Semi-Obscure Old School NFL Uniform Details

[andrewharrington]

Here's a good one: The Falcons, in their inaugural season, wore a black jersey with their familiar falcon head logo on the sleeves (this was their throwback uniform last season). The next year, in 1967, they inexplicably changed the falcon on the sleeves to white, before going to a striped sleeve with no logo in 1968.

Also of note: Check out the socks on 34. There's actually a full Northwestern stripe on those Falcons socks (it's really thick, with red in the center and white as the trim). In fact, the stripe was so thick that most of the time, only the top half of it peeked out over the white crew sock that each player wore (but you can see the bottom of it on the other guy). Back then, NFL socks consisted of two pieces: a low stirrup in the team color with the stripe design knitted in and a white crew sock that was pulled up to mid calf. Nowadays, the sock is one-piece. The bottom portion (up to the mid calf) is white with a little extra thickness around the shin, and the top portion is knitted in team color with any applicable stripe pattern. Some socks, like the Broncos' throwbacks, are knitted so that only the foot part is white, and the stripes start at the ankle and go up. Today's NFL socks are over the knee in length.

With that in mind, check the Falcons' throwback uniform here:

Look at the socks. Whether intentional or not, it's kind of neat that the socks were designed so that it appears just the top portion of the Northwestern stripe is peeking out above a crew sock, just as it appeared on most players in the late 60s. Interesting.

They also failed to accurately match the taller, skinnier block numerals, instead opting for a standard block set.

[Chawls]

Here's a good one: The Falcons, in their inaugural season, wore a black jersey with their familiar falcon head logo on the sleeves (this was their throwback uniform last season). The next year, in 1967, they inexplicably changed the falcon on the sleeves to white, before going to a striped sleeve with no logo in 1968.

Also of note: Check out the socks on 34. There's actually a full Northwestern stripe on those Falcons socks (it's really thick, with red in the center and white as the trim). In fact, the stripe was so thick that most of the time, only the top half of it peeked out over the white crew sock that each player wore (but you can see the bottom of it on the other guy). Back then, NFL socks consisted of two pieces: a low stirrup in the team color with the stripe design knitted in and a white crew sock that was pulled up to mid calf. Nowadays, the sock is one-piece. The bottom portion (up to the mid calf) is white with a little extra thickness around the shin, and the top portion is knitted in team color with any applicable stripe pattern. Some socks, like the Broncos' throwbacks, are knitted so that only the foot part is white, and the stripes start at the ankle and go up. Today's NFL socks are over the knee in length.

With that in mind, check the Falcons' throwback uniform here:

Look at the socks. Whether intentional or not, it's kind of neat that the socks were designed so that it appears just the top portion of the Northwestern stripe is peeking out above a crew sock, just as it appeared on most players in the late 60s. Interesting.

They also failed to accurately match the taller, skinnier block numerals, instead opting for a standard block set.

Whether intentional or not, I love that striping pattern. The thick black stripe, with the slightly thinner red stripe separated by the thin white stripe. I don't know why I like it though, perhaps because I'm a new age traditionalist. Anybody else like 'em as much as I do?

[timparry]

The Jets wore solid green mesh jerseys in the same period. This Maynard example came up for auction a couple years ago.

here's the white version!

[Harmening]

Wow, those front numerals are huge.

[andrewharrington]

Whether intentional or not, I love that striping pattern. The thick black stripe, with the slightly thinner red stripe separated by the thin white stripe. I don't know why I like it though, perhaps because I'm a new age traditionalist. Anybody else like 'em as much as I do?

Actually, when I first saw the socks in the NFL style guide, my initial reaction was the same. I really like the unique look of the asymmetrical pattern. It's a traditional stripe, but it's a different way of doing it, which I love. Then as I was doing my Falcons research for my history project, I figured out why it was like that, and that made it even more interesting. I'd really like to know who designed them that way and what the thought process was.

[BlueSky]

In '69 they were back to the original blk/whi/blk and the helmets have been that way ever since. However, notice that in just their 3rd season, the Saints had already abandoned the gold numbers and had changed the number font and sleeve stripes...and not for the better by any stretch. Good grief.

Nice chinstrap.

Real men don't need chinstraps.

Seriously, a number of guys went chinstrapless back then. It highlights the difference in helmet fit from then to now. Billy got drilled a lot but his helmet wasn't flying off every other play like some guys today who have double-attachment chinstraps. Back in the day, players wore their helmets tighter where today you see them flip the helmet up and/or off with one hand like it's a ballcap. The knit hats they warm their ears with are tighter than the helmets. The concussion experts might want to check into assuring helmets are properly fitted. That might be an area where they can improve player safety.

Here's a good one: The Falcons, in their inaugural season, wore a black jersey with their familiar falcon head logo on the sleeves (this was their throwback uniform last season). The next year, in 1967, they inexplicably changed the falcon on the sleeves to white, before going to a striped sleeve with no logo in 1968.

Also of note: Check out the socks on 34. There's actually a full Northwestern stripe on those Falcons socks (it's really thick, with red in the center and white as the trim). In fact, the stripe was so thick that most of the time, only the top half of it peeked out over the white crew sock that each player wore (but you can see the bottom of it on the other guy). Back then, NFL socks consisted of two pieces: a low stirrup in the team color with the stripe design knitted in and a white crew sock that was pulled up to mid calf. Nowadays, the sock is one-piece. The bottom portion (up to the mid calf) is white with a little extra thickness around the shin, and the top portion is knitted in team color with any applicable stripe pattern. Some socks, like the Broncos' throwbacks, are knitted so that only the foot part is white, and the stripes start at the ankle and go up. Today's NFL socks are over the knee in length.

With that in mind, check the Falcons' throwback uniform here:

Look at the socks. Whether intentional or not, it's kind of neat that the socks were designed so that it appears just the top portion of the Northwestern stripe is peeking out above a crew sock, just as it appeared on most players in the late 60s. Interesting.

They also failed to accurately match the taller, skinnier block numerals, instead opting for a standard block set.

Great post. When I saw the Falcons I thought you were pointing out the 'Georgia Tech appeasement' helmet stripes they wore their first two seasons. You can see them on #34 in the old pic but they show best on Michael Turner's throwback helmet. GT fans were up in arms when the Falcons unis featured the University of Georgia's color scheme so the Falcons added gold trim stripes to the helmet in an effort to smooth things over.

But your post covered much more subtle points. Had no idea about the sleeve logo changing color or the sock stripes, and hadn't noticed the inaccurate throwback number font. Good job. For an observant person, I'm not as observant as I thought!

Here are the later striped jerseys. They changed the socks too.

Turning to the Rams, Wendell Tucker might have been the first NFL player to wear TV numbers visible from low-Earth orbit.

[Panthers]

Cardinals' black stripe in '79 was due to the death of TE J.V. Cain.

[andrewharrington]

Cardinals' black stripe in '79 was due to the death of TE J.V. Cain.

Do you know if they wore those black armbands on their red jerseys as well? I've never been able to find a pic of the red jersey from '79. They wore white at home for 4 games in the '79 season, which would explain the shortage of photos showing the red jersey, but that means there were four games from '79 in which the Cardinals wore their red jerseys and I can't find a pic from any of them.

[Brave-Bird 08]

I love that red-white-white uniform pictured above for the Falcons. I like how similar those jerseys back then were to Georgia's

[The_Admiral]

I've said over and over that no Atlanta Falcons uniform has been or ever can be any good, and for the most part I'm sticking to that, but the throwbacks that Ryan & Co. are wearing up there are probably as good as it's gonna get for them. Pretty nice.

[number81]

How about the Broncos helmet logo?

1977 - 1991 they used a more detailed logo.

1992 - 1996 they switched back the logo we know and love

[TruColor]

Is there any photographic evidence that the Broncos ever used that "more detailed" logo? I have gone through a number of style guide sheets (from 1972, 1977, 1995 and 1996) and all of them show the standard logo.

The only differences I can find was due to the color changes between the 1976 and 1977 seasons.

Here are high-quality PNGs of the two logos - first, the original version from 1968 through 1976 (when the colors were designated as "Burnt Orange and Royal Blue" or "Burnt Orange and Academy Blue"):

Then, the color changes for 1977 ("Orange and Royal Blue"):

In addition, the Broncos logo never included Black trim of any kind (that I've ever been able to find).

[Sport]

It always cracks me up to see pictures of those old jerseys with that "crotch strap". They look like a baby's onezie.

[Market42]

Also noticed the white Falcon on the classic picture.

And with the Broncos, as I mentioned with the picture for the 1985-90 image, at some point before either the 1988 or 1989 seasons, Denver changed the stripes on the jerseys from a "blue-thin white/orange-blue" pattern to making a thicker white/orange stripe.

[cheo25]

Man, I love this stuff.

As for old NFL mysteries, does anybody have either a pic or maybe information (or both!) about an obscure Vikings jersey from the early 70's? I can't find a pic online, but I remember as a kid seeing the Vikings wear (in the same season) their normal purple home jerseys with the northwestern stripe, but also a stripeless purple jersey. I've never read anywhere what possible reason there could be for this in-season switch. Also, if it was just a one year thing, or what.

This one?

Good timing! We're actually discussing that very subject in the Treasure Trove of Old NFL Pics thread.

I'm pretty sure the Vikings had the same deal as the Dolphins of that say 1969-1972 era - mesh jerseys without stripes and durene jerseys with stripes. I suspect the Vikings wore the stripeless mesh jerseys for the warm weather games (pre-season, September, October) and the durene jerseys with Nortwestern stripes in November/December/playoffs. For the Vikings the adoption of the stripeless jersey coincided with the changes of the road jerseys to the LSU-style jersey. Also, the Vikings no-stripe jerseys have plain numbers as do the white (LSU-style) jerseys while the durene purple jerseys have the yellow trim on the numbers.

If I'm remembering correctly from childhood the Vikings just dropped the durene jerseys in 1970 or 1971 and only wore the stripeless mesh jerseys until 1974 when they got mesh purple jerseys with the Northwestern stripes (and plain numbers).

I think that is also why there are those photos of Billy Kilmer with the Saints in 1969 with both mesh jerseys and smaller Green Bay-style stripes and later in the season with the durene jerseys with the wider stripes that was the Saints "standard" style through 1974.

And we all have seen plenty of photos of the Dolphins from 1970 through 1972 with a mish-mash of stripeless mesh and striped jerseys in both durene and mesh; not until 1973 did they standardize to everyone wearing mesh jerseys with stripes.

Based on this I searched further on the Vikes in the early 70's and the evidence supports this. Granted there aren't pics from every game (or even close) but the striped purple do seem to have gone away during the period you mentioned. The stripes reappear in Dec 1973 (see below).

Bears and 49ers had a stripeless version of dark jerseys, though I don't have current photographic evidence available at my office. I'll try to post from the annual NFL highlight films when I get home today. 49ers wore theirs at Miami (I think it was the '73 opener), for sure.

After 1969, I don't remember the Vikes having yellow trim around the numbers on the striped version. But I could be wrong on that by a year or two.

[BlueSky]

This is from '88. Not definitive by any stretch but it looks like the 'snort' may have the detail lines.

The only other closeup had glare at the exact spot on the logo we're looking at. Looks like a black outline on the horse though.

[TruColor]

This is from '88. Not definitive by any stretch but it looks like the 'snort' may have the detail lines.

The only other closeup had glare at the exact spot on the logo we're looking at. Looks like a black outline on the horse though.

Wow. It sure does look like Black.

Hmmm...

[Korkie]

Man, I love those old Broncos unis. For the most part I favor more modern looks, but damn it all, do I miss the Broncos look. Especially the helmet's shade of blue. It just feels different. Plus, blue and orange looks great together.

[Panthers]

I don't recall the Cards wearing the black armband on their home uniforms in '79. I'll check my edition of Prolog to see if I can find any picts of the Cards in red at home.

As I remember it, Cain was the starting TE and he died suddenly of a heart attack during training camp.

By the way, Imiss the Broncos away uniforms from '78 and '79 with the orange pants. Strategest game was '78 at Cleveland - Browns home uniform, orange helmets, brown jerseys, orange pants and the Broncos orange pants.

One other thing I notice. The Falcons/Rams picture say copyright 1972 . . . the Rams started wearing gold in 1973.

[TruColor]

I don't recall the Cards wearing the black armband on their home uniforms in '79. I'll check my edition of Prolog to see if I can find any picts of the Cards in red at home.

As I remember it, Cain was the starting TE and he died suddenly of a heart attack during training camp.

By the way, Imiss the Broncos away uniforms from '78 and '79 with the orange pants. Strategest game was '78 at Cleveland - Browns home uniform, orange helmets, brown jerseys, orange pants and the Broncos orange pants.

One other thing I notice. The Falcons/Rams picture say copyright 1972 . . . the Rams started wearing gold in 1973.

I am almost certain that the Cardinals DID wear the Black band on the Cardinal Red jerseys...I remember that season very clearly, being a long-time Cards fan (over 40 years now).

I used to have all of those old Prolog mags too...I'm still mad at myself for getting rid of them.