Odds, Evens (Group H)

The Garnet and Gold Key honorary culture can be tracked back to the rivalry of the Odds and Evens at the Florida State College for Women. On the date of October of 1924, near a popular downtown Tallahassee cafe, a cluster of Odds assembled as a team and developed a foundation. This foundation turned out to be called the Spirogira honorary society. The meaning behind its name was after a genus of algae (spirogyra), the society generated a black and white color scheme and made their emblem a skull with crossbones in the back. This made it seem more intimidating and more cultural for their environment to isolate their group as “Odds”.

The first tournament to ever be held was the Odds and Evens basketball game. The school decided to forbid intermural competition for women. In its position evolved forerunners of the Odds and Evens. When a student arrived college, she was either labeled under a certain category. These categories were either Odd or even varying on the year she came in. The tradition ended in 1953 after coeducation arrived at Florida State.

At Florida State University in 1947, right after the college became the co-ed, a men’s honors society was established: Gold Key. Garnet Key, the women’s society, was formed a year later with the merger of Spirogira and Esteren. Finally, the two societies merged in 1976 to form the Garnet & Gold Key. The name was changed to FSU Gold Key in 1980 but was changed back to Garnet and Gold Key in 2000 to better reflect the society’s history and traditions. This is what made the college more diverse for its future as well. Having another gender take a position, or head role in a women-filled school triggered more gender motivations.

Then another group in the making was assembling, in December of 1930. This group was famously known for being called the “Evens”. The Evens produced their own honorary society identified as Esteren. The honor society decided to adopt the colors green and white, with the emblem description of a cauldron over a burning fire acting as the representation of their lifestyle. The letters “S” and “N” were also familiar in their iconography, but the significance following both the name and symbols was certainly not discovered to strangers. So, basically through out sporting events whether that be basketball, baseball, or volleyball, there was traditional rivalry that made the school much more interesting.