Spartan Athletics
September 11, 2007
SPARTANS A BRIEF HISTORY
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In the fall of 1963 TWU Dean of Students Leland Asa ordered new gold and brown uniforms for Trinity Junior College. The new uniforms arrived in January of 1964. To accompany the uniforms, the students were looking for a new name for the TJC athletic teams. They chose the Spartans.
Today ancient Sparta is often remembered for its military accomplishments and is thought to be a society lacking in art, literature and culture. Upon taking a closer look at the people of ancient Sparta, they may be more aptly described as a people who had a strong devotion to the intellect, the arts and to physical exercise and whose culture focused on much more than just military strength.
The Spartans of old made significant contributions to their society, contributions which have continued to shape the world we live in today. Some of these include the first democracy in recorded history, the introduction of land reform aimed at equalizing wealth among its citizens and the development of a complex system of mutual defence treaties. The Spartans were known for aggressively defending democracy against tyranny because they so strongly believed in a society of freedom. Sparta led the world in the area of women’s rights. Spartan women enjoyed such things as the right to inheritance, property ownership and public education. These are rights that today we would consider elementary, but at the time they were unheard of for women.
Sparta’s public education system, the agoge, was also admired almost universally by contemporaries. The people of Sparta had a strong commitment to education, but this was not the only thing that Sparta was admired for; Sparta also became well known for its constitution, its music and dance. It was her citizens – the lawmakers, the statesmen, the philosophers and the poets – who were the most widely admired in ancient times. They were united in their values and faithful to hold true to them.
In short, the Spartans were a proud people with strong convictions, tremendous discipline, significant power and culture-shaping influence. They were indeed “champions” and leaders in many different areas of life. Their efforts to develop the whole person, their discipline to develop themselves physically, their respect for women and education, their will to build a strong community, and their desire to contribute to the betterment of society have left an inspiring legacy. It is from this legacy that we distill and aspire to the traits of strength, unity, determination and faithfulness, and it is from this legacy that we have taken the name Spartans.
The Spartan name has endured at Trinity Western for 44 years. The TWU Athletics logo however, has gone through a somewhat evolutionary process. The first TWU Spartan logo appeared in the early 70’s and began to take shape over the next decade. In the spring of 1986 the athletic teams of the newly named Trinity Western University ordered new uniforms, and with the new uniforms came new team colours to the Spartans. The Spartans would exchange brown and gold for blue, gold and white and with that would see another change to their logo. Bob Lee and fellow members of the men’s basketball team assisted in a revision of the Spartans’ logo. They combined the TWU letters with a warrior head to create this new revised logo, which was refined once again in 1988 and then customized into a 3-D version in 1999. The most recent rendering of this logo was finalized in 2005 by TWU’s University Communications
For more than 30 years the Spartan logo has been refined. There have been discussions about whether the helmet in the logo was more representative of Troy or Rome than Sparta, whether or not the logo should contain more or less detail and whether or not it was an appropriate logo at all. The many variations eventually began to cause confusion as to which logo was the correct logo for the Spartans. Even the updated 2005 logo presented several design problems and began to look dated in style. Confusion extended beyond the logo itself, and as late as the turn of the century, TWU athletic teams were occasionally referred to as the Trojans instead of the Spartans by outside individuals. It was determined that because of these and other branding related issues that the logo for the TWU Spartans needed to be changed.
In the fall of 2006 TWU’s Department of Athletics initiated a logo redesign process. A team that began with of members of the Dept. of Athletics, and expanded to include TWU’s University Communications, and eventually a Vancouver design company (Industrial Brand Creative Inc.), took on the task of redesigning the Spartan logo. After a year of hard work, TWU and Spartan Athletics are proud to present a new logo.
From the beginning of the logo redesign process, several issues became very clear. It was important that the new logo remain true to the identity of the TWU Spartans. It had to clearly articulate who we are in light of the ancient Spartan values we aspire to. It was imperative that the new logo build on our history, not erase it. Great effort was made to follow our history, and the helmet on the latest version of the Spartan logo is more in keeping with the actual battle helmet that the ancient warriors of Sparta wore into campaigns. This is also the look that was achieved with the original TWC logo from the early 70’s providing a strong tie to our logo roots. It was important that the new logo be more versatile and simple, yet classic in design. In short the new logo had to clearly state who we are in name as well as in design, and to represent the values we hold to as Spartans. With these things in mind, the process began to unfold and eventually the new logo was born.
Since 1963, the Trinity Western Spartans have been writing their own history, a proud history, built around community, integrity, respect, and sacrifice. In 1999, the Spartans joined the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), the highest level of university sport in the country, and in 2001, they launched the Complete Champion Approach TM, a program unique to Canadian university sport. The CCATM is a powerful and effective program aimed at the development of the whole person, and one more step along the journey that is building the legacy of the Trinity Western Spartans. It is a tool we use to help us shape and transform our sport and culture. Through our successes in the CCATM, and as a result of our success at the CIS level, Trinity Western University is becoming widely known across Canada as the home of those who pursue excellence and the home of champions who are having an impact on communities around the world.
The ancient Spartans worked together to achieve their goals and uphold their values. It was this unity that allowed them to become the people we know today and to accomplish all they set out to achieve. They succeeded because they were a team, and the same principles hold true for the TWU Spartans.
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Last Updated: 2008-08-12
Email: aestewart@wei.org