Take a look at the hoodie and crewneck in the photo above. Simple, right? Gray fabric, bold navy blue letters spelling out RICE UNIVERSITY. But there's actually a wild, true story behind that name, one involving a self-made millionaire, a forged will, and an actual murder plot. Stick with us for a minute, because this is one of those “wait, that really happened?” pieces of American history.
Then we'll get into the fun part: how you can get this design (and dozens of other university looks) on a hoodie, sweatshirt, or tee, in your size, in your color, without waiting weeks or paying a fortune.
So, What Exactly Is Rice University?
Rice University sits in Houston, Texas, and it's one of the most respected research universities in the entire country. It's known for being small on purpose. Instead of packing in as many students as possible, Rice keeps its classes tight and its campus close-knit, which means students actually get to know their professors instead of just being a number in a giant lecture hall.
Academically, Rice punches way above its size. It's especially famous for engineering, architecture, natural sciences, and business, and it consistently lands among the top research universities in the United States. Students live and study inside a residential college system, kind of like the setup you might picture at a school like Oxford: each student belongs to one of several small residential colleges that becomes their community, their support system, and honestly, their extended family for four years.
Here's a fact that surprises almost everyone: in September 1962, President John F. Kennedy stood on the field at Rice Stadium and delivered his famous “We choose to go to the Moon” speech, laying out America's plan to land on the Moon before the decade was out. That speech is a big reason NASA's Mission Control ended up right there in Houston. So in a very real way, Rice University's campus played a small part in launching the Space Race.
The Wild True Story Behind the School's Founding
Here's where it gets genuinely strange.
Rice University exists because of a man named William Marsh Rice, a Massachusetts-born businessman who moved to Houston in the 1800s and built an enormous fortune in merchandising, real estate, and banking. Rice decided he wanted to use his money to build a free institute of higher learning for the people of Houston, something that would outlast him and actually mean something.
But before that dream could happen, Rice was murdered.
In 1900, while living in New York, Rice was killed by his own valet, a man named Charles Jones, who was working together with a dishonest lawyer named Albert Patrick. The two of them had forged a new version of Rice's will, one that would have handed his entire fortune to Patrick instead of funding the school Rice had planned. It was a genuinely shocking crime for its time, and it made national headlines.
Thankfully, the scheme fell apart. Investigators uncovered the forgery, Jones and Patrick were prosecuted, and the courts upheld Rice's real wishes. His fortune went exactly where he wanted it to go, and in 1912, the doors of the Rice Institute opened for the first time. Over the following decades it grew into the William Marsh Rice University we know today, usually just called Rice.
So every time you see that navy blue “RICE” lettering, you're looking at the legacy of a man whose final wish survived an actual murder plot to make it real. Not many university logos come with a backstory like that.
From Campus Legacy to Your Closet
We'll be upfront about something important: the designs you see here, including this Rice University hoodie and sweatshirt, are original creations made by Expressionize. They are not officially licensed Rice University merchandise, and we're not affiliated with or endorsed by the university. Think of them as fan-made, spirited apparel, created because we love celebrating great schools and their stories, not as an official product from the school itself.
If you're curious about what that unofficial, unlicensed label actually means for shoppers, and what to look for when you're buying any university or college-branded clothing online, we've broken it all down in University and College Branded Garments: 7 Factors to Consider.
With that said, this design is just one small piece of a much bigger collection. Expressionize makes hoodies, crewneck sweatshirts, and t-shirts celebrating colleges and universities from all over, and they're all available in a range of base colors and eight sizes, S–5XL. Whatever your size or style, there's a good chance we've got it covered.
Want to see what we've got for your own school, or one you're just proud to support? Just type the university's name into the search bar at the top of our website and see what pops up.
Why We Print This Way (And Why It Matters)
All of our university apparel is made using direct-to-garment printing, or DTG for short. Instead of using big screens or heavy layers of plastic-feeling ink, a DTG printer applies the design straight into the fibers of the fabric, almost like a very precise inkjet printer made for clothing instead of paper. That's how we get crisp, clean lettering like the “RICE UNIVERSITY” text you see here, without it cracking, peeling, or fading after a few washes.
We also follow a print-on-demand approach, which means nothing gets printed until someone actually orders it. We're not sitting on giant stockpiles of hoodies in every size and color, hoping they sell before the season ends. That approach matters for two big reasons. First, it's genuinely better for the environment, since we're not wasting fabric, ink, or energy making things nobody asked for. Second, it keeps our prices fair, because we're not paying to store, discount, or throw away unsold stock. You get a better price, and the planet gets a break too.
Make It Yours
Whether you're a Rice student, a proud parent, an alum, or just someone who loves a good underdog origin story, this hoodie is a way to carry a piece of that history around with you. Head over to Expressionize and search “Rice University” to see the full lineup, then pick your favorite color and size, S–5XL, and make it yours.
Shop the collection: US College & University Apparel