Early Broncos helmet history

[darkhaha]

Forgive me for indulging my obsession with Bronco uniform minutia one more time Anyway, I was doing photo research for another thread and I came across one of my Holy Grails:

This photo is from the 1966 Bronco-Charger game in San Diego. It is important to me because:

1. I had always suspected that the white Bronco decal on the '66 helmets had a thin royal blue outline, but even in color pics like the one in my sig, it was very hard to determine conclusively -- until now.

2. This is the first color photo (other than DVD screen shots) of the '66 road set I've ever found.

Here is the progression of the Bronco orange helmets:

1962-64: Note the light, almost "Tennessee" orange.

1965: The color of orange darkens to the much "redder' shade the team used up until the late 70s, the decal is larger and the Bronco's eye becomes a star.

1966: The striping pattern is changed and the decal adds an outline and a slight change in the tail.

I had heard rumors that in '64 and/or '65 there were two royal stripes flanking the white center stripe. The color photos I've seen have never supported this contention, but I recently came across this pic:

So some mysteries remain...

[BBTV]

This is great. It reminds me of a controversy with the Eagles white helmets. Many feel that for one season, there was a black outline around the green wing, however there has yet to be a clear enough color picture to confirm. The only pictures that keep coming up whenever the discussion comes up (not here, but on other forums) are inconclusive.

[Jungle Jim]

Somewhat off-topic, but since we're on the subject of the Broncos...

I was watching some of the 1996 playoff game Denver vs Jacksonville on TV the other day and marveled at how beautiful those old Broncos uniforms were. The shade of blue on the helmets and the orange jerseys were awesome. Yes, they were dated and the current set is more appropriate for the 21st century. But I'd really like to see them change the blue back to the lighter shade and bring back the orange jerseys full-time, just with the current logo/design.

[NJTank]

Forget that I want to see that Orange helmet in a throwback game

[BlueSky]

Not to threadjack but just a brief note on the 'backwards' jersey lightning bolt on the Charger. Many of us railed against the new Chargers unis for having the 'backwards' bolt (and I still think it looks goofy, should match the helmet) but I have to admit I remembered it wrong. I thought the jersey bolt always matched the helmet bolt. This was disproved in the new Charger uni thread but this pic really shows how the new bolt is much like the old ones:

[Cooleyvol]

FWIW, that's nowhere near Tennessee orange even in its lightest form.

[TruColor]

Really, FWIW, you really can't judge actual colors based on old photographs either.

[LEWJ]

Not to threadjack but just a brief note on the 'backwards' jersey lightning bolt on the Charger. Many of us railed against the new Chargers unis for having the 'backwards' bolt (and I still think it looks goofy, should match the helmet) but I have to admit I remembered it wrong. I thought the jersey bolt always matched the helmet bolt. This was disproved in the new Charger uni thread but this pic really shows how the new bolt is much like the old ones:

I think the reason some people think it looks backwards is because in a sense, it's upside-down. Because the Bolt wraps around the sleeve instead of going over the shoulder, it appears to dip down instead of curve over, know what I'm saying?

Instead of being like this:

It's more like this:

Which creates a "backwards effect" when really it's upside-down.

[Gothamite]

At the risk of going further off-topic, just because it was upside-down in an old set doesn't mean that the upside-down bolt on the current jersey doesn't look bad. Historical precedent doesn't always validate bad design, especially when that bad design violates one of the stated purposes of the design (standardizing the bolts).

[jojotarantino]

I always thought the bronco on those helmets was just a solid white. Cool picture. On another note, too bad the Chargers couldn't keep that bolt design on the pants instead of that goofy new one.

[oddball]

Here's a thought and I don't know. But could that blue/black line around the horse really just be an optical illusion caused by the edge of the sticker and blending the lighter and darker colors together to give the effect of an outline? That line, could be there because of the printing. You print CMYK and it prints darker than what you see on screen. There's a whole different color gamma with on screen vs. print. You're also talking about refracted light (light from behind) with a monitor which only uses three colors, verses reflective light (light that bounces off the source and we see that reflection) and that uses the four colors of CMYK and a lot of times what looks clear on a screen prints muddy because the colors of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (black is K) can't get that color. I've dealt with this for years trying to figure out how to get the color of paint or of fabric to look the same on screen and there are just some colors that don't transfer either way well.

[winters in buffalo]

Forget that I want to see that Orange helmet in a throwback game

It's been done. 1994.

[NJTank]

Forget that I want to see that Orange helmet in a throwback game

It's been done. 1994.

I know I want to see it again :evil:

[darkhaha]

Here's a thought and I don't know. But could that blue/black line around the horse really just be an optical illusion caused by the edge of the sticker and blending the lighter and darker colors together to give the effect of an outline? That line, could be there because of the printing. You print CMYK and it prints darker than what you see on screen. There's a whole different color gamma with on screen vs. print. You're also talking about refracted light (light from behind) with a monitor which only uses three colors, verses reflective light (light that bounces off the source and we see that reflection) and that uses the four colors of CMYK and a lot of times what looks clear on a screen prints muddy because the colors of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (black is K) can't get that color. I've dealt with this for years trying to figure out how to get the color of paint or of fabric to look the same on screen and there are just some colors that don't transfer either way well.

Although I am familiar with the effect you're talking about, I really don't think that's going on here. If you look at the bronco's thigh and where its stomach passes in front of the left hind leg, you can see the outline pretty clearly.

[darkhaha]

Not to threadjack but just a brief note on the 'backwards' jersey lightning bolt on the Charger. Many of us railed against the new Chargers unis for having the 'backwards' bolt (and I still think it looks goofy, should match the helmet) but I have to admit I remembered it wrong. I thought the jersey bolt always matched the helmet bolt. This was disproved in the new Charger uni thread but this pic really shows how the new bolt is much like the old ones:

Here's a great site on the Charger uniform history It clearly shows the evolution of the lightning bolts, as well as the colors of the jerseys. I know this has been touched upon in other threads, but I think it's interesting to note that the mid-60s set with white pant that everyone is so enamored of (myself included) were really a darker shade of blue than depicted in the throwbacks of recent years. The jerseys didn't really get to that lighter shade of blue until they went with the yellow pants.

[IceCap]

Forget that I want to see that Orange helmet in a throwback game

It's been done. 1994.

I know I want to see it again :evil:

The ideal Broncos throwback, IMO, never existed. It's the uniforms we're discussing here, with the helmet used during most of Elway's career.

[mohelmets]

darkhaha,

You should tell "The Helmet Project" about this along with the photos...This particular helmet does not exist on that site...

The Helmet Project

I might point out that there is a photo of this particular helmet at Mike Stanhope's NFL/AFL Helmet History Site, albeit of poor size and quality...

[bulldogbarks55]

Forgive me for indulging my obsession with Bronco uniform minutia one more time Anyway, I was doing photo research for another thread and I came across one of my Holy Grails:

This photo is from the 1966 Bronco-Charger game in San Diego. It is important to me because:

1. I had always suspected that the white Bronco decal on the '66 helmets had a thin royal blue outline, but even in color pics like the one in my sig, it was very hard to determine conclusively -- until now.

2. This is the first color photo (other than DVD screen shots) of the '66 road set I've ever found.

Here is the progression of the Bronco orange helmets:

1962-64: Note the light, almost "Tennessee" orange.

1965: The color of orange darkens to the much "redder' shade the team used up until the late 70s, the decal is larger and the Bronco's eye becomes a star.

1966: The striping pattern is changed and the decal adds an outline and a slight change in the tail.

I had heard rumors that in '64 and/or '65 there were two royal stripes flanking the white center stripe. The color photos I've seen have never supported this contention, but I recently came across this pic:

So some mysteries remain...

And it is also obvious that the jersey striping completely surrounds the arm and yoke area. The top stripe is not "truncated" like the replica you had made. I always liked this style of uniform because my high school's colors are Orange & Royal Blue.

[BlueSky]

Not to threadjack but just a brief note on the 'backwards' jersey lightning bolt on the Charger. Many of us railed against the new Chargers unis for having the 'backwards' bolt (and I still think it looks goofy, should match the helmet) but I have to admit I remembered it wrong. I thought the jersey bolt always matched the helmet bolt. This was disproved in the new Charger uni thread but this pic really shows how the new bolt is much like the old ones:

Here's a great site on the Charger uniform history It clearly shows the evolution of the lightning bolts, as well as the colors of the jerseys. I know this has been touched upon in other threads, but I think it's interesting to note that the mid-60s set with white pant that everyone is so enamored of (myself included) were really a darker shade of blue than depicted in the throwbacks of recent years. The jerseys didn't really get to that lighter shade of blue until they went with the yellow pants.

You're right, the best looking Chargers' set is the darker blue, not the powder blue. I've seen it referred to as Pacific Blue but I'm sure Colorwerx could shed some light on it.

[BlueSky]

Darkhaha, did you know you made the Uniwatch blog?

===

Most databases and other historical resources indicate that the decal on the Broncos? helmets from 1962-66 was white. But now a Broncos scholar on the Chris Creamer board has come up with photographic evidence clearly indicating that the 1966 decal had a blue outline around the white horse.

===

It's in the January 19 entry. Pretty cool.