A Knight to remember: Athletic department rebrands
The Niagara College Knights athletic program will have a slick, new look for the 2019-2020 athletic season.
On Wednesday, Niagara’s Athletics and Recreation department revealed a new athletics brand to college staff gathered at the Welland Campus Athletic Centre as part of Niagara Day.
The annual staff and faculty get-together, which launches a new school year, was the perfect spot for the official reveal of the Knights’ re-brand.
The new logo represents a new era in Knights history and pays homage to courage, honour and excellence; attributes of a Knight.
“The new Knights logo captures our competitive fire and pride of representing Niagara College,” said Michele O’Keefe, the college’s associate director, athletics and recreation.
It will appear prominently on Niagara College merchandise available in the campus store.
“We are both proud and excited to have the opportunity to leverage the campus store’s expertise to celebrate everything that is Niagara College,” campus bookstore manager Dan Lewis said. “The vision for Knights Athletics is truly impressive and we are happy to be able to enable the College and Niagara community access to the Knights brand.”
Knights-branded beer will also available for purchase, thanks to the Niagara College Teaching Brewery. The English Pale Ale and Pilsner will pay respect to Knights history on the label. The new cans of beer will be available at NC Brewery, The Core and The Armoury.
“This re-brand has given us a tremendous opportunity to continue our work with traditional and non-traditional partners on campus,” O’Keefe said. “To have a Knights beer that celebrates our athletes is a tremendous honour. And to do able to offer Knights merchandise for sale to Knights friends and family at the book store and occasional pop-ups is filling a demand that we have had.
“This truly has been a collaboration that spans the whole college. And for that we are grateful.”
The college believes the Knights’ rebrand will also bring a sense of community and sportsmanship to campus with newly formed partnerships within the post-secondary institution. Staff, faculty and students will be able to purchase Knights wear from the bookstore and at selected Niagara home games.
The team nickname originated in the 1960s back when Knights was a common sports team name and it fit well with Niagara College for its alliterative quality. The first squad to be dubbed Knights was an ad hoc hockey team started by former athletics coordinator, Peter Rylander. They were known as the Blue Knights. In 1968 when the Niagara College athletics department was created, all the other varsity teams simply adopted the name.
There have been four different Knights logos in the 50-year history of the college. The first drawing of a Niagara Knight in 1969 was designed by Bob Aroe.
The Knights’ varsity season starts Sept. 6 with the men’s and women’s soccer taking on the Humber College Hawks at 6 and 8 p.m at Young’s Sportsplex.
A full varsity schedule is available at goknights.ca.
Coverage of the Niagara Knights is made possible with the support of the Niagara College Department of Athletics & Recreation. For more information, please visit www.goknights.ca
