The Gridiron Uniform Database Welcomes the Pro Bowl

It is our pleasure at the Gridiron Uniform Database to bring your the graphic history of the Pro Bowl.  Ably detailed by our graphic engineer Bill Schaefer, we would like to take this time to walk you through the history of the Pro Bowl uniforms, as well as the AFL All-Star Game.

We start with the very first NFL Pro All-Star Game between the New York Giants and the NFL All-Stars (with help from some players from non-NFL west coast teams) played at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles on January 15, 1939.  The Giants wore their standard red jersey, while the All-Stars wore a rather generic uniform of white helmet, plain blue jerseys, white pants and blue socks.  For the next two Pro Star games (both played in L.A.), the NFL Champs (the Packers and Bears respectively) wore their normal garments, while the All-Stars wore outfits that featured a red jersey with a white shoulder insert with a blue star on each shoulder.  After the 1941 and 1942 seasons, the Pro Star Game was played in the colder climes of New York and then Philadelphia.  Uniform wise, these games resembled their baseball counterpart as the Champions wore their own unis against the All-Stars, who wore their normal team outfits, making for a colorful - if helter-skelter - look for the brave fans in the stands.

After an eight year hiatus, the Pro All-Star Game was resurrected by the Los Angeles Newspaper Charities Associaiton and played at the Memorial Coliseum.  The format was the best of the American Conference playing the best of the National Conference.  The uniforms were exact duplicates of each other, with one team in red helmets and jerseys, the other side in blue helmets and jerseys.  In the 1952 season game, the Pro Bowl rectified the confusing scenario by permanently outfitting the American (soon to be Eastern) Conference in red helmets and jerseys and the National (soon to be Western) Conference in blue helmets, but with white jerseys.

The East and West would retain the jersey colors right through 1969.  The only real changes to these duds would be: 1957 season when both team would apply white rounded helmet numbers, 1958 season when the helmet numbers were dropped, but TV numbers would be added to the sleeves of both jerseys, and a thick red shoulder stripe would be added to the East's red jerseys, 1965 season when the generic helmets would be repainted gold for both squads, with a red/white/red stripe pattern for the East and a blue/white/blue stripe pattern was given to the West. And for 1969 season, both sides wore the commemorative patch for the NFL's 50th season on their left shoulders.

Before we hit the Pro Bowl chronology since the 1970 merger, let's take a quick rundown of the AFL All-Star Game's uni history.  The AFL didn't start playing an All-Star Game until year 2, after the 1961 season.  The East wore a white jersey with blue shoulders bedecked in white stars while the West players wore red jerseys with white shoulders and a bevy of red stars.  The unique feature was that the players wore their regular team helmets in the fray, making the game a little more colorful.  The Divisions would switch uni colors every now and then through the years. One game (played after the 1965 season) featured the Champion vs. All-Stars format (similar to what the National Hockey League was doing with their All-Star Game at the time), with the Buffalo Bills wearing their normal white uniform against the All-Star clad in red. Changes to the unis came in the last two years the AFL ASG was played (1968 and 1969 seasons).  The East would have all players wearing a plain white helmet and the West featured the players in solid blue helmets.  The next year, the AFL, perhaps sensing history, bedecked both teams with the AFL logo on the helmets and the jerseys.  The ASG game played on January 17, 1970, was the very last the American Football League game ever played.  One twist of irony in the AFL All-Stat Game...one of the innovations of the AFL, names on the backs of the jerseys, was never worn on any of the AFL All-Star jerseys!

Now back to the post-merger NFL. The Pro Bowl was now referred to as the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, and the uniforms reflected the new NFL.  The best of the AFC would wear a red helmet with a large white "A" trimmed in blue, with a white/blue/white stripe combo, a white jersey with "AMERICAN" on the front in red with red numbers and finally, names on the back, red pants and white socks.  The NFC's finest would sport a white helmet with a medium sized blue "N" outlined in red, with a blue/red/blue stripe pattern, blue jerseys with "NATIONAL" on the front in white with white numbers also with names on the back, white pants and blue socks.  With the exception of some tweaking (or in case after the '73 season, the removal) of the stripes, these unis would be untouched through the 1977 season ending Pro Bowl.

In the 1978 season game, the NFL decided to allow the players to wear the same team logo helmets they  wore during the season.  This look would last right through the 1987 season ender.

Starting with the 1988 season finale, the NFL began the tricking up phase of PB uniforms.  For the first time, stars became a part of the look, going down the sides of the pants, as well as the PB logo on the jerseys. Also for the first time in 1988, the maker's mark (Wilson) was affixed to the uni.  This revision lasted through the 1993 season ender.

By the 1994 season, the Pro Bowl unis entered their current phase, with uniforms changing design every two or three years.  Such zany items as fading colors, sublimated logos, team wordmarks, PB logos below the back numbers, ankle length pants (the 2010 season edition), etc. come to mind.

But two things have remained constant in spite of the free-form design era:  1) Players wearing their own teams' helmets and 2) The base color for the AFC has always been red and the NFC's has always been blue.  That goes back to the 1970 merger.

Oops! I almost forgot!  We even added the lone AAFC All-Star Game, the Shamrock Bowl that was played after the AAFC's 1949 season!

I'd like to thank the website mmbolding.com in particular for their detailed history of the Pro Bowl.  Also we courtesy the database of the Los Angeles Times, gettyimages.com, google news archive and newspaperarchive.com for much of the information that you see here.  Again, without the artistic talents of our own graphic engineer, Bill Schaefer, the GUD would not be able to make this valuable addition to the database.  Whatever you may think of the Pro Bowl today, the game has been an integral part of the NFL's history and to not include it would be a disservice to the mission of the GUD.

With the recent completion of adding the 1920-1932 uniforms and this inclusion of the Pro Bowl's uniform history, the GUD has completed its task of the complete history of Pro Football Uniforms from the beginning...or have we?  Stay with us for the coming season to find out!  

Steve Van Buren, Mr. Eagle

Steve Van Buren, arguably still the greatest Philadelphia Eagle of them all, passed away on August 24, 2012.  While his death stirred little news outside of Philadelphia and possibly Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he attended college at LSU, his impact on the annals of NFL history is immeasurable.

In his sophomore NFL season,
Van Buren scored 110 points
on 18 TDs (15 rushing,
2 receiving, 1 kick return),
astronomical numbers for his day

Born in Honduras, he played for the Eagles from 1944 through 1951, only eight seasons, but in those eight seasons he had 5,860 rushing yards, which was an NFL record that lasted until Jim Brown came along.  He also led the NFL in rushing four times; 1945, 1947, 1948 and 1949.  He, Brown (twice) and Emmitt Smith are the only rushers to lead the league three consecutive seasons.  He was a consensus All-Pro five times, and the first Eagle ever inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, entering in 1965,  in only the third class of enshrinees in the Hall's history.  In 1994, he was selected to the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is the years of 1947, 1948 and 1949 the we will focus on here.  For in those three seasons, the Eagles truly hit their golden era.  The Eagles made the NFL Championship Game in 1947 by winning a tiebreaker game at Pittsburgh (the Steelers only playoff game in 39 years) for the Eastern Division crown.  The Birds then lost a back and forth thriller against the Cardinals at Comiskey Park in Chicago, 28-21.  Although Van Buren did get a touchdown in the game, on a one yard plunge, he was held in check by the Cardinals defense, racking up only 26 yards on 18 carries.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
  

In the 1948 Championship Game at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, commonly known nowadays as the Blizzard Bowl, Van Buren scored the lone touchdown in the game, late in the fourth quarter, a five yard romp off right tackle.  The Eagles won their first NFL title, 7-0.  In spite of the nearly white-out conditions, Steve was a workhouse, plowing for 98 yards on 26 attempts.  Van Buren almost missed the game. Thinking the game would not be played due to the weather, he remained home until Eagles coach Earle "Greasy" Neale called him and told him the game was still on. He had to catch 3 trolleys and walk 6 blocks in order to make the game on time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Early in his sixth season, on a Monday Night in Detroit (on a game that was broadcast -- at least by 1949 standards -- on ABC over 20 years before Monday Night Football began) Van Buren broke Clark Hinkle's NFL career rushing record of 3860 yards, rushing for 135 yards on 33 attempts with two touchdowns against the Lions.  

Later in the season, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, he had one of his best games of his career, rushing for 205 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Led by Van Buren the Eagles coasted to an 11-1 record and won the Eastern Division to reach their third consecutive NFL Championship Game where they would face the Los Angeles Rams. This would be the first championship game ever played on the west coast, and the Eagles won their second straight title, defeating the Rams 14-0 at the Coliseum.  The game was played in a steady flow of rain.  Though he didn't score, and though the field was quite treacherous, Van Buren was certainly the player of the game, racking up an astounding 196 yards on 31 rushes, including a long one for 49 yards.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the two Eagles championship games that were played in, to be kind, miserable conditions -- Van Buren racked up an incredible 294 yards on the ground.  He was definitely a "clutch" player to be sure!
   

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve's number 15 has been long retired by the Eagles.  While at the time of this writing it is uncertain how the Eagles will memorialize SVB on their uniforms, I would certainly hope it would be with the jersey patch as opposed to a 1" decal on the helmet.  The Gridiron Uniform Database remembers Steve Van Buren, still the highest flying Eagle of them all.

(Information courtesy of pro-foootball-reference.com and wikipedia.org)

Matching Rivals: 49ers and Buccaneers

This off-season our guest columnist Larry Schmitt wrote blog articles looking at "matching rivals," pairs of teams -- such as the Cowboys and Lions or the Chargers and Rams -- whose appearance has mirrored each other during a certain time period.  Today he concludes this series with a look at two teams you ordinarily wouldn't think of as "matching," the San Francisco 49ers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Larry shows us, however, that during a ten year period from 1997 to 2007 they indeed looked very similar.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1976, and immediately made a splash on the football field. It wasn't necessarily with their play (they would not win a game until late in their second season) but with their appearance. The colors are reminiscent of the era they were born, the 1970's: bright "Florida Orange", red and white, while the Errol Flynn inspired logo "Bucco Bruce" was at home in Gulf Coast Florida. No other team has looked like the Buccaneers before or since. Today they are fondly considered classics, and have been nicknamed "Creamsicle Uniforms" when they are broken out as throwbacks.

While the 1979 49ers got their 2nd win over
a playoff-bound Buccaneer team, the 1980
Bucs would get their revenge a year later.
The revenge would be short-lived, however,
as the Bucs wouldn't win another
west coast game until 1996.

Coming from a completely different direction are the San Francisco 49ers. Their red and gold roots trace all the way back to the leather-helmet era AAFC of the late 1940's. For the first 18 years of their existence, the 49ers switched back-and-forth between gold and silver as the complimentary color to their standard red. San Francisco's iconic look finally appeared for the 1964 season. The gold helmet and pants, featuring red-white-red center stripes, scarlet jerseys with white block numbers, and three white stripes on the sleeves and socks became very familiar to football fans in the 1980's, as the 49ers emerged and the league's dominant team, winning four Super Bowls behind Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott.

It probably comes as a surprise that these seemingly distinct franchises have more in common than quarterbacks named Steve (Spurrier and Young).

Both teams remained steady and true with their uniforms through the mid 1990's. The NFL's 75th anniversary season of 1994 introduced a new concept that would shake up many teams concepts of uniform design - the throwback.

Three years before they donned pewter,
the Bucs looked nothing like the 49ers,
who in 1994 were dressing like it was 1955.

San Francisco's selection for their retro uniform was based on their 1955 set. Like many teams, their accuracy was slightly less than perfect (the NFL would have benefited from having the GUD in 1994!). They retained their contemporary helmets, but the white pants and drop-shadow numbers were an instant hit with fans. The NFL had originally intended for the 75th Anniversary throwbacks to be worn during designated weekends early in the season, but capitalized on their popularity, and granted teams permission to continue using them for the duration of the season. The 49ers continued their trek to Super Bowl XXIX wearing uniforms that closely resembled the ones worn by Joe Perry and Leo Nomellini.

Given NFL Properties strict guidelines regarding uniform or logo changes being submitted before licensees can adapt, San Francisco and the rest of the league looked very much as before in 1995. The following season, however, brought much change.

The 49ers revamped their entire ensemble for the 1996 season, including their color palette. Gone were the scarlet jerseys and "Forty-Niner Gold" pants (which were almost beige), replaced by cardinal jerseys and white pants with black and red stripes (inverted from the original red-black-red pattern). Black drop-shadows were back on the numbers, now accented with gold trim. A newly stylized interlocking "SF" logo appeared on the three sleeve stripes, which were also trimmed black shadows. The red-white-red helmet stripes were replaced by a cardinal stripe with black trim, and the face mask was now also cardinal. The white pants only lasted two years, replaced by brighter, more metallic gold with a cardinal center stripe flanked by two black stripes with the oval "SF" logo on the hip. This was a unique design that was rooted in 49ers past giving it a throwback feel, but also with a modern feel at the same time.

The Steve Mariucci era began in Tampa on
Opening Day 1997, where the new-look Bucs
knocked out Steve Young and
Jerry Rice.  Five years later...

In 1997, the Buccaneers did not have much of a past to draw from. In their 21 season in the NFL they pretty much wore the same Florida Orange uniforms. When it came time for a change they went forward into the future. Florida Orange became pewter, and Bucco Bruce became the Jolly Roger. Head coach Tony Dungy's team would not only have a new look as they moved from Tampa Stadium into Raymond James Stadium (featuring it's own pirate ship at one end zone), they would experience new on-the-field success as well.

Stripeless, pewter helmets featured the new logo of a red pirate flag suspended from a sabre, and a black face mask. Red jerseys with black trim and a black alternate logo on the sleeves. The three-tone block numbers were white with orange and black trim. Pewter pants featured similar three-tone striping: a bold red stripe trimmed with orange and black. The socks were solid black. Clearly, the new image the team was seeking was one of intimidation. For a change of pace, an alternate pair of white pants with the same striping pattern was available and would be worn with either the red or white jersey.

...the Mariucci era came to an end there as
well, in another defeat to a Buccaneer
team on it's way to a Super Bowl
Championship

As fate would have it, Tampa Bay opened the 1997 regular season at home against San Francisco. As is the Buccaneers tradition of early season warm-weather games, they opted for white at home. Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch terrorized the 49ers' usually potent offensive attack and came away with a 13-6 victory, a springboard to a 10-6 season and Tampa Bay's first playoff birth in 15 seasons.

San Francisco went back to gold pants for the 1998 season, and they featured a very similar trait as the Buccaneers - the broad red center stripe, flanked by gold and black trim. The 49ers also added their oval "SF" logo to the hip. Like Tampa Bay the season before, San Francisco debuted their new uniform at home with an inspiring victory, this one an overtime thriller versus the Jets, that was won with a 96-yard gallop by Garrison Hearst in overtime. Their 12-4 record earned the 'Niners a home Divisional Playoff contest against the defending NFC Champion Packers. Again San Francisco triumphed in dramatic fashion, this time with Steve Young hitting Terrell Owens with a 25-yard pass at the goal line in between two defenders for the come-from-behind 30-27 win.

Four seasons later, San Francisco would meet Tampa Bay again, this time in the post-season. The Buccaneers wore their red jerseys and pewter pants at home in the Divisional round.. Last minute heroics were not needed, as they defeated Jeff Garcia's 49ers 31-6, on their way to a victory in Super Bowl XXXVII. Tampa Bay had come a long way from John McKay's "Creamsicle" outfitted team that lost their first 26 games in 1976 and '77.

As the 2000's moved forward, nostalgia reigned supreme as San Francisco brought back their classic scarlet and "Forty-Niner Gold" uniforms as throwbacks (including for a game against Tampa Bay in 2005. Ultimately this became their standard uniform again in 2009, keeping only the updated oval "SF" logo on the helmets and stripe-less socks.  The Buccaneers "Florida Orange" uniforms also returned in 2009 for the first time since 1996 as throwbacks. They continue that retro designation, as the Buccaneers retain their pewter and red outfits on most Sundays.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

8/31/97 SF (red - white pants) at TB ("White At Home"- pewter pants)

1/12/03 SF (white) at TB (red - pewter pants)  NFC Div. Playoff

10/19/03 TB (white - pewter pants) at SF (red)

11/21/04 SF (white) at TB (red - pewter pants)

10/30/05 TB (white - pewter pants) at SF (red throwbacks)

12/23/07 TB (white - pewter pants) @ SF (red)

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Mike Singletary didn't think the Bucs and 49ers looked as similar as the
author: "We are not going to take the field dressed
like them!  Can't do it.  Won't do it."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thanks, Larry, for a wonderful piece on my favorite team the Bucs, and a wonderful series all summer long in general.  We look forward to many more entertaining columns from you appearing in the Gridiron Uniform Database Blog in the future.  

As far as the Bucs and 49ers go, they continue to go 'round and 'round, both aesthetically as well as on the field.  In 2010, the again upstart Bucs led by Raheem Morris went into Candlestick and shut out the 49ers 21-0 on the way to a 10-6 mark in Morris' second year.  The defeat came in the waning weeks of Mike Singeltary's tenure as Niners' head coach, but in 2011 the tide again turned as Jim Harbaugh's squad shut down the Bucs 48-3 in Week 5.  The Bucs would win only one more game last year and finish the season with ten straight losses and Morris would be fired, while in Harbaugh's first year the 49ers would make it all the way to the NFC Championship, only a fumbled punt away from a Super Bowl berth. 

Pro Football Hall Of Fame Game

Well the new season is underway.... sort of.  The preseason kicked off Sunday night with the Saints and the Cardinals playing in the annual Hall of Fame Game in Canton.  We got our first look at the new Nike uniforms, and while the numbers on the back weren't quite as large as we were led to believe by what was seen at the unveiling, there were a few surprises.  The new helmets didn't seem to be worn by everyone, only a few players had the multi-colored shoes (most were wearing black or predominately black Nikes) and there was general disappointment from everyone about the geometric shape of the Saints collars coming to a point on either side and being a different color from the jersey.  The Cardinals collars matched their red jerseys, so apparently different teams will be displaying these new Nike jerseys differently.

Another change, the officials' uniforms no longer have the position abbreviation, but we don't know if this is a permanent development or just a temporary thing because of replacement officials being used.

The game itself was pretty boring.  Drew Brees took the Saints down the field on the opening drive for a touchdown, Kevin Kolb got hurt, and there were a bunch of punts.  The highlight was Mike Mayock singing "Play That Funky Music" as the game wound down to an slow end and the Saints prevailed 17-10.  (Is it a law that in every preseason playoff game the announcers must continually remind us how much they don't want to go into overtime?)

Like I mentioned, the back numbers weren't as large as we had thought, so it led to our Bill Schaefer having to scramble to whip up new 2012 jerseys, as he had based the initial 2012 look on what was shown back in the Spring.

But alas Bill did a great job in knocking out those redos (he spent all day Monday touching the rest of the league up) and now all the 2012 uniforms are pretty much ready to go.

So to everyone worried that the Nike-fication of the NFL was going to make the uniforms look absurb or unrecognizable, it pretty much looked like the Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints on the field Sunday night (Saints' collars now withstanding).  Can't guarantee that when the Seahawks take the field.

The jersey back number we were
originally going to go with -- it was huge!

While we are still about a month away from the regular season and some exciting new things we will be unveiling then, we do have a little bit of a sneak peak for you now.  Along with our usual Tuesday update which saw us roll out the 1928 uniforms to the site, we have also added a couple new links to the bar at the top.  You'll now see "index" and "chat".  To aid in your navigation of our site we wanted to add a full-featured index which will allow you to much more easily find everything on the site.  That's been one of the biggest complaints in emails I get, that the site is confusing.  I am trying to make it easier to use, but if you have any specific suggestions feel free to email them to me.

Another thing we have added is a chat room... mainly it will be for discusses what teams are wearing in real time on Sundays this fall.  Many a time it has been 12:40 PM and I got one eye on FOX and one eye on CBS, and one window open updating the website and another ftp'-ing up the changes as I work on getting the new matchups added to the site in real time, working at a fever pitch trying to get everything done as fast as possible.  When the dust settles and after I have all of the 1:00 games in, sometime around 1:15, I usually can take a deep breath and check my emails and see that that Bill and Tim have been sending me emails over the past half hour some with useful information I could have used twenty minutes earlier, if I had only had time to open my email client.

So now with this chat room, I can have one small window open (or most likely a separate machine dedicated to the chat room) and be able to get real time updates from Bill & Tim, but also from anyone about what the players are wearing.  If you happen to be at a game and you get to see that a team is wearing a particular combo before the nation sees it on CBS NFL Today or FOX NFL Sunday, by all means let us know!
The chat window is open now,  so feel free to stop in and say "Hi!"  (If anyone else is in there.)

This could come in handy during the preseason, as I don't have NFL Network this year, so it may be hard to get on time updates.  We aren't promising real-time updating during the preseason, but if you see your local team's preseason game and see what they are wearing before much of the country, hop into the chat room and let us know.  Hopefully I'll have my high speed internet back up by September 5, but for now updates are getting done as soon as they can, with limitations at times.

This is just the beginning -- like I said we have a whole bunch of new features in store coming in September when the regular season starts.     For now, we'll be back on the blog on Friday with a new "Matching Rivals" piece on the San Francisco 49ers and my favorite team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  (!?)

Some Thoughts On The 1920-1932 Era

As most of you may know, the Gridiron Uniform Database (the GUD) has been undertaking the task this summer of posting as many uniforms as possible from the BC era of the NFL, 1920-1932.  Our webmaster Rob Holecko has been posting them on a year-by-year basis every week.  1920 through 1926 have already been added to the website and 1927 will join them this coming Tuesday.  You'll note that many teams have a blank canvas, meaning that we currently have absolutely no idea of what those teams wore.

The task started when I made a visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Mid-May to do some extensive research of the Hall's research facilities and possibly find some nuggets along the way in the museum.  We decided that enough information was gathered so we could share our findings on the GUD's database.

From here, I shot all of my findings to Bill Schaefer, our graphical engineer, both by email and US Mail.  Bill then worked his magic, creating the uniforms.  We conferred frequently by email to make sure we were on the same page with the designs, colors, trimwork, etc. to be able to then ship off to Rob for his weekly additions to the GUD.  In the meantime, Bill has been diligently digging through any online archives he can find to make additions to the 1920-32 years.  He has been a very good trooper in finding some interesting items.

So far, the main issues in making the finds from this era as opposed to the 1933-current era are vast.  Here's a few things that I have found:

1) Lack of photographs.  Newspapers in the 1920's, while plentiful, had few photographs of game action.  They were very rare.  Even pictures of players in poses with their uniforms are hard to find.  In addition, there simply weren't that many photographers at the games.  Plus the cameras that were in use in those days were large and cumbersome.  Maybe a few fans snapped a couple of shots with their Kodak Brownies, but  we haven't uncovered any of those yet!

2) Difficulty with colors/designs.  With 100% of the available pictures in black & white, it is very difficult to find and determine the proper colors for many teams.  Sometimes the "colors" tend to mesh  - or "bleed" - so well with the basic colors of the jerseys and socks that it may take Bill and/or I several different glances till we either agree or disagree with what one or the other sees.  We are fortunate enough to have documentation of almost every team's colors during this era, but that doesn't always mean we get the combinations right.  Knowing what I know of the tricks certain colors can play under certain light conditions is helpful, but I have been proven wrong more than once. 

3) Random photographs/generic jerseys.  Occasionally we come across pics where the one team in the photograph is known, by way of their distinctive styling or a monogram on the front of the jersey, like the "C" of the Canton Bulldogs, or the "CC" monogram on the sleeve cuff of the Chicago Cardinals, or also the unique "YFJ" emblazoned on the front of the Frankford Yellow Jackets, but their opponent is wearing a totally plain jersey with just a number on the back.  Sometimes we will wrack our brains over that!  Also, we may come across random shots where both teams are wearing generic unis.  Then we ask, is this a pro game or is it a college game?  And what year is it?  Once we get into the 1930's we pretty much have a working knowledge of what we are dealing and can readily tell the difference of the teams shown in a given photo.  But in the 20's where teams are a dime a dozen, and where - frankly - our uniform expertise isn't as strong, we do struggle to look for unique branding that can help us some.

4) The actual team names.  We see that there is some debate about what some of the teams were known as popularly and what they were called versus their actual team name.  For example the Racine Cardinals were  perhaps the only team in NFL history to use their place name as the street on which their football field was located!  When exactly did they begin going by the moniker, the Chicago Cardinals?  Likewise for the Akron Pros, when did they become the Akron Indians?  In fact, a very old Pro Football Encyclopedia, the one written by Roger Treat, listed the Pros/Indians as the "Steels!"  We have to decide whether to list these teams by what they were actually referred to in game accounts of the day, or do we go by the "official" name that might be listed by today's NFL standards?   Another example, the Staten Island Stapletons - or "Stapes" - were frequently listed as simply, Stapleton.

There are more issues to deal with when Bill and I do go back deep into pro football's stone age, but as we become more acclimated to the era, we should be able to gain a little more knowledge and confidence that we can uncover those ancient riddles and hopefully solve more of those puzzles as time quickly separates us more and more from the Roaring 20's, NFL style.

Special thanks go out to Larry Schmitt, Jeff Miller and John Steffenhagen for their generous 1920's/early 1930's help.

Matching Rivals: Packers and Redskins

The look of champions.

The Green Bay Packers have one of the signature uniforms of the NFL, it's instantly recognizable and associated with championships across various eras of history. Aside form occasional minor tweaks, the uniform Aaron Rodgers puts on each Sunday is essentially the same as the one worn by Ray Nitschke as designed by head coach Vince Lombardi in 1959. Prior to that, the Packers had gone through a myriad of changes and uniform styles. The primary team color changed back-and-forth between navy blue and bright kelley green. That all changed when Lombardi took over, and he eventually took that uniform with him to his next coaching stop in Washington. But he drew his inspiration from the NFL's preeminent powerhouse of the 1950's who had their own unique look which was devised by the legendary Paul Brown.

Vince Lombardi began his NFL coaching career in 1954 as the Giants offensive coordinator, where he watched and studied the tendencies of the Cleveland Browns offensive machine twice each season. From their charter season in 1950 through Lombardi's last with the Giants in 1958, Paul Brown's team was the Eastern Conference's representative in the NFL Championship Game every season excepting 1956 and 1958, where they finished in second, right on the heels of the Giants.

When the Browns joined the NFL from the AAFC in 1950, sleeve stripes were either non existent or a simple two or three-stripe pattern (most often the Northwestern style.) The Browns five-stripe pattern was unique - three dark brown stripes divided by two thin orange ones, which was replicated replicated on the socks. On the brown jersey featured the negative three white, two orange.

It's no wonder then that when remolding the then schizophrenic Packers uniforms that Lombardi chose emulate the look of a winning program. Beyond the primary colors of dark green and yellow, the 1959 Packers had a familiar look. A plain helmet shell featuring the team's secondary color, bisected by a white stripe. Lombardi added the flanking green stripes, and interestingly, Brown then added the brown stripes to Cleveland's helmet in 1960. The Packers white away jerseys were near exact replicas of the Cleveland jersey - three dark green stripes separated by two yellow. The only difference was Lombardi added green and yellow stripes to the collar. Also like the Browns, matching white socks replicating the white jersey sleeves were worn for the 1959 season. 


The green jersey featured a unique pattern. Although it featured five stripes, they were not contiguous as on the white jersey. Between each band of yellow and white was the dark green of the jersey. {Perhaps coincidentally - given that Paul Brown was now in Cincinnati - Cleveland replicated this pattern on their uniforms in 1969.}

The most significant difference in the new Packer uniform was the yellow pants, most likely with the design idea coming from the Easter Conference's other successful team. The separated green - white - green was reminiscent of those worn by the Giants in 1958. {Cooincedentally again, in 1975 Cleveland abandoned their traditional white pants in favor of orange ones, giving them their most Packer-like appearance.}

Everything was in place after the football shaped "G" was added to the helmet for the 1961 season. Having drawn inspiration from two different sources, Lombardi created a look and mystique that defined the 1960's era NFL and continues today. These are the uniforms Green Bay won NFL titles with in 1961, 1962 (both against the Giants), 1965 (against Cleveland) and the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967.

After spending a year as the Green Bay GM, Lombardi reemerged on the sidelines in Washington, again attempting to resurrect a slumbering franchise. The glory days of Slingin' Sammy Baugh launching bombs against Sid Luckman's Chicago Bears in NFL Title matches were distant memories. The Redskins had enjoyed only one winning season since Baugh's retirement following the 1951 season.  Over that time, the Redskins burgundy and gold uniforms went through several changes, which included two unique helmet designs. The first from 1959 through 1964 features a large white feather running from the back of the burgundy helmet over the front. In 1965 the feather was replaced by a white and gold spear on either side of the helmet (a design that would be replicated by the Florida State Seminoles in 1976.) The uniforms were a solid burgundy jersey with white block numbers and white jerseys with burgundy shoulder stripes over dark mustard yellow pants and solid burgundy socks. Like he did in Green Bay, Lombardi began his reclamation project in the locker room, outfitting his team with uniforms that made them feel like winners when they put them on.

Although Washington's colors officially remain "burgundy and gold" they aren't quite what they once were. Lombardi lightened the burgundy to something more like a cranberry red and brightened the pants to the point they almost matched the Packers yellow. The truly interesting thing about the design was unlike the makeover instituted in 1959 where Lombardi made some subtle changes to the Cleveland design, in Washington he practically cloned the Green Bay uniforms. The striping pattern on the jerseys, pants and socks were identical.  
His plan included yellow helmets with a single letter logo, however they were not ready from the manufacturer for the start of the season. The spear helmet served one more season (with a lighter shell to match the new jerseys) before Lombardi's yellow "R" helmet posthumously appeared in 1970. That helmet only lasted through 1971, as coach George Allen desired a different look and with the help of a South Dakota native American tribe, devised a new logo (which somewhat recalled the ones worn on the sleeves of some of Sammy Baugh's teams in the 1930's) to put on a burgundy shell. These were the uniforms Larry Brown and the rest of Allen's "Over The Hill" gang wore to Super Bowl VII against the undefeated Miami Dolphins, which included a Divisional Round playoff win over the Packers.

With just the subtlest alterations to sleeve and neck stripes, these Lombardi style uniforms lasted through 1978, until new GM Bobby Beathard instituted an almost complete makeover, leaving just Allen's helmet design intact. However, this uniform style proved to have longevity after a period of dormancy.

In 2007 the Redskins revived the 1970 Lombardi uniforms for a game as a one-game throwback (wearing the white jerseys at home in deference to then head coach Joe Gibbs preference) and then. George Allen's some Bruce Allen assumed Washington's GM position in 2010 and immediately brought back the Lombardi style pants and socks as alternate combinations for either jersey.



*****************************************************************************************************

11/26/72 WAS (burgundy) vs GB (white)
12/24/72 WAS (burgundy) vs GB (white) {NFC Divisional Playoff}
11/3/74 WAS (white) @ GB (green)
11/21/77 WAS (burgundy) vs GB (white)

Matching Rivals: Lions & Cowboys

Silver and blues.

Beginning in 1968 the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys had an uncanny resemblance that lasted 10 seasons. They got there from a series of gradual modifications and and one significant color change, then diverged through another series of small changes and the addition of a secondary color palate.

When a football fan thinks of the Detroit Lions, usually two things immediately come to mind: Thanksgiving and Honolulu Blue. Probably cool throwbacks too. Those plain silver helmets and basic medium blue jerseys are one of the NFL's iconic looks, and it has served the Lions well over time, making Detroit's team instantly recognizable, no matter if its Calvin Johnson, Barry Sanders or Doak Walker wearing them. In fact, this uniform served as inspiration for Al Davis when he outfitted his Oakland Raiders in the early 1960's, combining the silver with the West Point Military Academy's black.

The Lions heyday took place in the 1950's, when Bobby Layne's Lions served as a thorn in the side of Paul Brown's Cleveland team, besting them three times for the NFL title. Northwestern stripes were added to the white jersey in 1957, the year of Detroit's last championship team. The NW stripes were added on the blue jersey and socks in 1963, the same season the blue lion appeared on the silver helmet. A pair of blue stripes running down the pants and helmet completed the template for the modern Lions uniform for the next 40 years.

Through the late 60's and early 70's, white gradually became an accent color on the uniform. First as the center stripe on the helmet, then the pants. Eventually white trim bordered the silver numbers and Northwestern stripes on the blue jerseys and socks.

Silver, blue and white were in abundance at the Cotton Bowl in September 1968 when the Lions visited the Dallas Cowboys. Although Detroit saw an opponent that looked strikingly similar - silver pants and helmets with blue and white stripes - that wasn't always the case.

The Dallas NFL franchise was born eight years earlier and they looked quite different than they do today. The Cowboys wore a white helmet with royal blue strips and a star on either side. The jerseys were royal blue with white shoulders also sporting a star. The pants were white too, as silver did not appear until a complete uniform overhaul in 1964. This season the Cowboys began a white-at-home trend that still holds true today (excepting the occasional alternate jersey or throwback uniform.)  Dallas visionary and architect Tex Schramm was behind both decisions, noting that the new silver helmets and pants looked better on color TV, and the hot Texas weather played into their home field advantage. "When the Chicago Bears were over on the sunny side of Texas Stadium wearing those navy blue jerseys, it was about 20 degrees hotter. The visiting team had to sit in the sun and they just cooked."

Showing more symmetry with the Lions, in 1967 the Cowboys joined Detroit as the only NFL teams to annually host a Thanksgiving Day game. When the number of stripes on the Dallas jerseys and socks reduced from three to two, and a blue boarder was added to the helmet star in 1967, the Cowboys were as sharp as Tom Landry in his fedora and their classic look was set. There are the same uniforms Roger Staubach wore as the Cowboys were the NFC's powerhouse team throughout the 1970's, appearing in a then record five Super Bowls.

On the Cowboys march to their first Super Bowl appearance in 1970 they met the Lions in an NFC Divisional Playoff game that statistically seemed more fitting to the leather helmet era. The defenses so dominated the contest that the two teams combined for a mere 21 total first downs and a meager 130 yards passing. A first quarter field goal and fourth quarter safety were all the Cowyboys would need to advance to the first ever NFC Championship Game. As was the case for all five meetings during this era, the Cowboys wore their white jerseys and the Lions their Honolulu blue. 

Beginning in 1978 the Cowboys began subtly alter their appearance. The first change was to the tone of silver used for their pants, to what they called "metallic silver-blue", although the helmets stayed the same. In 1981 the Cowboys made a radical change to their away uniforms, actually introducing a unique color palate. The pants returned to a true tone of silver, but the blue jerseys, socks and pants stripes were now navy blue, and they added the player's uniform number to the hip of the pants.  This new, albeit brief, trend showed up on the home silver-blue pants the following year in 1982 and stayed through 1988. 

The Cowboys white uniform has basically remained consistent up to the present time, while their road uniform has gone through several iterations on progressively darker tomes of blue and striping and number font changes. Alternate jerseys with starred shoulders were also worn during the mid '90's. The Lions changed very little, through the 80's and 90's as well. Silver numbers on the blue jerseys became white in 1982 and the Northwestern stripes were removed from the socks in 1989. For one season they wore blue pants with the white jerseys in 1998. Adding black as an accent color in 2003 (and unfortunately as an alternate jersey in 2005) Detroit diverged from their Thanksgiving counterparts completely.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sep 15 1968 Det @ Dal
Dec 26 1970 Det @ Dal (NFC Divisional Playoff)
Oct 30 1972 Det @ Dal
Oct 6 1975 Det vs Dal
Oct 30 1977 Det @ Dal

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a couple of weeks we'll be back with a slightly different twist to the "Matching Rivals" series. In 1969 imitation was indeed the highest form of flattery when a coach moved from a successful franchise to a struggling one, and brought his own uniform design with him to help change their fortunes.

Seahawks Sported Sans Serifs, Silly

Last summer, in the initial months of the Gridiron Uniform Database Blog, I used to write articles every day about database updates and related items.  In September, when school started back up we decided that the time that I had to devote to the website was better spent working on the database rather writing daily blogs, Uni Watch style.  Every now and then, however, an item comes up to blog about like this one today, so for today at least, blog style, we are going to party like it is 2011 and bring you a full write-up.

Here at the GUD, we are anxiously awaiting the new season and the 2012 Seahawks Nike re-design, (part of which is pictured at left -- I don't have permission from Bill to show the complete image yet, but I hope he doesn't mind me giving you a little taste!) My attention on Saturday, however, turned to earlier Seahawks uniforms.

For the most part, until the 2002 redesign the Seahawks wore a fairly unchanged uniform.  The uniform that Jim Zorn wore in the late 1970s was pretty much the same one Shaun Alexander donned in 2001.  I had always thought that the Seahawks of earlier years had larger numbers than later years in the pre-2002 era, and that didn't seem to be reflected in the database.  I had thought about this awhile ago, but decided to not pursue it due to varying number sizes being something that is somewhat hard to quantify -- the pre NOB NFL 1960s, the 1940s Redskins, among other uniforms had differing size numbers and I figured it was something that Tim and Bill had already discussed and I didn't feel it really warranted a change, as it wasn't really that much of an issue.

Those of you who are regular readers of the GUD blog know that I am a huge Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan, and I have a collection of many of their games.  For whatever reason I found myself watching the Bucs' 1996 game against the Seahawks, it was early in Tony Dungy's first season as coach, a particularly memorable game that saw the (0-3) Bucs take a 13-3 lead deep into the fourth quarter only to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as Dungy's Bucs, in their last creamsicle season, were well on their way struggling to a 1-8 start.  They would rebound and close the season with wins in 5 of their last 7 games and this would be the beginning of the team that would go on to win the Super Bowl six years later, albeit a year too late for Tony Dungy.

Some Seahawk O-Linemen with unserifed 7s in 1996 at TB

While watching the game, as I do while watching many old games, I pulled up the GUD images of 1996 Seahawks and Bucs.  Noticing that the #11 on the Seahawks graphic had serifs, I was a little puzzled when I saw a 7 on a Seahawk OL-man that didn't. 

This doesn't necessarily mean that the 1s we had in the database were incorrect, but it was something that would require further investigation.  First of all, it was the shoulder numbers I noticed, not the main jersey number.  The shoulder numbers and main numbers are very nearly always the same font, but first I would have to confirm that the main uniform number was unserifed as well.

On the next play, I saw the lineman #74 again, this time lying on the ground and could see that his main uniform 7 was indeed unserifed.  Now was the 'one' the same?  Again, we could assume it was, but here at the GUD, we never assume anything.  When a team has a single-digit wearing signal caller like the Seahawks had with Rick Mirer in the mid-1990s, it is sometimes harder to spot a player wearing a one.  You have to hope you'll see a kicker, punter or back-up QB in the teens, or a WR with a 81 or a CB with a 41.

Midway through the fourth quarter, as the Bucs were preparing to collapse and fail to give Dungy his first victory as a NFL head coach, I saw Seahwks punter Rick Tuten on the sidelines.   Clear as day, his #14 featured an unserifed one.  This was now officially a GUD discovery that would eventually necessitate a database change.

The question now became, how far back did the un-serifed one go?  I was sure, in my mind's eye, that Jim Zorn's 10 did have serifed ones back in the day, but after thinking about it I now wasn't so sure.  Would the whole 1976-2001 era uniform set be affected by this change?  My first stop was to Google Jim Zorn...sure enough, his one was serifed, and as you can see in this black and white posed picture of him with Steve Largent, boy were those numbers huge!

But here was another difference I hadn't anticipated, the one was "squared-off" at the top.  Here's another picture of him (to the right) in game action with a squared-off one.  This apparently didn't last for all of Zorn's career, as most pictures of Zorn show him with the "slant-cornered top" one.  

A picture of Zorn with the squared-off
one, presumably from 1976.  Most Zorn pictures...

...show him with a "one" like this one with the diagonal cut corner.... and this 1977 picture of Weaver....

Punter Herman Weaver, who only kicked for the Seahawks from 1977 through 1980 is shown in this picture below, which was dated 1977, with what I believe to be a slanted-cornered top one, so unless the date is wrong, or the Seahawks used different ones at the same time, I suspect the Seahawks only used the squared ones in 1976.  Terry Beeson, a MLB who started 16 games a season from 1978-80, was a rookie in 1977, so it is more likely that he would be being used on special teams that first year, although that certainly isn't conclusive as starters can play on special teams as well, and he did start 13 games in 1977.  But the photo was alleged to be from 1977, so without doubting the veracity of that, we'll conclude they wore the squared one only in 1976.

...also seems to indicate a slanted-cornered one...

And this previous picture of Zorn against San Diego is undated, but presumably it was from sometime around 1979-81, and like most of pictures of him, it seems to have a diagonal-cut one, like the one that Weaver seems to sport in 1977.  More research is needed on the top corner of the ones in the 1977-83 years, but for now I can seem to conclude the square-one was only 1976.  

Now on to the main attraction of the serif vs sans-serifed foot of the one.

Later pictures of the Seahawks, like these of Warren Moon and Brock Huard, seem to indicate that in the later years the sans-serif stayed throughout the run of this uniform set through 2001.  In the database we have all the ones from 1976-2001 as being traditional serifed, and it was a 1996 image that led me to delve into this research.

Warren Moon in 1997 or 98 and Brock Huard in 2000 continued to sport the sans-serifed one

So I went back to my Bucs' games collection and checked-out the 1984 Hall Of Fame Game against the Seahawks.  In this game the Seahawks 1s were....

1984 Pro Football Hall-Of Fame Game

...serifed, but the research would continue on.  Size wise, it appeared that I would find that all of the numbers pre-1993 were indeed somewhat larger than the currently indicated size, but it seems the 1976 numbers were the largest, while numbers from 1977 through the serif era were not as much larger than what we have in the database than the 1976 digits were.  The size for the sans-serifed images would seem to agree with the size of numbers that we presently have in the database.

A picture from a 1987 MNF game against the Raiders -- you may remember Bo Jackson running over Brian Bosworth and also disappearing into the Kingdome tunnel that night -- reveal that in '87 they still had the old style one, but in a later MNF game, 1992 against the Broncos, they were still wearing the same serifed style, but they now had a rounded top to the one.

Dave Krieg in 1987 who is glad he didn't have to
tackle Bo Jackson...

...and backup QBs Kelly Stouffer and Stan Gelbaugh, with their
curved-top numbers, go over some play calling with
head coach Tom Flores in 1992...

...while in 1994 Dan McGwire (brother of Mark) faces away
from the field, sporting a new style "one".

But then back to my Buccaneer collection and a 1994 game against the Seahawks, which showed Seattle with the new style ones, and the only question left was to determine which style did they wear during the 1993 season.

I didn't have any '93 Seahawks games in my collection and a Google search was less than helpful.  I thought I had struck paydirt on this page chronicling the Seahawks' 1993 Season, as #41 Eugene Robinson is shown returning a pick at Denver.  Robinson, who played for Seattle from 1985 through 1995, however, did not have an interception in the 1993 game at Denver, and further research shows that this picture was most likely from the 1995 game at Mile High.

I then came upon wide receiver Michael Bates.  Bates, who wore #81, only played two seasons with the Seahawks, 1993 and 1994.  A quick Google search of Bates will show him wearing both the old style and new style ones.  The simple fact, however, that he didn't join the team until 1993, however, indicates that the sans-serif one can be pinned down now as being worn exclusively from 1994-2001.

These two football card images of Michael Bates (1993, left and 1994, right) were the final link in our research

Now back to the top of the number one.  With the 1987 Dave Kreig pic showing the slant top, and the 1992 Dan McGwire pic showing a curved-top, the only thing left is to figure at what point between 1987-1992 did they switch to the curved topped one.  We will save that for another day, but for now, to sum up best as I can discern, the Seahawks jerseys need the following changes and these will be forwarded on to Tim and Bill for inclusion in the database.

1976: Largest numbers and squared off-top serif-foot one

1977-87: Larger numbers, slanted-cornered top, serif-foot one

1988-91: Larger numbers, unsure if slanted corner or curved corner, with serif-footed one

1992-93: Larger numbers, curved-cornered one, serif-foot one

1994-2001: Current size numbers, sans-serif footed ones

If anyone wants to delve further into the slant-top vs rounded-top 1, be my guest, in the mean time, we'll leave it there for now.

(Added:  After further research it appears that the Seahawks may have used the curved top numbers in 1983-84, so they may have gone twice from the slant numbers to the curved numbers, back to the slant numbers, and then finally with the curved numbers again in 1992-93.  And the Weaver picture may indeed shows the curved numbers in 1977.  The only thing definite is that 1976 was square numbers, and 1994-2001 was the sans serif numbers.  1977-1991 definitely needs more research regarding the Seahawks number font.  I have so far seen no evidence, however, that they used two different number types in the same season, but that doesn't mean that they necessarily didn't either.)

Dave Krieg, 1990: Large numbers, rounded-top "1"
(Sacked seven times by Derrick Thomas)

(Added #2: Our Bill Schaefer popped in with a couple 1976 pictures to show they indeed did have the slanted-top numbers, and offered that the square-topped numbers were likely just a publicity image and not actually used in a game.)

10/17/76: Seattle at Tampa Bay

11/28/76: Seattle at N.Y. Giants

 ~ ~ ~

Also added to the database, are the 2011 AFC North team pages as well as the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins team page. Coming Tuesday we will be releasing the highly anticipated 1922 season, and soon we will be hearing from Larry Schmitt again with another in his "Matching Rivals" series, this time a breakdown of the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions.  Also upcoming an exciting breakthrough featuring a forgotten 1946 AAFC team.