From its earliest days as a college on the Michigan frontier, Hillsdale College has boasted a strong tradition of athletics. While competition in those early decades was loosely organized and played mostly at the club level, by the end of the 19th century, Hillsdale had become a leader in Michigan collegiate athletics, building the first college gymnasium in the state in 1886 and, two years later, playing a key role in organizing the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. But what kind of identity did Hillsdale Athletics have? What is a Charger? We are proud to celebrate a newly unified athletic identity that upholds more than 175 years of Hillsdale College history.

The earliest Hillsdale athletes sported cherry and gold colors, with baseball at the forefront of Hillsdale’s competitive teams, followed shortly by football and wrestling. However, a team of alumni rowers—the Hillsdales—were the first to sport blue and white and hint at the future name of Hillsdale’s teams: the Dales. The three-time national champion, undefeated rowing team was within reach of a world championship in England in 1882 when a snapped seat and rudder wire cost them the victory. The oarsmen’s success inspired Hillsdale students to adopt blue and white as their own colors, and the College made the colors official in 1914.

By the 1930s, Hillsdale’s athletic teams were commonly known as “the Dales,” and a new element joined the recognizable blue and white uniforms—the lightning bolt. In 1962, legendary head football coach Frank “Muddy” Waters elevated the lightning bolt further, incorporating two bolts on football helmets. Save for one year—in 1948—when the student body elected to change the team name to the Bearcats, “the Dales” remained the identity of Hillsdale athletes until the late 1960s.

In 1968, the College’s Alumni Association and Athletic Department proposed changing the name of its athletic teams to the “Chargers.” “After all, what is a Dale?” quipped Waters. Hillsdale’s student body voted overwhelmingly to accept the change, and the faculty and trustees gave final approval in May 1968. To celebrate this new athletic identity, the College brought a real horse on to the football field at Homecoming that year, thus establishing a horse, with its strength and valor, as the symbol of the Chargers.

In 1969, for its 125th anniversary, the College adopted its current coat of arms, featuring a rearing horse atop the crest. This further cemented the relationship between a horse and a Charger, symbolizing the power not only of Hillsdale’s athletes, but also the school itself, in leading forth with conviction and strength.

While the College now had an official set of elements for its athletic identity—blue and white colors, horse and lightning bolt graphics, and the Charger moniker—it lacked consistency among the elements. Over the next 40 years, individual teams adopted their own versions of the design elements, with varying shades of blue further adding to the jumbled identity.

In 2008, the College addressed the issue of brand identity by instituting a navy blue shade (Pantone 295) as the official blue of Charger Athletics. This aligned with the overall Hillsdale College identity of navy blue and white and helped unite athletics and academics, creating a solid campus-wide brand. Furthermore, the College adopted a horse head and block “H” as the official athletic logos. However, visual unity and consistency still evaded Charger Athletics due to different uniform companies offering varying shades of blue.

In 2022, a group of College staff representing the Athletic and Marketing Departments agreed upon a new athletic identity that solved the problem of inconsistencies and brought the College’s athletic brand under the umbrella of the overall Hillsdale brand and mission. Agreement with BSN Sports will ensure consistency in uniform colors. The new identity draws inspiration from those elements of the past that have defined Charger Athletics—the horse, the lightning bolt, the script typeface—while incorporating new wordmarks and images. The new horse images—one a head, and one a rearing horse—carefully incorporate the lightning bolt in the mane, giving a nod to tradition while also symbolizing the act of charging forth; that is, pursuing excellence in all things, working for the greater good, and striving to be one’s best self.

While Hillsdale College has always understood athletics to be an integral part of a whole education, challenging all of its students to grow and develop their character through physical and mental rigor, its athletic symbolism now solidifies that connection between body and mind, inspiring all Hillsdale students to lead forth as Chargers—with honor, dignity, strength, and virtue.

Charge On!

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