James Madison’s Celebration of 50 Seasons of Football Opens with Logo Launch

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison Athletics unveiled a new logo on Monday to launch the department's upcoming Fall 2021 celebration of 50 seasons of JMU football.

JMU football began in 1972 with original head coach Challace McMillin famously recruiting the first student-athletes from class registration lines. What started from humble beginnings has evolved to a program that has qualified for seven consecutive playoff appearances, reached three of the last five national championship games and has captured a pair of national titles (2004, 2016). JMU has been .500 or better every season since 2003, a stretch featuring an overall record of 164-62, including 58-9 in the last five campaigns.

The logo, developed with Learfield IMG College's licensing division, CLC, will be featured prominently in JMU's season-long celebration. The logo has the overall shape of a football oriented vertically with traditionally-placed horizontal football stripes containing the first season of 1972 and the 50^th season of 2021. A representation of "50 Seasons" is centrally positioned with streamers flowing through the numbers as JMU fans traditionally toss streamers to celebrate scoring plays. The top of the football shape includes two stars to represent the two national championships and the bottom includes the JMU primary logo.

"We have a special football history at James Madison," Director of Athletics Jeff Bourne said. "In some ways, you can trace the growth of our institution to the growth of our football program. Each decade featured terrific student-athletes and coaches with each etching their place in program history. We have evolved into one of the top programs in the nation with two national championships, a rich postseason history, wins over Virginia and Virginia Tech, other FBS victories and a pair of appearances on ESPN's College GameDay. We have All-Americans, national players of the year and individuals who achieved all the way to the NFL. There is so much to celebrate, and we are excited to do that this Fall!"

Plans for the 2021 celebration of 50 seasons of JMU football are being finalized and will be shared soon. Season tickets are on sale now with a priority deadline of May 15 for patrons to lock in their reserved seat locations.

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