Tulane Green Wave Logo PNG
The designers created the Tulane Green Wave logo featuring their mascot, the Angry Wave, for the university’s players. Until recently, it was used as a secondary symbol, but in 2017, athletes made it their main symbol again. Before that, the teams were represented by the so-called T-Wave: the letter “T” that fell into the tsunami.
Tulane University of Louisiana traces its athletic history to 1893, when football and baseball teams were formed in New Orleans. Men’s basketball followed in 1905. The official name was Olive and Blue, after the university colors, while fans used Greenbacks and Greenies. In 1893, the football team defeated LSU 34:0, starting one of the oldest southern college rivalries.
Football reached Tulane through Hugh and Thomas Bayne, former Yale players. The first organized game took place on January 1, 1890, becoming the first football game in New Orleans and Louisiana. In 1900, the team finished with five wins and no losses. In 1912, against Southwestern Louisiana, Tulane set school records with 95 points and 15 rushing touchdowns.
The Green Wave name appeared in 1920 after Earl Sparling of Tulane Hullabaloo published “The Rolling Green Wave.” The phrase entered match reports by the end of that season. The first mascot was a pelican on a surfboard, later replaced in 1964 by an angry wave logo. In 1986, the tsunami-shaped “T” became the main symbol, and in 1998, the pelican returned as Riptide.
Tulane joined the SEC in 1932 after its unbeaten 1931 season and Rose Bowl appearance against USC. The program won SEC football titles in 1934, 1939, and 1949, then left the conference in 1966. In 1998, quarterback Shaun King led a 12:0 season, a Conference USA title, and a Liberty Bowl win over BYU. In 2014, Tulane joined the American Athletic Conference. In 2022, under Willie Fritz, the Green Wave won the AAC, beat UCF 45:28, defeated USC 46:45 in the Cotton Bowl Classic, and finished ninth nationally.
Meaning and History
Perhaps Tulane Green Wave received its current name because of its numerous victories. The name is taken from the song “The Rolling Green Wave,” published in 1920 in the Tulane Hullabaloo, the school newspaper. The author of the text was Earl Sparling, the then-editor of the publication. The rest of the press picked up the new nickname a month later.
The original name was reflected in the logo, which was created in 1964. After that, it disappeared for almost 20 years, but in 2017 it returned to replace the already rather boring T-Wave icon and restore the Gumby mascot’s former glory.
What is Tulane Green Wave?
Tulane Green Wave is an intercollegiate athletics competitor representing Tulane University of Louisiana. All teams play at the NCAA Division I level, and almost all are members of the American Athletic Conference, except for two that are members of the Sun Belt Conference. The New Orleans-based institution sponsors 14 sports, including volleyball, tennis, football, basketball, and baseball.
1920 – 1924
When the Tulane University sports teams changed their name from “The Olive and Blue” to the current one, they began using the Green Wave emblem. She was “caught” by a pelican standing on a surfboard and wearing a T-shirt with a white “T” on it. The bird has raised one paw and flaps its wings to keep its balance. This shows her drive and high skill, the qualities that athletes try to convey through the image of an anthropomorphic pelican. Below, the word “TULANE” appears in bold cursive on the water. This logo is known to have been used in the 1920s and thereafter for an indefinite period.
1964 – 1986
In 1945, teams received the Greenie mascot, which resembled a little boy wearing a football helmet. However, he was only relevant until 1964 because the new athletic director of Rix Yard, who took over in 1963, felt the mischievous character was not masculine enough. Thus began the first attempts to visualize the green wave, which was also supposed to be aggressive. Rix Yard collaborated with bookstore manager Eldon Endacott to create a new mascot. A couple of ideas came from Art Evans of Angelus-Pacific. As a result, the Angry Wave character and the logo with his image appeared. In this version, he looks like an angry green hat with scowling eyes and a vicious grin. The wave has improvised arms and legs while holding a white pennant with “TULANE” written in black.
1986 – 1998
In 1986, the first emblem from the T-Wave series was adopted. Its main element is a large turquoise “T” block. The rectangular serifs give it a massive appearance. Two wavy white-and-blue stripes are crossed diagonally in the middle.
1998 – 2005
On August 19, 1998, sports teams received a new logo featuring a gray pelican tilting its head down and spreading its wings. Its orange beak strikes the blue water, spraying dark turquoise droplets to the right and left. The lower half of the logo is occupied by the large word “TULANE” and the reduced phrase “GREEN WAVE.” The dark green capital letters are in bold italic, with some retaining their original serifs.
2005 – 2014
In 2005, the old Tulane Green Wave logo, created in 1986, was returned. The designers modernized it by changing the shape of the letter “T,” which is now tilted to the right and outlined in a double gray-blue outline. From the left, a turquoise wave sweeps over it, but not completely; the emblem captures a freeze-frame as the water reaches the top of the “T.”
2014 – 2017
After a little refinement, the wave became a rich green, taking on a Kelly Green shade. The other colors didn’t change, and the elements’ shapes remained the same.
2017 – today
The Angry Wave has once again become the official symbol of the Tulane University sports teams. The designers modernized it by turning it to the right side and making the character’s facial expressions more expressive. Unlike the 1964 version, the current logo uses a darker shade of green, with the top painted bright blue. Remarkably, now in the hands of an anthropomorphic wave is not a triangular pennant but a large white mouthpiece with a black inscription “TULANE.”
Font and Colors
Despite the long pause in using the Angry Wave as the main logo, its popularity has not waned over the years. This character, which appeared more than half a century ago, has become one of the most famous symbols of the Tulane Green Wave, along with T-Wave.
The university’s name is in bold sans-serif type. The letters get progressively smaller towards the end of the word because they match the mouthpiece’s width. The inscription and all outlines are black; some elements are white. However, for the main part of the drawing, the official colors of the sports teams are olive and blue, which were chosen back in 1893. They are #006747 (olive green) and #418FDE (sky blue).