Dallas Cowboys Logo History: Every Crest and Its Colors

This page traces every logo the Dallas Cowboys have used, from the plain blue star of 1960 to the outlined star today, with each era’s colors as one-click hex values.

The Cowboys joined the NFL in 1960 and reached for the most obvious symbol Texas had, a solid blue lone star with no outline.

The white outline came in 1964, and everything since has been shade rather than shape.

Today it runs on Navy Blue, Royal Blue, Metallic Silver and white: #041E42 #003594 #869397 #FFFFFF. For RGB, CMYK and Pantone, see the current Dallas Cowboys color codes.

Dallas Cowboys logo history timeline

1960-1963

Dallas Cowboys logo 1960-1963

Dallas Cowboys crest, 1960-1963. Via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (PD-ineligible, simple geometry).

The Cowboys' inaugural logo (introduced when the expansion franchise joined the NFL in 1960): a plain, solid blue five-pointed star on a white background, with no outline or 3D effect.

1964-1996 (approximate)

Dallas Cowboys logo 1964-1996

Dallas Cowboys crest, 1964-1996. Club trademark, shown to identify the logo of that period.

Equipment manager Jack Eskridge added a white border and a darker blue contour around the star, giving it a 3D look so it would not blend into the team's new blue helmets. Design is otherwise unchanged from the original star.

Why it changed: Needed to remain visible against the newly adopted blue helmet shell; one source (sportslogohistory.com's primary-logo page) instead dates this change to 1967, but multiple other sources (1000logos, sportslogohistory's own evolution article, LogoMyWay) place it in 1964, so the exact year is treated as approximate.

1997-2001 (approximate)

Dallas Cowboys logo 1997-2001

Dallas Cowboys crest, 1997-2001. Club trademark, shown to identify the logo of that period.

Same star-with-outline design, but rendered in a noticeably darker navy blue rather than the earlier royal blue.

Why it changed: Documented only as a color/shade adjustment; no specific reason given in sources consulted.

2002-present (approximate)

Dallas Cowboys logo 2002-present

Dallas Cowboys crest, 2002-present. Via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (PD-ineligible, simple geometry).

Continuation of the dark navy star-with-white/navy-outline design; sources describe this as essentially unchanged from the 1997 adjustment, sometimes listed as a distinct 'current' era anyway.

Dallas Cowboys logo colors by era

Era	Colors
1960-1963	Blue `#0D254C`
1964-1996	Royal Blue `#00205A` White `#FFFFFF`
1997-2001	Navy Blue `#041E42`
2002-present	Navy Blue `#041E42` Royal Blue `#003594` Metallic Silver `#869397` White `#FFFFFF`

Things worth knowing

The core star shape has never changed since 1960; every subsequent 'era' is a coloring/outline refinement, not a redesign, making the Cowboys' primary mark one of the most stable in major American sports.
The 1964 white/navy outline was a practical fix by equipment manager Jack Eskridge to stop the solid blue star from disappearing against the team's new blue helmets, not an aesthetic rebrand.
Sources disagree on whether the outline was added in 1964 or 1967 (sportslogohistory.com's dedicated primary-logo timeline says 1967, while the site's own separate 'evolution' article and other outlets say 1964); this is unresolved across sources.
The star's meaning is tied to Texas's nickname, the 'Lone Star State,' rather than to any cowboy iconography.