Can you imagine if LSU wore blue and white uniforms instead of purple and gold?

Well, that was almost the case back in 1893, when the Tigers were searching for ribbon for their first uniforms.

In an article written by Dr. Charles Coates for the LSU Alumni News in 1937 (recently posted by NOLA.com), Coates, who served as the school’s first football coach, said Mardi Gras is to thank for the team’s colors:

I knew we had to have some colors so Ruff Pleasant, who was later governor of Louisiana, a couple of other men and I went to Reymond’s store, at that time at the corner of Third and Main streets. We told them we wanted quite a lot of ribbon for colors, but no one knew what our colors were. It happened that the store was stocking ribbon for the coming Carnival season and had a large supply of purple and gold. The green had not yet come in. So we adopted the purple and old gold, bought out the stock, and made it into rosettes and badges. Purple and old gold made a good combination and we have stuck to it ever since.

When one of the school’s early presidents saw what colors had been chosen, he was confused, according to Coates:

A few years later when Col. David F. Boyd, who had been president of the University from 1865 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1886, returned to the University, he was rather surprised to find purple and gold as the colors. He told me they were not the colors, that white and blue had been chosen by him many years ago. But purple and gold had by that time established itself and nothing was ever done about it.

Coates’s article discusses more than just how the school got its colors. He also delves into LSU’s first few games and other interesting stories about the early days of football. Read the rest of the article here.