School Spirit, Spelled Out in Triangular Felt (Tassels Optional)

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For generations of Cornellians, the humble pennant has been a tried and true way to display Big Red pride

By Joe Wilensky

Big Red memorabilia stretching back more than a century can be found in all forms and sizes: stick pins and brooches, bear-shaped emblems, game tickets, programs, banners, and much more.

But on the Hill and elsewhere, one of the most popular and longstanding items of school pride is the classic, triangular felt pennant—which, in Cornell’s case, is of course nearly always red—sporting bold lettering and a logo or insignia.

In preparation for a recent display by Rare and Manuscript Collections in the Kroch Library rotunda, exhibitions coordinator Kate Carlin took a deep dive into Big Red pennants (and banners, too).

“They were interpreted in so many different ways,” she says, “for different groups or uses—general school spirit, athletics, colleges and majors, clubs, class years.”

As the Kroch exhibit explains, small triangular flags can be traced to the Middle Ages, when knights carried them. Later flown from ship masts, they were a means of communication with other boats.

By the mid-1800s, pennant-shaped flags were being used on pleasure craft, displaying the emblem or name of the yacht club to which the owners belonged.

Small triangular flags can be traced to the Middle Ages, when knights carried them. Later flown from ship masts, they were a means of communication with other boats.

The tradition was adopted by U.S. universities toward the turn of the 20th century: college athletics were booming in popularity, and students were looking for ways to express school pride.

Pennants were easily manufactured from a simple piece of felt, with tassels and lettering sewn on; they were often sold with a wooden dowel, to be waved during games and then taken home and hung on a dorm room wall.

Later incarnations included more detailed appliques, burned-leather symbols, and eventually multicolored screen printing.

And while designs and fonts may have evolved over the years, the camaraderie symbolized by a Cornell pennant has never—sorry, we can’t stop ourselves—flagged, and this style of swag remains popular.

Toward the turn of the 20th century, college athletics were booming in popularity, and students were looking for ways to express school pride.

The “Pennants and Flags” section on the Cornell Store site offers more than 40 selections, and pennants are depicted on numerous other gift items and apparel.

(A plush Touchdown bear hits the trifecta, sporting an insignia hat and “C” sweater while clutching a miniature pennant in one furry paw.)

Michele Tobin, the store’s manager of retail buying, says that while pennants only represent 5% of sales of items sporting a University emblem or logo, “almost half of those happen in August and in April and May, when students are either arriving on campus excited for the year ahead, or graduating and in search of keepsakes to remember their time at Cornell.”

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While designs and fonts may have evolved over the years, the camaraderie symbolized by a Cornell pennant has never—sorry, we can’t stop ourselves—flagged.

And at a Spirit Week giveaway by Student & Campus Life during Homecoming ’25, mini “Yell Cornell” pennants were among the most-requested freebies, even long after the supply ran out.

“I do think people really like the nostalgia of a pennant,” says Amy Gaulke, SCL’s executive director for communications and marketing.

For the past several years, the CALS Alumni Association has handed out branded pennants to its graduates at Commencement.

“It’s a great keepsake,” says Scott Pesner ’87, director of engagement in CALS alumni affairs, who launched the tradition in 2019. “And there’s such a feeling of joy to see all the students waving them as they march in and when they’re called to stand.”

And, of course, vintage pennants are sought by some passionate collectors.

I do think people really like the nostalgia of a pennant.

Amy Gaulke, SCL’s executive director for communications and marketing

(A Cornell specimen is even in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.)

As Carlin observes, the vintage versions—made in an era before tightly controlled branding—can offer “creative interpretations of Cornell imagery that you might not find today.”

University Relations staffer Vitaliy Darovskikh began accumulating century-old Big Red pennants while researching family ties to the University.

(His wife’s great-great grandfather, Henry Milo Curry 1909, was a Chi Psi fraternity brother who helped rescue fellow members from the tragic 1906 fire that destroyed their residence—the former McGraw-Fiske mansion—and claimed the lives of four students and three firefighters.)

Darovskikh now has more than a dozen vintage pennants—found primarily through estate auctions, and a few via eBay—ranging in width from nine to 37 inches.

Points of Pride

Pennants from Vitaliy Darovskikh's Collection

Many have varied versions of the University’s insignia or emblem, while others just comprise lettering in a variety of fonts.

Says Darovskikh: “Pennants are a fun and expressive way to show pride in the institution.”

(All pennant images courtesy of Vitaliy Darovskikh; vintage photographs and postcards courtesy of Rare and Manuscript Collections, unless otherwise indicated.)

Published December 11, 2025

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Comments

1. 

   Joseph Kirschner, Class of 1993

   11 Dec, 2025

   Thank you Joe for writing the article. Having a passion for Cornell nostalgia, including vintage pennants, I thoroughly enjoyed the read. I especially liked the image of the “Yell Cornell” pennants handed out during Spirit Week, as it fits in so well with the Cornell history I love to share on my website – iyellcornell.com – It’s great seeing a resurgence of the original Cornell Cheer! Yell Cornell!

   Reply

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