I was never conscious of school colors when I was growing up. As the youngest of seven girls, I went to a Catholic school that only used the gymnasium for school plays. I attended an all-girl Catholic high school and I don’t ever remember intramural sports being played. That might be because I am not really coordinated, and I doubt that any team would have wanted me. I probably would have been the official bench warmer.
But I did learn about team colors as a mother of three boys and the colors orange and blue became very important to me.
When the boys were little, they enjoyed baseball, but they loved football. Their rooms started showing hints of orange and blue as they celebrated the 1985 Super Bowl Championship when the Bears won over the Patriots.
Later they attended Naperville North High School and all three of our sons played football. For seven years I proudly donned my orange and blue to cheer for my favorite team.
I also knew there was a strong rivalry with Naperville Central whose team colors were red and white.
All three of our sons went to the University of Illinois and once again we donned our orange and blue. At one of the parent orientations, I sat next to a mother whose son had gone to Naperville Central High School. I joked that I loved seeing young men go from wearing red and white to wearing orange and blue.
She became angry with me and said red and white would always be her colors. Then she moved to a different seat. I really wasn’t prepared for that strong of a reaction to school colors.
I thought of her when my oldest grandson chose to attend Oklahoma University next year. Initially, I thought its colors were red and white, but I looked it up. Actually, the Sooners colors are Oklahoma Crimson, black and Oklahoma Cream. So, I guess if I met her today, she wouldn’t really be able to tease me that she loves seeing people change from orange and blue to red and white.
Note, however, that I’m still cheering for the orange and blue. My second grandson will be playing football this year for Wakeland High school, where the school colors are my favorite orange and blue.
