How did NYU teams get the nickname “Violets”?
For more than 100 years, New York University athletes have worn the distinctive violet and white colors that were derived from the violets that grew under the shade of the trees in Washington Square Park. While some questioned the resulting nickname—the Violets—because it lacked the aggressive, competitive connotation that goes along with sport, generation after generation of NYU athletes have carried the Violets name with pride and distinction into the arenas and onto the playing fields of virtually every sport invented.
