Blackhawks Diagonal Serif

[Sodboy13]

This is the kind of minutiae that no one will ever care about outside of this forum. In fact, three-quarters of the members on this forum probably still won't care. So there's that.

But note that, for the modern era of the Blackhawks uniform, there is a certain style of numeral font associated with said uniform. From the bygone era of Stan Mikita to the current resurgence of Toews and Sharp, from the days of Durene nylon to the 9% faster Edge materials, that standard, but unique, block number font has remained: the one with the flat serif across the top of the "1", among other unique details, which is a part of distinguishing the Hawks' look.

Except, apparently, it hasn't.

Thanks to the site fuzzymemories.tv, which is an absolute must-visit for anyone with roots in Chicago in the '70s or '80s, I stumbled across some video evidence of the Black Hawks deviating from what is often assumed to be their standard numeral font of the past half-century.

Take a gander at this local TV promo from 1980. It clearly shows the Hawks wearing sweaters with "1"s on the back with diagonal serifs. Though, oddly enough, the serifs on the sleeves still appear to be flat. A second promo, also from 1980, confirms that the footage used was from the '79-'80 season, by virtue of its inclusion of the Hartford Whalers.

This is one of those minor, undocumented changes in uniform that gets lost along the way, evading coverage even on comprehensive sites like nhluniforms.com. Interesting to see that someone recording something else on their Betamax 29 years ago accidentally captured an oddity in NHL uniform history. And it brings up the question: How long did the Hawks use this particular style?

(Also, note the load of empty seats, along with the rare-for-1980 board ads, at the Met Center. Apparently, Barons-North Stars merger fever had yet to hit the Twin Cities.)

[RIPmetrodome]

makes me wonder, what other important uniform changes have we missed over the years?

way to recognize the small detail, sodboy, im sure at least a few people care about this, and I'm one of 'em.

shame no one went to the northstars games back then. too bad they didnt know the team would be relocated in the next decade.

[oddball]

I replayed the first one a few times just to see all the uniforms and it wasn't until the second with the Whalers at the end did it answer my question of did they only show road games in Chicago. Great find. Even if it's something like this, to which many will not think it's important, those of us that do find it either important and interesting appreciate it. I just love seeing old footage, just to see how the uniforms looked in action and just to get a feel of how the game was played. I realize in a promo like this, you won't get the feel of the game, but it's still interesting to see the uniforms in action.

[The_Admiral]

Dig the music: Al Secord is Shaft.

#14 looks like it's slightly drop-shadowed, too, but that might just be me. Also, here's another opportunity to remind the logo gurus that the Hawks haven't been using the jaundiced smiling Indian head since '66 or whatever the site says. The one there is clearly copper-skinned and stoic, the way it ought to be, and was till I want to say 1999 or 2000.

[Sodboy13]

I replayed the first one a few times just to see all the uniforms and it wasn't until the second with the Whalers at the end did it answer my question of did they only show road games in Chicago.

My guess is the Whalers clip is from the Whale's TV feed - there appear to be some differences in the video from the other clips. The home game TV ban was in full force back then.

Note for Canadians: if you comb through the Channel 44 archives on Fuzzy's site, there's a clip of Game 8 of the '72 Summit Series. Never realized that got aired in the States.

EDIT: There's also a clip from the '78-'79 season on the site. And once again, there's the diagonal:

I wonder how many seasons it was that way. Is there an elder tribesman at Gunzo's?