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The origin of the school colors is a mystery. One explanation holds
that the University of Florida acquired the colors from two of the
schools abolished by the Buckman Act of 1905 — blue from the
University of Florida at Lake City and orange from East Florida
Seminary in Gainesville.
However, the first known reference to orange and blue occurs in the
spring of 1906 when the university was still located in Lake City. In
his order for commencement brochures that year, President Andrew
Sledd requested a blue and orange engraving and stated that these
were the new school colors.
Regardless, the old school’s colors, blue and gold, survived alongside
the new school colors for several years after the move to Gainesville
in September 1906. They were also included in a school song that
ended, “And royal robes her form doth fold, We sing the blue and
gold — Florida my Florida.” The confusion may have resulted from
the various shades of orange that were sometimes used in printed
materials. By late 1910, references to gold disappeared. Orange and
blue have been the accepted colors ever since.
The Origin of Orange and Blue
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