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1980s NBA secondary and color vs. color matchups


Josh.0

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I know this is kind of an obscure topic, but it's one I kind of find fascinating, because of the rarity of both happening and documentation when the internet was just Al Gore's pet project.

 

But, in the 80's there were a number of instances of secondary jerseys and color vs. color match ups. The Utah Jazz for instance wore their green jerseys at home a couple times for St. Patrick's Day -- once against the Lakers, whom were wearing their purple roads. 

 

Screen Shot 2017-02-14 at 10.18.37 PM.png

 

Then again in 1986 during Karl Malone's rookie season. The unique thing about this occurrence was that the Jazz didn't wear their green jerseys as their main roads -- they switched back to the purple jerseys the previous year. But, the match up again was on St. Patrick's Day and this time against Detroit wearing their road jerseys.

 

6507346465_a545d26848_o.jpg

 

I know there were a couple instances of teams wearing secondary jerseys -- I believe the 1983-84 San Diego Clippers wore both red and blue road jerseys and I believe the Pacers wore white and gold home jerseys (maybe on the road too?).

 

2037-632968Fr.jpg2037-632963Fr.jpg

 

I was wondering if anyone had any other examples or were familiar with this era's history. Again, it fascinates me, probably more because it's a real hunt to find documentation.

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There is also this rarity -- the elusive Pistons' silver jersey worn (I believe) during Isiah Thomas' rookie season in 1981. What I am not sure is whether or not this was for all games or select games? If select then of course this would be a secondary jersey.

 

PistonsSilver.jpg

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On a semi-related topic. The Utah Jazz '80s jerseys have always fascinated me. On the mothership it's noted that the green jerseys were around since 1979 when the Jazz moved to Salt Lake City. But, that's not true. And, the styles aren't as cut and dry as is noted on this site and even on some NBA sites.

 

1979-1981.png

1979-1981: The uniforms were basically the same from New Orleans. The home number font was bolder and blocked (as fully evidenced by the number 2) compared to the road purples, which were thinner and featured slanted 2s. I believe reading somewhere that Larry O'Brien saw the jerseys and ordered them changed. The team was cheap (I mean they kept the Jazz name after all) so this doesn't surprise me at all.

 

1981-1984.png

1981-1984: The road jerseys turn to green and trimming and numbers mirror the home jerseys (with obvious color changes). Like @Josh.0 noted from what I've read the green jerseys were worn at least twice for St. Patrick's Day beginning in 1982 against the Lakers. 

 

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1984-1986: The road jerseys turn back to purple, but keep the green stripping and mirror the home jersey trimming much better. The biggest change is the addition of Utah to the road jerseys. Thus placing the complete logo on the front of the jersey. I believe the Jazz were the first team in the NBA to do this? I can't find evidence to disclaim it. During the 1985-86 season is when the Jazz did wear their old green uniforms for St. Patrick's Day. I am not aware of any other time they wore them during this time period?

 

1986-1990.png

1986-1996: The Jazz add 'Utah' to the home white jerseys to mirror the road purples. These jerseys are essentially what the Jazz wear for the next decade until they overhaul their whole logo package and uniforms. Of course there were some changes with memorial patches (ie-Pistol Pete) and the font on the back changed from a Sans Serif to a Serif font in the early 90s and somewhat in the mid-80s (very inconsistent especially between 1984-86).

 

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1990: One anomaly I found was in 1990 when the Jazz wore jerseys with thinner numbers including slanted 2's. It seems like it was only for the first part of the season. It seems like they switched back somewhere around December or January? I am not sure why this happened, but it also seems like the Celtics did this too?

 

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Sorry for the length of the post. I've just always been fascinating by the Jazz 1980s jerseys for many of the same reasons as @Josh.0

 

 

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"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin

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Great catch, Josh.O! I knew about the Jazz wearing the green unis vs. Detroit (March 17, 1986), but I'd never heard about any other games. It looks like that Lakers game was March 17, 1982. Incidentally, the Celtics were the first team to wear St Patrick's Day unis - back in the late 60s they wore their green road jerseys with their white shorts (or vice versa, I'll have to check) for a St Paddy's Day game.

 

The Jazz weren't quite the first team to show their full logo on the jersey - back in '74-'75, the Warriors wore jerseys for a few games that had the full name & logo: 

5937201048_95cda0b70d_o.jpg

5937200988_58596e6764_o.jpg

 

Here's some more pics:

The Pistons wore silver home unis for the 82 season, to mark their silver anniversary in Detroit. They weren't popular, as the more the players sweated the darker they got. Detroit went back to white homes after 1 season.

32076620764_8b51f6383d_z.jpg

32795829681_a73345a37b_z.jpg

 

The Pacers wore white home unis from 1981-'83, then switched to yellow homes from '83-'85 - 2 seperate unis, not alternates:

32104864533_5046b2394e_o.jpg

32795824571_72d1776095_c.jpg

 

The Clippers wore both blue and red unis on the road from 1982-'84. From what I've found, they wore both sets an equal number of times. They actually wore 2 different uniforms in '82-83 - they carried over the powder blue & burnt orange unis, then switched to the plainer set during the season. I'm not sure when - I've been told a couple of different dates, either a few weeks in, or after the All-Star break.

 

Here's another oddity - the Warriors in their yellow homes vs. Seattle in their white homes, circa 1985 - no idea when this was, looks like it could be a neutral site game, maybe preseason:

10857003005_610e6b0474_o.jpg

 

The NBA was a lot more lax with uniforms back them. There was a rule that the home team had to wear a "light-coloured uniform", and teams were only permitted to change unis every 2 years, but it wasn't until 1986, when Sand-Knit took over as sole uni provider, that uniforms got, well, more uniform.

 

 

 

 

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43 minutes ago, Discogod said:

Here's another oddity - the Warriors in their yellow homes vs. Seattle in their white homes, circa 1985 - no idea when this was, looks like it could be a neutral site game, maybe preseason:

10857003005_610e6b0474_o.jpg

 

 

That looks like Portland maybe? And, if that's 1985 at least -- Golden State changed to white home uniforms by Chris Mullin's rookie season ... I believe.

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"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin

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35 minutes ago, CLEstones said:

This is a crazy specific thread.

 

Yeah, it might sooner than most threads, but it is pretty cool.

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"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin

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22 hours ago, kimball said:

 

That looks like Portland maybe? And, if that's 1985 at least -- Golden State changed to white home uniforms by Chris Mullin's rookie season ... I believe.

 

Yeah, it's definately in Portland, most proabably the 1985 preseason - Xavier McDaniel's first season was '85-86, which was the same season Golden State switched to white homes. Weird looking game.

 

This might be a niche thread, but threads like this are why I come to this forum. NBA uniform history's my obsession, particularly the 80s. Compared to the other major sports, there's so little information out there that threads like this are invaluable to spods like me.

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@Discogod's post pointing out the Warriors' logo on uniform brought something to mind of how many teams have had uniforms with their full name (PLACE + NICKNAME) on their jerseys. There are four that I can only find. 

 

The Detroit Pistons in the late 50s, Warriors in 1973 and beginning in 2010 and then of course the Utah Jazz from 1984-1996. 

 

NBA 1.jpg

 

I am sure there are probably a couple others, especially in the 50s and 60s ... I'll have to dig to find them. Obscure, but at the very least some fun trivia you'll probably never use. :lol:

 

NOTE: I could have added the 76ers jerseys from 1991-94. But, Philadelphia Sixers isn't their full name.

 

pg2_g_barkley01_500.jpg 

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"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin

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4 minutes ago, Discogod said:

 

Yeah, it's definately in Portland, most proabably the 1985 preseason - Xavier McDaniel's first season was '85-86, which was the same season Golden State switched to white homes. Weird looking game.

 

This might be a niche thread, but threads like this are why I come to this forum. NBA uniform history's my obsession, particularly the 80s. Compared to the other major sports, there's so little information out there that threads like this are invaluable to spods like me.

 

Agreed. I am the same way. I am looking for preseason schedules to see if I can nail down a date. 

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"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin

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22 minutes ago, kimball said:

NOTE: I could have added the 76ers jerseys from 1991-94. But, Philadelphia Sixers isn't their full name.

 

pg2_g_barkley01_500.jpg 

 

By that note, you could add the early 70s Sonics road jerseys:

 

Sonics%2070-73%20Road%20Jersey%20Spencer

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Okay, this is called 'procrastination at work' research, but maybe it'll start some dialogue and spur some research on other examples.

 

Scouring the Mothership and 'net, I found a few teams that have put their FULL logo on their jerseys. This is excluding special one-off jerseys -- I'm sure there's some there. I just haven't research that much.

 

Anyways, here is what I found ...

 

NBA 1.png

SAN FRANCISCO WARRIORS (1966-1971)

 

NBA 2.png

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (1971-72)

 

NBA 3.png

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (2010 -- PRESENT)

 

NBA 5.png

UTAH JAZZ (1984-1996, HOME) and (1986-1996, ROAD)

 

NBA 6.png

WASHINGTON BULLETS (1987-1997): There were two different style jerseys, the first was from 1987-1990 (left) and the other 1990-1997 (right).

 

And, I am not sure if I would count this one, because the logo is arched, but it is the whole logo ...

 

NBA 4.png

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (1984-1994)

 

I should probably do some actual work now. :lol::D:lol:

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"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin

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20 hours ago, kimball said:

@Discogod's post pointing out the Warriors' logo on uniform brought something to mind of how many teams have had uniforms with their full name (PLACE + NICKNAME) on their jerseys. There are four that I can only find. 

 

After the Nets moved to New Jersey, they changed the big text on the road uniform from "New York" to "Nets", and added "New Jersey" vertically in the red stripe.

 

[EDIT: This is not quite right.  As @Discogod points out below, the words "New Jersey" were added a few years after the move, when the Nets returned to this style uniform from a different style.]



Image result for darryl dawkins nets

 

The recent "Remix" jerseys repicate this, with "Brooklyn" shown vertically in the black stripe.

Image result for nets brooklyn 2016 remix

 

 

logo-diamonds-for-CC-no-photo-sig.png

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1 hour ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

After the Nets moved to New Jersey, they changed the big text on the road uniform from "New York" to "Nets", and added "New Jersey" vertically in the red stripe.

Image result for darryl dawkins nets

 

The recent "Remix" jerseys repicate this, with "Brooklyn" shown vertically in the black stripe.

Image result for nets brooklyn 2016 remix

 

That's right, I completely forgot about that jersey (not surprising since it's the Nets).

 

And, like the Jazz, the Nets have an interesting 80's uniform history because they went from one uniform to another and then back to the older version. I am not sure the reasoning, etc. And, that's something I want to research.

 

But, on your point. From what I can see the Nets didn't add the 'vertical' New Jersey until at least the 1980-81 season. 

 

nets-80-81.jpg

 

This picture is from the 1979-80 season in a game against Boston.

 

87852376.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=3&d=77BFBA

 

This is from the 1979 season, Phil's last season. 

 

I'd love to figure out the Nets' jersey history. 

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"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin

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The Nets changed unis in 1981 when Larry Brown took over - he wanted a fresh start, and that meant getting rid of the ABA unis. After he abruptly quit on the team in 1983, the team went back to the old unis as soon as they could.

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6 hours ago, Discogod said:

The Nets changed unis in 1981 when Larry Brown took over - he wanted a fresh start, and that meant getting rid of the ABA unis. After he abruptly quit on the team in 1983, the team went back to the old unis as soon as they could.

 

Ah, right.  Thanks for the correction.

The 1981 home uniform was itself a return to an older style, but with blue lettering outlined in red, rather than the other way around as it had been in the early 1970s.

rick barry.jpg   buck.jpg

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On 2/16/2017 at 1:20 PM, kimball said:

@Discogod's post pointing out the Warriors' logo on uniform brought something to mind of how many teams have had uniforms with their full name (PLACE + NICKNAME) on their jerseys. There are four that I can only find. 

 

The Detroit Pistons in the late 50s, Warriors in 1973 and beginning in 2010 and then of course the Utah Jazz from 1984-1996. 

 

NBA 1.jpg

 

I am sure there are probably a couple others, especially in the 50s and 60s ... I'll have to dig to find them. Obscure, but at the very least some fun trivia you'll probably never use. :lol:

 

NOTE: I could have added the 76ers jerseys from 1991-94. But, Philadelphia Sixers isn't their full name.

 

pg2_g_barkley01_500.jpg 

 

Here's another team that would fit into this category.  I've got to think that this was the most recent time it happened (in a non-throwback jersey), until the current Warriors did it.

 

93acd0c8d5c0cc917709265da5df52dd.jpg

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On 2/16/2017 at 11:16 AM, Discogod said:

 

Yeah, it's definately in Portland, most proabably the 1985 preseason - Xavier McDaniel's first season was '85-86, which was the same season Golden State switched to white homes. Weird looking game.

 

This might be a niche thread, but threads like this are why I come to this forum. NBA uniform history's my obsession, particularly the 80s. Compared to the other major sports, there's so little information out there that threads like this are invaluable to spods like me.

So why would Seattle and Golden State be playing in Portland?  Unless another facility was damaged or for some other unique situation... that's an oddity though that would need some explanation it just doesn't make sense... Like hey, the Eagles and Steelers are playing a preseason game in Washington... 

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