COLUMN

By Kevin Smith

I own nothing purple.

That doesn’t bode well in this town.

I have a shirt that I thought was purple, but it’s really just a dark maroon. When you hold it up to something purple, it’s obvious it’s not.

It’s interesting to be in a town with — I don’t want to say an unusual color — a unique color.

Many schools have blue, red or black as a color. Sometimes green. Kearney is purple.

Blue, black, red or green are fairly common colors you see people wearing when they’re just picking out clothes not thinking about a team or school to support.

I suppose purple isn’t that unusual. My dad used to teach and coach at Field Kindley High School in Coffeyville, Kan. They were the Golden Tornadoes with the colors purple and gold. I lived in Pittsburg, Kan., for a long time where they are the Purple Dragons. And the NFL Minnesota Vikings sport purple uniforms.

You’d think purple was a more common color and at some point I would have acquired something purple to wear.

I’m very conscientious of what colors I wear when I go to a ball game. I certainly don’t want to show up in the opposing team’s colors.

Since coming to Kearney, whenever I walk past clothes in a store I do a quick scan for purple shirts. I’d like something subtle that I can wear to work on Friday and go to the football game in afterward. But that’s harder than you’d think.

For the homecoming game I wore a yellow polo shirt. I figured that was a safe bet since Kearney’s other color is gold.

It’s funny how support for a team can alter your wardrobe.

In high school, I wore a lot of orange and black — Augusta (Kan.) High School’s mascot is the oriole. When playoffs neared — no matter the season — we all looked like we were ready for a Halloween party.

I have not worn near as much orange and black since high school. My color has always been blue. Being a Dallas Cowboys fan, that makes it easy.

Surprisingly, I don’t have many red shirts. You’d think I would after four years of college at Pitt State and another year and a half there afterward. I have a few gray shirts with PSU logos on them.

Red is kind of an abrasive color, so it’s a little funny to be in Pittsburg, Kan., where there are so many Gorilla fans and Chiefs fans with yellow and red gear when normally you wouldn’t find that much red and yellow in a concentrated area.

I like that Kearney is unique with its purple. As much as I like blue, it does get boring and blend in. And as far as school colors go, blue can become monotonous.

So I’ll continue my quest for more purple shirts because Kearney is the only place I know where purple makes you blend.

And if you see me at the game Friday against Ruskin High School, well at least I won’t be wearing blue and gold.

 

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