What Kind of Penguin Is the Pittsburgh Penguin?

The emperor penguin has been a part of the Pittsburgh Penguins' logo from the time the team entered the National Hockey League. The penguin type has not changed, but its look, the team's uniform and the colors surrounding the penguin have.

  1. Name

    • The team was called the Pittsburgh Penguins as the result of a fan vote. Carol McGregor, the wife of then owner Sen. Jack McGregor, liked it because the team's arena, the Civic Center (eventually renamed to the Melon Arena), was known as "the igloo." Furthermore, the Philadelphia Flyers also had an alliterative name, so there was a desire to mirror the team's Pennsylvania rivals.

    Anti Penguins

    • From 1936 until the Penguins' inaugural year of 1967, the Igloo housed the Pittsburgh Hornet's, the city's AHL team. Red Sullivan, who was named the first coach of the Penguins, hated the Penguin name and black and white look, which also confused artist Bob Gessner. Gessner, who had designed the Hornets' logo, couldn't believe at first that the team was going to be based on an penguin. According to pittsburghhockey.net, he said, "How can you make a penguin look mean? They are slow, small and awkward," he said. He did accept $1,500 to produce six logos.

    Team Logo

    • Gessner's first accepted design was "a little wimpy" in his words. It showed a scarf-wearing penguin with a hockey stick over a golden triangle, which represented the "golden triangle" of downtown Pittsburgh. The Penguins' first uniform was powder blue and white with the word "Pittsburgh" written diagonally across the chest. The logo appeared in 1968, but without the scarf. A new logo in 1992 was simpler, featuring the golden triangle merged with the breast and head with a penguin. The logo was changed back to the skating penguin in 2002 when Hall of Fame player Mario Lemieux bought the team.

    Team Colors

    • The team's original colors were going to be black and white, to match the emblematic penguin. However, after Sullivan and others complained this would make them look like nuns, the colors were changed to black and gold. The Boston Bruins objected since that was the Bruins' color scheme. The Penguins settled for the powder blue look, which remained its colors for the next decade. It wasn't until 1980 that the Penguins went to the Emperor Penguin-like black. The black and gold the team has featured since matches the black and gold worn by football's Pittsburgh Steelers and baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates.