Skull and crossbones (fraternities and sports)

The skull and crossbones was a common fraternal motif as a symbol of mortality and warning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The skull and crossbones motif was used by many American college fraternities, sororities, and secret societies founded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

[1] The symbol was also used by the invitational touring rugby team the Barbarians, but this was dropped for the black and white hoops by the late 1890s.

Additionally, the players and fans often celebrate by "throwing the bones", where they cross the forearms in the air, in an 'X', imitating the logo.

The athletic teams of East Carolina University, nicknamed Pirates, use a modified skull and crossbones flag as their symbol.