The San Antonio Spurs logo is one of the most enduring marks in professional basketball, built around a single piece of Western equipment: a spur that doubles as the letter “U” in the team’s wordmark. Since the franchise arrived in San Antonio in 1973, that core concept has survived every redesign, making the identity instantly recognizable across more than five decades.
Design and History
The Spurs identity began in 1973, when a group of San Antonio businessmen led by Angelo Drossos and Red McCombs relocated the Dallas Chaparrals to the Alamo City. McCombs asked the local advertising agency Pitluk Group to design a new logo, and the project fell to artist Finis Collins, who had worked there for two decades. Collins received only one instruction from management: the design needed to show a spur as part of the symbol. He visited the Witte Museum in San Antonio to study actual spurs on exhibit, produced three designs in about four days, and management approved his work the next day without any changes. Collins drew the original black and gray lettering by hand, creating a three-dimensional look with the spur serving as the “U” in “SPURS.”[1]
The logo carried over when the Spurs joined the NBA in 1976 and remained in use through the 1980s. In 1989, the team placed its wordmark on a colorful background of arched stripes in teal, orange and fuchsia, a look sometimes described as “fiesta” colors. That era ended in 2002, when the Spurs announced they were modernizing the logo while returning the color scheme to the franchise’s original silver and black. The team described the move as refining the logo after 30 years and going back to where the franchise started.[2] The colorful background was scrapped in favor of a muted combination of black, white and silver.[3]
The Spurs last altered their primary logo in 2017, when a new “global logo” was unveiled on official NBA Draft hats. The updated mark kept the arched wordmark and the spur-as-U but featured a cleaner look, replacing the earlier wordmark and primary design.[4][5] The team has used some variation of the wordmark, with or without a colorful accompaniment, since its first season in San Antonio in 1973.[6]
In 2022, ahead of the team’s 50th anniversary season, the Spurs expanded their visual identity with three new secondary logos: a Texas-shaped design with a spur in the middle, an “SATX” wordmark in silver and black with a spur on the bottom, and a basketball filled with the letters “SATX.”[7] None of these logos replaced the existing primary mark, which carried on into the 2022-23 season and beyond.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The spur in the Spurs logo directly references Texas ranching heritage. Collins said the only thing ownership wanted was “some way to show the spur as part of the symbol,” and he studied actual spurs at the Witte Museum to get the look right.[1] The spur has remained in the middle of the team name through every iteration of the logo, even as the lettering, colors and other details changed over time.[1]
The silver and black palette dates to the franchise’s earliest days in San Antonio. When the team announced its 2002 logo update, it described the change as returning to the franchise’s original colors of silver and black.[2]
Typography and Design
The original 1973 logo featured three-dimensional lettering with “SPURS” in black and silver and “SAN ANTONIO” set above it. Collins drew the lettering by hand, creating the 3D effect himself.[1] The 2017 update refined the wordmark with a cleaner look while preserving the arched arrangement and the spur-integrated “U.”[4]
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