The Colour of Accomplishment (... it just happens to be PURPLE)

By Dennis Hinschberger

A little under two hundred years ago in Britain, two rowing teams about to do battle on the Thames decided to distinguish their respective teams with “colours”. I can’t decipher whether they simply chose different shades of blue or what, but the key point is it began a trend. From that point on various universities began to regale their most illustrious athletes with their school colours in order to acknowledge their efforts as standouts and leaders in their sport.

In 1938, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a film called “A Yank at Oxford” starring Robert Taylor and Vivian Leigh, and this film was re-made in 1984, starring Rob Lowe (his first major film) into (you guessed it) the “Oxford Blues” – both films essentially highlighting the value of love and friendship, the importance of integrity and commitment to teammates, as well as the importance of both dedication and selflessness. Of course, it is these attributes for which “colours” are both given and cherished.

According to “Mustang Tales” by Bob Gage, Western first awarded colours to 16 rugby football players, five basketball players and one track athlete in the 1915-16 season. One player, Roy Kingswood, received three of those honours as a recipient for rugby, basketball, and track in the same year.

W’s and crests were awarded from 1917 to 1922, before reverting to colours thereafter, but most importantly for the purposes of this article, in 1938-39 Western began recognizing our most accomplished athletes with the coveted “Purple Blanket”. The very first recipient was Jack Guthrie, a basketball player . . . so they’ll (happily) always have that claim over the football team . . . ! The first woman to receive the Purple Blanket was Doris Shirley, a basketball and tennis “phenom”, in 1947-48.

Of course, since these “way back” days, hundreds of Purple Blankets have been distributed to the best of the best @ Western – far too many to list individually.

If you are interested in finding out if you know someone (or are someone) who, in the field of athletics, met Western’s very highest standards, check out http://metrasmuseum.ca/purple-blanket-winners/ , a treasure trove of important athletic history at Western University (thanks to Amy Sampson – Curator at the John P. Metras Sports Museum on campus!)

I always wished that I had risen to the level of those that sport the “blanket”, my career was cut short by injury, like so many good athletes over the years, but I consider myself very lucky to know more than a handful of past winners, and every one of them is completely deserving. Still, I can’t think of anything better than sitting in the stands of a Western football game with a Purple Blanket wrapped around me for warmth – and for good luck of course!!