Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, New Mexico, fields its NCAA Division II athletic teams under the Greyhounds name. The university’s official school colors are green and silver.[1] The men’s teams have been known as the Greyhounds since the university opened in 1934, while the women’s teams competed as the Zias from 1981 until 2015.[2]
Design and History
In January 2024, Eastern New Mexico University unveiled new academic and spirit marks at a campus event. The university contracted with Rickabaugh Graphics, an Ohio-based collegiate branding firm, in the spring of 2023 to guide the year-and-a-half-long process. A branding committee of faculty, staff, students, and alumni provided feedback, and focus groups were opened to major constituent groups before the final designs were selected.[3]
The new spirit mark refreshes the greyhound dog head, a design element that constituent groups expressed affinity for. According to the university, the redesign increased the presence of school colors, refined lines and small details, improved the neck, and made the dog look more like a Greyhound. The university also brought back a full-body Greyhound, described as an Eastern New Mexico University staple for over 80 years.[3]
The 2024 update followed a significant identity change in 2015. In late April 2015, the Board of Regents voted unanimously to discontinue the Zia name and sun symbol for women’s teams, unifying all athletic teams under the Greyhounds name and logo.[2] The decision came after a year-long process that began when the university initiated a trademark and licensing program. The Zia sun symbol, a sacred religious symbol of the Zia Pueblo, could not be trademarked because it appears on the New Mexico state flag, and the university concluded that continuing to use it raised ethical concerns about cultural appropriation.[2]
During the trademark process, Greyhound Lines, the bus company, required ENMU to modify its greyhound design to distinguish it from the company’s own mark. The university’s communication services office revised the design, rendering the greyhound more muscular with stronger features, including bigger paws, a larger head, and a thicker torso, and adding a green and white border around the animal’s body.[2] The resulting greyhound head design was registered as a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2019.[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The origin of the Greyhound mascot is not definitively documented. The university notes that early in its history, students rallied around the need for a mascot, and several stories circulate as to why the Greyhound was chosen.[1] Campus lore suggests that Greyhound buses traveling along nearby Highway 70 inspired the mascot in the 1930s.[2]
The 2024 academic mark, which features a stylized “M,” was chosen for its symbolism. The design of the “M” symbolizes the Yucca flower, the state flower of New Mexico. University officials also cited the tradition of the ENMU mark and a united, strong, and enduring concept as reasons the design was selected.[3]
Typography and Design
ENMU’s official athletics colors are green and silver.[5] The athletics department’s media relations page identifies the Greyhound Head as the primary logo, with an “E” mark as a secondary logo. The page lists the specific green used in the identity as Pantone 349C with the hex value 046A38.[5]
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