The Bobcats move into the 2024 school year with a new and exciting look.
Over the summer, Jones College decided to start a new era, one that respects and honors the past while forging ahead into the future. Jones did this by changing their color scheme from a dark cardinal and bright gold to a lighter cardinal and Vegas gold.
“Dr. Jesse Smith came to us, and he wanted us to set ourselves apart,” said Ashliegh Buckley, the head of sports marketing. “He wanted us to get back to our original roots, so that is why we were able to pull in cardinal because that is what we initially started out as.”
Officially changing the colors, however, is not an easy task. The operation took numerous people working with suppliers to find which design looked right. One of the biggest challenges with the color change was trying to ensure everything would match.
“Working with different vendors was challenging, because every shade of our color has a slight variation,” said athletic equipment director, Dean Saul. “We have an exclusive contract with Nike, so that is what we tried to base our colors on and try to get everything to match.”
“This person’s version of Vegas gold, might be different than this person’s version of Vegas gold,” said Buckley. “Everything from thread in a cap to a t-shirt to a jersey, all of the shades are different. That was our biggest challenge: trying to figure out a way to make everything the same.”
Those details took almost the entire summer. When the Bobcat football team hit the field for the first time on August 29, the football uniforms had only been settled for a few weeks. Band received their uniforms in September, and the colors can be seen on uniforms for other sports as well.
Another challenge was not just the uniforms, but also accessories that surround the game. Accessories like pads at the bottom of the goal post at football, banners and signs had to be updated. All the coaches’ attire had to be updated, along with the color of the paint on the basketball court.
In the end, the goal was achieved, and now the Bobcats are honoring the past while celebrating the future. Jones is sporting new threads as they head into the athletic season in 2024-2025.
by Ollie Hammonds
