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Homecoming football game fiasco: When green and gold went out of style

Oracle Editor
Purple was an approved university accent color at the time. ORACLE FILE PHOTO

During Homecoming Week, it’s a tradition that students wear school-colored outfits to display their USF spirit. 

The 2014 Homecoming football game was no exception — with one twist.

The shirts distributed ahead of the game were purple – the main school color of the Bulls’ opponent, the East Carolina Pirates. 

The USF Campus Tradition Board printed 1,200 purple shirts used to honor the “Once Upon a Homecoming” theme that year. Purple was chosen because it was an approved accent university color at the time. 

Out of the 1,200 t-shirts that were ordered, 200 were given away until the oversight was brought up by a student. The Board discontinued the 1,000 remaining t-shirts.

The shirts were purchased with $5,600 from student Activity and Service (A&S) fees.

“It’s a student committee,” Center for Student Involvement Monica Miranda said to the Oracle at the time. “They didn’t realize purple was the color of the opposing school.”

The situation was covered nationally by outlets such as Sports Illustrated.

USF football would end up losing the game 28-17 to East Carolina – an outcome fitting to the situation.

Here is a look at The Oracle’s coverage of the purple shirt fiasco.

– Aaron Mammah, Sports editor

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