Adam Yackley sent in a photo of the student section in Martin Stadium, a blur of “Go Cougs” noisemakers. Susan Iverson submitted a photo of her Cougar Christmas tree, sparkling in crimson, silver and gray. You can’t see all 150 WSU ornaments, but they are there.
David Patterson submitted an art photo of a Cougar umbrella planted on the shore of Priest Lake. Leslie Kimble’s photo is of an apple tree adorned with an apple-studded Cougar-head logo. And then there’s Tammy Mulholland’s photo of her home in the Tri-Cities. Not only is the house crimson, but one garage door has a huge Cougar-head logo, and the other reads, “Go Cougs.”
Not everyone who loves WSU sees the world through rose-colored glasses, but for these Cougar faithful the world definitely looks better with a little crimson in the picture. Jud Preece, senior associate director of the WSU Alumni Association, says there are plenty of folks like them. In fact, that’s the premise of the Alumni Association’s new “My Color is Crimson” photo contest being sponsored in conjunction with WSU in Seattle.
WSU alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends are invited to submit photos depicting how their love of crimson is manifested in their lives. The winning entry will be chosen by fans during halftime at the Cougar Gridiron Classic in Seattle on Sept. 12. The grand prize is a WSU football weekend package for two, including game tickets, pregame sideline passes and hotel accommodations.
“The contest is a fun and easy way for Cougars around the world to share how they show their pride in WSU,” Preece said.
Anyone can wear a Cougar lapel pin, but painting your house crimson and gray is a pretty big statement, especially if it’s the trim that’s gray. But, that’s the statement Tammy Mulholland wanted to make. Though she’s an adopted Coug, married to a WSU alumni, her color is definitely crimson.
Mulholland said she even contacted people at WSU to make sure the painting company got exactly the right shade. Her neighbors were a little worried when they heard about her plan, she said, but now they love it.
For Iverson, a Gig Harbor resident who met her future husband at WSU and whose two sons are both WSU alumni, the “My Color is Crimson” contest was a natural. Most of her clothing has a WSU logo on it somewhere, she said, and one entire room in her house is devoted to all things Cougar, including photographs, blankets and figurines. The only question was what to photograph.
“I figured the one unique thing I might have is the Cougar Christmas tree,” she said.
What causes this kind of Cougar mania? Iverson said it started when she first arrived at WSU in 1973 and was living in Stephenson Hall. She was walking across the bridge toward the rest of campus, she said, “and I remember specifically thinking, ‘This is my school.’ It just started there.”
And then it grew. “You’re so immersed in the community of the college,” she said. In Pullman, “it’s all WSU and everyone there lives and breathes it. You take that with you when you leave.”
Patterson, a Tacoma resident who graduated from WSU in the 1970s, said he’s got a den full of WSU memorabilia as well, but decided to send in a photograph he took this summer while on vacation at Priest Lake: billowy clouds in a bright blue ski, water lapping at the sandy beach, and a white and crimson WSU umbrella. He’s been bringing the umbrella to Priest Lake for four or five years, he said, and it always attracts fellow Cougs.
Yackley, who has seen plenty of games in Martin Stadium, said the photo he sent in was taken six or seven years ago. A drafting technician for WSU Facility Operations, Yackley also is a student with plans to graduate in May with a degree in electrical engineering.
WSU was the only college he applied to. He’s the first in his family to attend college, he said, and crimson is definitely his color.
“I love this campus,” he said. “I love this town.” And, he said, “I’m looking forward to graduating from this place and becoming an alum.”
Rhonda Wallace, a program support supervisor for undergraduate recruitment, thought immediately of her new Cougar-head tattoo when she read about the My Color is Crimson photo contest.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh! I’m going to do this,’ ” she said. But then, as she was scrolling through the entries that had already been posted, she saw her own ankle with the WSU logo.
”I was really surprised to see it there already.” She quickly realized that a friend who had asked her for a photo of her tattoo a couple weeks earlier had beat her to the photo sumbission.
Wallace said she has a drawer full of crimson t-shirts and various Cougar memorabilia, but she likes the fact that the tattoo is permanent.
“I’m really proud of it,” she said. “I wear it with pride.”
If you have a photo of your crimson-colored world to submit, go to http://mycoloriscrimson.wsu.edu. Entries will be accepted until Sept. 4.
