Le Moyne Dolphins is the athletic identity of Le Moyne College, a Jesuit institution in Syracuse, New York. The program’s visual identity centers on a dolphin mascot rendered in the college’s official green and gold colors, a scheme that ties directly to the institution’s academic brand rather than a separate athletic palette.
Design and History
The dolphin has been Le Moyne’s symbol and mascot since the college’s early years. An excerpt from the first volume of The Dolphin, published October 24, 1947, explains that the use of the dolphin as a Christian symbol became common in the second century A.D., when it was popularly considered friendly toward man and represented love and tenderness. The college also notes that a figure of the dolphin appears on the seal of the bishop of the ancient See of Syracuse in Sicily, as well as on the seal of the Bishop of the Diocese of Syracuse, connecting the mascot to the city’s namesake.[1]
Le Moyne’s current primary athletics logo, in use since 2008, depicts a green dolphin with gold trim above a “Le Moyne Dolphins” wordmark.[2] The logo database credits Old Hat Creative as the designer of this mark.[2] The previous primary logo, used from 1999 to 2008, featured a dolphin in gradient green and white above “Le Moyne” in bold green text with white trim.[3]
The athletics wordmark introduced in 2008 uses slanted block letters in green with white and gold accents.[4] An alternate version of the primary mark places the dolphin and wordmark on a white background outlined in gold and green, designed for use on busy backgrounds.[5]
Meaning and Symbolism
Le Moyne’s official college colors are green and gold, specified as Pantone 349 green and Pantone 872 gold. The college states that these colors are the tinctures of the college seal.[6][7] The seal itself incorporates imagery tied to Simon Le Moyne, S.J., the college’s namesake, including five reversed arrowheads representing the Iroquois nations and a fountain symbolizing the salt springs he discovered.[7]
Le Moyne’s athletics department explains the dolphin’s significance in Christian tradition: it was considered friendly toward man, represented love and tenderness, and symbolized the desire for knowledge due to its grace and swiftness.[1] The college’s mascot is named Iggy, a reference to St. Ignatius that reflects the institution’s Jesuit heritage.[8]
Typography and Design
Le Moyne’s brand guidelines require that the college logo always be reproduced using an official electronic file and never redrawn or reset in different fonts. The logo is a registered trademark that cannot be altered, and its proportions and spacing must remain constant.[9] The secondary logo is available in all green, all gold, black, or white, and should not be placed over a busy background.[10]
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