Rough Riders Primary Logo
The Ottawa Rough Riders have been a part of the Canadian Football League since 1876, making them one of the oldest teams in professional football. Throughout its history, they’ve had numerous logos and uniforms to represent its team. One logo that has remained consistent throughout their tenure is the primary logo featuring an “R” with a circle around it. This iconic symbol has become synonymous with not only Ottawa but also Canadian Football as well.
The original version of this logo was first seen on helmets during the 1970 season when head coach Jack Gotta decided to make some changes to his team's look and feel for that year's campaign. The helmet featured two red stripes running down each side while at its center was a white oval containing an R inside surrounded by four stars representing Canada’s provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick (the four founding members of Confederation). Atop this helmet were two crossed flags representing both British Columbia (where most players hailed from) as well as Alberta which had recently joined Canada after becoming its tenth province in 1905.
As time went on, however, small alterations began taking place such as changing out colors or adding additional elements like maple leaves or other symbols related to either Ontario or Canada itself. In 1978, yet another change occurred when designer Peter Goode removed all extraneous design elements leaving just an outlined R within a circle – something which would remain unchanged for decades until 2007 when then-owner Jeff Hunt decided once again to update things up by replacing those old red stripes with black ones instead. Additionally, he added three gold stars above said circles along with what appeared to be stylized fleur de lis underneath them - thus creating what we now know today simply as referred 'Rough Rider Logo.'
Despite these minor adjustments over the years though basic shape remains the same: the simple letter ‘R’ encircled by a symbolic representation of our nation - no matter how many times many changed hands ownership groups come to go via drafts trades etcetera ultimately stands a testament to the fact that even through thick thin Ottawa Rough Riders will always proud call themselves true Canadians!
Rough Riders Products
1995 - 1996
A black, red and white log driver with a brown mustache and red scarf and a log driver’s pike in the background.
Changing back to black and removing the blue color from the 1994 primary logo.
1994
A blue, red and white log driver with a brown mustache and red scarf and a log driver’s pike in the background.
For the 1994 season the team unveiled its final logo design with the team colors changing from black, silver, and red, to dark navy, red, and gold. The color changes proved to be unpopular as the team dropped dark navy in favor of a return to black for the 1995 season.
1992 - 1993
A red with silver trim letter “R” and a black with silver trim letter “R” with red flames trailing behind the letters.
1986 - 1991
A white letter “R” on black with red stripe helmet with full grey facemask.
1975 - 1985
A white letter “R” on black with red stripe helmet and a single bar white facemask.
1961 - 1974
A orange cowboy riding a orange horse on a white with orange trim football and a wordmark “OTTAWA” in black and “ROUGH RIDERS” in black and arched.
1950 - 1960
Letters “OFC” on red, white and black footballs with three black pennants. “OFC” represents the team name Ottawa Football Club.
