Michigan Wolverines is an athletic branch of the University of Michigan, counting over 20 teams, which is quite expansive compared to other establishments. The favorite sports of the University include baseball, basketball and American football. The organization is known for creating a large percentage of American Olympians.
Who owns Michigan Wolverines? The University of Michigan is an educational institution located in the namesake state. They are the sole proprietor of the organization.
History Logo
It’s not clear when the name ‘Wolverines’ was first officially used to describe a team from this university. However, their football team at least has been active since the 1870s, making it one of the pioneers of college football. The name is derived from the moniker given to the Michigan denizens, the Wolverines.
1912 – 1948
The first ever logo was adopted in 1912. It featured a blue silhouette of a visibly irritated wolverine, with the color white signifying the features and other nuances. Furthermore, it’s outlined in red and joined by the word ‘Michigan’ written in a curved word consisting of blue letters. The font used is the usual ‘athletic serif’ style.
1948 – 1964
In 1948, they instead introduced a white-with-blue drawing of a wolverine’s head in a sailor’s hat. The drawing is made to look cartoonish, and the expression they gave their new mascot is more of a comedic brutish look: the brows are furrowed, the lower lip is pointing out, and the eyes are slightly closed. The hat also wears a bit ‘M’, for ‘Michigan’.
1964 – 1979
The 1964 emblem uses a depiction of a wolverine – more realistic than the previous ones, but also colored in blue with some white. The expression is still aggressive and almost feral, although there aren’t very many prominent features. Behind the animal, they placed a big yellow, blue-outlined ‘M’.
1979 – 1988
An interesting reshuffling happened in 1979, over the course of which they moved the wolverine above the big letter and mirrored it. The letter itself was color-reversed, while the blue both on it and on the wolverine became a much lighter color. The only other addition is a yellow rectangle going through the middle of the ‘M’, with ‘Michigan’ written across it in blue.
1988 – 1996
In 1988, they got rid of the wolverine illustration and only left the ‘M’. They made the color blue much darker and also repainted the central rectangle to have blue contents, yellow outlines and the same letters.
1996 – 2012
In 1996, they actually returned to the 1979 design, but gave the blue a darker tone – not as dark as the one in the previous attempt, however.
2012 – today
The 2012 emblem is instead the ‘M’ as seen behind the wolverine on the logo from the 60s, almost without change.
Helmet History
The football helmets used by the wolverines have one distinct design they like to return to once in a while. It’s a blue or black surface with a special yellow forehead coloring featuring two lines protruding away from it. It’s likely supposed to be claw marks. There are also many fully white, blue and yellow variants.
Uniform History
Black, white and yellow are the primary colors used by the Wolverines. There are several key combinations, including black/white jerseys with yellow pants, fully white uniforms and fully blue uniforms. The black & yellow is their most preferred mix, and it’s been their home uniform for a long time.
Michigan Wolverines Colors
BLUE
PANTONE: PMS 282 C
HEX COLOR: #00274C;
RGB: (0, 39, 76)
CMYK: (100, 60, 0, 60)
MAIZE
PANTONE: PMS 7406 C
HEX COLOR: #FFCB05;
RGB: (255, 203, 5)
CMYK: (0, 18, 100, 0)
