowing team from the Harvard Crimson athletic program is the Newell Boathouse, built in 1900. Coincidentally, it was the athletes on the rowing team that gave Harvard University its crimson color. This color choice originated in the mid-1800s when two students on the rowing team handed out scarlet scarves to all team members so that the crowd could more easily distinguish them.
Another rowing facility of the Crimsons is the Weld Boathouse, built 1907 by the same architects who designed Newell Boathouse, — Peabody and Stearns. This boathouse is used mainly by the women’s rowing team.
CRIMSON
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BLACK
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COOL GREY
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SILVER
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