Why Did the Pittsburgh Penguins Start Wearing Black and Gold?

The Penguins' original color scheme featured powder blue very prominently. How did the team come to wear the City of Pittsburgh's colors? A variety of first-hand accounts shed some light on the big process to have the Penguins join the Pirates and Steelers in the colors that are so unanimously associated with the city.
SUBSCRIBE to be among the first to see new Penguins content by clicking here: pens.pe/subscribe

[@dcminipimp]

Well said, I play for Pittsburgh, you play for the city of Pittsburgh, we’re all in this together! Great video LETS GO PENS!!!!

[@cmdrfunk]

And then bolt for more cash somewhere else at first opportunity

[@gregorymaroda4860]

Like Howard Cosell said, "when you play Pittsburgh, you play the whole city."

[@joeheid2776]

@@cmdrfunk That's only the Pirates. Even with free agency, many Steelers and Pens have played exclusively for those teams. Kinda indicates how broken baseball really is.

[@nonexistentnave8615]

Dylan Wilber I love the Penguins

[@LordOfNothingham]

The Bruins even tried suing.

[@bryantsteury8910]

Annoying even back then

[@LordOfNothingham]

Bryant Steury yes.

[@MrsPaul]

The Boston Butthurts.

[@mikelouis9389]

@@MrsPaul Boston Boo Hooins

[@geebee6010]

That’s why we had to keep changing the shade of gold on the logo

[@matteagle42]

I wish the 3rd jerseys were blue. They look so cool

[@rileykazama3145]

With the robo penguin logo

[@hagggle3727]

Matt Eagle those jerseys have proven to be bad luck

[@cosmogamer9914]

the light blue third jersey they wore back around 2012 is the best jersey in their history imo

[@akbarlebowitz8151]

I remember halftime of Super Bowl XIV Steelers vs Rams 1980, CBS had Tim Ryan reporting that the Penguins were converting to the yellow-gold and black colors. Defenseman Dale Tallon was holding the new black jersey.

[@akbarlebowitz8151]

Check out nhluniforms.com for the history of the Penguins and all the NHL teams uniforms.

[@gregpaspatis9425]

@Akbar Lebowitz In addition to the halftime of Super Bowl XIV early in 1980 on CBS, I also seem to remember a live segment on the S.B. pregame show from a popular hangout in Pittsburgh they had one of the players on the Penguins display the new uniform colors in front of the camera? ? ?

[@popeyesailor9571]

I wish other cities would all have the same colors.

[@bjnt92281]

popeye sailor D.C is the closest to having that. All of their teams except for the Redskins and D.C United wear red, white and blue.

[@talksmoke1190]

Some cities try to use same colors LA had same colors with kings rams and Lakers.

[@MrErnieHanks]

In Hartford, the Whalers wore blue and green, the double A team is blue and green, the USL team is blue and green and the Wolf Pack had a brief stint as the CT Whale which was also blue and green

[@estellegrignon]

Montreal used to do that, with the Habs, Expos and Alouettes sporting red, white and blue. With the Impact FC being black and blue though, that ruins the streak a little

[@DJVexillum]

They really let them change uniforms in the middle of the season? That's wild, can't imagine that ever happening nowadays!

[@estellegrignon]

I read about the Islanders, who changed their logo in the mid-90's to that Fisherman. During the next season, they tried to switch back to their original logo because, well, absolutely every NYI fans hated it, but the league prevented them from doing so mid-season. So instead, they introduced "third" jerseys that were basically the same as the Fisherman's ones, but with their classic logo on them. Then dropped the Fisherman do good the following year

[@gregpaspatis9425]

@DJVexillum In addition to the Pitts. Penguins changing uniform designs in the middle of the season, the Chicago White Sox were allowed to start wearing the new black, white and gray uniforms during their last weeks at the original Comiskey Park in September 1990 replacing the previous blue, white and red uniforms.

[@AdventuresofaGeek]

This was very cool to find out. I never knew why and now I do. Blackhawks fan here sending his respect

[@Tulsa_Films]

I remember as a kid them switching colors. This was an interesting and comprehensive report on it. Thanks

[@jeffthewhiff]

I always liked the Pens "blue" jerseys, but it was appropriate for them to make the switch to "black and gold!"

[@alexyerkey3141]

:31 player on the right is Michel Briere

[@RichieGary]

This is a great video, thank you for sharing

[@hugh2hoob668]

With lots of teams there's gonna be color copies Funny nobody complains that tampa took the leafs blue

[@goldenretriever6261]

Tampa is a lighter shade of blue

[@jamestrexler6329]

That's one of the points that Stan Savran makes in the video, though Tampa didn't come into existence until over a decade after the Penguins made the switch, so it's not the best analogy. A better one would be the Capitals coming into the league with the same red-dominated red/white/blue colours as Montreal.

[@hugh2hoob668]

@@jamestrexler6329 I know I was a pens fan since Reagan was in office

[@estellegrignon]

I've seen tons of people complaining about Tampa going blue and white. I definitely miss the black on their jersey, especially since that's what they had when they won the Cup

[@henrymanzano9168]

At first,I did. Even more when their alternate "Bolts" jersey was a rip-off of the Kings. Honestly,they should have at least worn black pants and helmets ,and add more black to the jerseys (you can't really see the black trim on the numbers from far away

[@jeffhufana2389]

3 teams= 1 City

[@tjz3158]

Wish we had a basketball team as well to complete the circle

[@anvil8478]

BUCK FOSTON

[@ThisIsAydin]

anvil8478 no u

[@ThisIsAydin]

@Atheos B. Sapien yes

[@robertavalos9000]

I know because I’ve been a Rams fan since 1974 ! When did Steelers start?

[@svenmartin840]

I think Mr Rooney had a hand in it too. And imagine if the NHL had put a team in Baltimore!!!!! It would be just as heated as the Steelers vs Ravens!!!!!

[@talksmoke1190]

The blue never made sense with that yellow triangle. Although they did look like the bruins

[@juicedeservedwhathegot5491]

new brunswick shout out!

[@robertavalos9000]

What year did the Pittsburgh Steelers start?

[@patientmental875]

Why was the switch to the awful vegas gold then?

[@lukefrommacdonalds72]

Did the narrator voice an old nhl videogame?

[@derekrichards1076]

No but he was a penguins tv announcer for like 25 years

[@harrisynschilpp3406]

LETSS GO PENSSSSS

[@hugh2hoob668]

Bruins lost 14 cups wow originally thought they only lost like 9 They're 6-14 in finals lol

[@Jake_Broer]

Well, that's what happens when you play with only 5 other teams

[@hugh2hoob668]

@@Jake_Broer they made cup finals after expansion too...

[@TheOldMainGuy]

Of course January 30th is the anniversary. That's my birthday (and I'm a Caps fan)

[@bfenolet3016]

Whats with the blood on one of them

[@scottegbert9575]

This is more black and yellow than black and gold.

[@stanisci59]

Don’t know if it’s Paul or Mike from breaking bad??

[@KINGxBjorn]

Giovanni Stanisci OMG 🤣

[@mnull2891]

Great switch. The blue jerseys were hideous!

[@alexyerkey3141]

They were awesome!!

[@dylanvogel4503]

mnull2891 I like em

[@jamestrexler6329]

@@dylanvogel4503 The navy blue was uninspiring, sure, but the powder blue was an amazing and unique look. Personally I really love the blue and white era, though I agree that the switch was a fantastic move.

[@MrErnieHanks]

Penguins should change back to the sand colored jerseys they wore during the mid 2000's to differentiate.

[@MrsPaul]

You mean Vegas gold.

[@deheckler]

Black n Gold Rules da Nation!!

[@aaronmaxim]

Cause Bruins fans needed the a real deal city to show how them wear em, win with em. 5 cups in 57 years compared to 3 in 94 years....thanks for coming, not a big deal.

[@aaronmaxim]

@Stelios Kontos that's football but yeah exactly, same idea.

[@darrylhall1704]

@Stelios Kontos Try some math with that...6=6 but 5>3 thanks for playing

[@darrylhall1704]

@Stelios Kontos ok. I'll put like I'm taking to a 4th grader. The Steelers and Patriots have both won 6 Superbowls but the Penguins have won 5 Stanley Cups while the Bruins have won 3. Thus 5 is more than 3

[@darrylhall1704]

@Stelios Kontos easy, years don't matter, only how many! How long did it take NE to win it's first SB? (the answer is 41 years) . don't act like they've been doing this forever. Any Steeler fan will tell you about the rough history (and a lot of the 80's) that stunk

[@mememan6015]

Is paul losing weight??

[@mikecollins1205]

Boston is still the original black and gold!!!

[@randyhospodar8864]

mike collins .......but horrible marathon hosts

[@akbarlebowitz8151]

Bruin's original colors were brown and yellow-gold.

[@darrylhall1704]

actually the Pittsburgh Pirates (hockey) were the original Black and Gold. Bruins were Brown and yellow

[@darrylhall1704]

@Stelios Kontos But Pittsburgh had the color scheme first (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Pirates_(NHL) )so they should go back to brown and then complain. Plus " You play for Pittsburgh, you play for the city of Pittsburgh, we’re all in this together! "

[@geebee6010]

St Patrick originally wore red not green

[@gradygilchrist4923]

I still liked the Vegas Gold better.

[@scottl.1568]

Me too...

[@kornhubx7233]

me too

[@jayhockey6505]

1st

[@kevind.lacroix8900]

That's yellow

[@pumpkinking5174]

So, the organization was a front runner by copying the colors of the Pirates and Steelers....just like all of their fans.

[@czarii2422]

to copy the bruins

[@Michael-bl4no]

Totally ripped off the Bruins. Sorry, it’s true.

[@robbyers7614]

That's great if we're all in this together but the pirates need to start paying state taxes. 50 million-a-year their address is in the state of Delaware. We taxpayers built their stadium. I don't watch them ANYMORE!! I DON'T WATCH STEELERS because Uncle Sam pays for the Anthem... Millions of dollars to recruit new troops. Screw the Steelers too!! My ❤️ is with Penguins UNTIL I find dirt on them.

[@mikelouis9389]

Son, y'all been sniffin' them chemtrails.

[@richardsmothers6145]

It's because they wanted to look like a winning team.....the Boston Bruins!