Vintage Getty, SI and other NFL photos

[Jungle Jim]

I always loved this Reds team photo taken in 1970.  They were wearing the best uniforms in the history of the franchise, and Riverfront Stadium was fresh off the assembly line.  Riverfront has been disparaged by many over the years for being sterile and a poor place to be a spectator, but it was the place of dreams for me in the 1970s and 1980s.

 

I envy fans of teams such as the Cubs, Red Sox, and Dodgers, who have been able to experience their teams in basically the same uniforms and in the same ballpark for generations.  I grew up dreaming of taking my kids to Riverfront, but it was destroyed before the first one was born.  And the team has never been able to settle on a uniform, to my dismay.  They got it right with these from 1968-71, but sadly gave in to the pullovers and waistbands trend in 1972.

 

[msubulldog]

On 6/28/2017 at 11:32 AM, Gobbi said:

It's funny, if we were to see a fan wearing a jersey nowadays with numbers that looked like that we'd immediately point out how bad of a counterfeit it is.

Is that Pete Bethard or Jerry Rhome?

[B-Rich]

Just found another, bringing this back from the dead:

[Davidellias]

On 6/30/2017 at 6:31 PM, Mitch B said:

Great thread ?

 

While I've never been to Minnesota, to watch a late season game from old Metopolitan Stadium on TV was a great experience as a kid.  Nothing beats football in the cold, mud and snow.  ??

to be fair apparently no one in Minnesota attempted to watch Football at the Met in the cold either.

[Cujo]

Doesn't get more vintage than this

 

[Gothamite]

46 minutes ago, Cujo said:

Doesn't get more vintage beautiful than this

 

FIFY. 

 

[B-Rich]

2 hours ago, Cujo said:

Doesn't get more vintage than this

 

umm, that was on the previous page about three times... 

[Sec19Row53]

6 hours ago, B-Rich said:

 

umm, that was on the previous page about three times... 

Some might say that wasn't enough

[The_Admiral]

On 5/24/2019 at 11:21 AM, BJ Sands said:

Has anybody seen this? I doubt it's ever been posted on the board.

 

What year is that from?

[BBTV]

Since he just died of Covit-19, Tom Dempsey:

 

Love the old Eagles green against the classic Steelers colors, love the striped socks, and love that the holder is wearing 28.  Don't see that these days.

 

EDIT:  apparently he had a side job as a chunky club-footed porn star:

[Echo]

12 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

love that the holder is wearing 28.  Don't see that these days.

 

Dempsey's last two seasons were with the Bills in 1978 and 1979.  His holder was #81 WR Bob Chandler.

 

[goalieboy82]

[goalieboy82]

[oldschoolvikings]

 

 

 

Ignore the serial killer and check out those orange pants.

[leopard88]

On 3/31/2020 at 11:56 AM, B-Rich said:

Just found another, bringing this back from the dead:

 

The cut sleeves remind me of the early 90s Browns, when almost every player cut their sleeves so you could only see 3 of the 5 stripes.

 

21 hours ago, oldschoolvikings said:

 

Is that a left-footed OL/DL kicker?  I can't tell from the picture.  Also, is there any information as to why he is wearing a helmet with No. 22 on it . . . and no face mask?

EDIT:  I've answered my own questions (at least in part).  It's Lou Michaels, a left-footed DL/kicker.  I didn't know that he played for the Steelers.  He is wearing Bobby Layne's helmet, but no word on why.  My best guess is so he wouldn't have a facemark limiting his vision when kicking.

 

For the record, I've always liked those Steelers uniforms . . . and most of their 60s uniforms for that matter.

[oldschoolvikings]

On 4/11/2020 at 7:41 AM, leopard88 said:

.

 

For the record, I've always liked those Steelers uniforms . . . and most of their 60s uniforms for that matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oldschoolvikings]

Here's a weird one...

 

We've all seen the old Broncos helmet a bunch of times;

 

 

But check out this blue horse version...

 

 

 

[BBTV]

A lot of these photos are old, but most aren't that old.  It amazes me that in many of them, every player is white.  Was there segregation in the NFL through the '60s?  I figured it would have been more integrated by then.

[sc49erfan15]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheVet said:

A lot of these photos are old, but most aren't that old.  It amazes me that in many of them, every player is white.  Was there segregation in the NFL through the '60s?  I figured it would have been more integrated by then.

 

Officially, no - but black players were still a distinct minority up until the 1970s. Many teams had unofficial quotas limiting the number of black players, and they were usually confined to certain positions (defensive back, running back, receiver).

 

The AFL also had distinctly more black players than the NFL, so there's a spike in the number of black NFL players after the merger.

[leopard88]

On 4/14/2020 at 3:19 PM, oldschoolvikings said:

 

 

You left out a couple of my favorites --

 

And I didn't know the diamond sleeve ones were preseason only --