Treasure Trove of Old NFL Pics

[BBTV]

RB Pete Retzlaff

Wow, can you imagine this jersey on a modern template?

But anyways, these are great. Wonderful quality. Really gives a glimpse into the past.

That's the last 44 you'll ever see for the Eagles, as it's one of their few retired numbers. FYI - Retzlaff was more known as an end than a RB. He was also the GM for a while.

Fun fact: I was assigned to be his "guard" (basically just stand next to him) at the "legends" autograph table at one of the Eagles' carnivals a few summers ago. I ended up standing there like a dope, because he no-showed.

[BlueSky]

More fun stuff from olden days...

Being that the defender is Deacon Jones moving at full speed, this is politely known as an "Oh s***!" moment.

Great Falcons set vs. two great Rams sets:

The Purple People Eaters:

Don't ask me why, but it was always a pet peeve of mine when teams would spread the NOB out on the nameplate like that, especially when it was like a 4-letter name and it went from shoulder to shoulder. Just looks goofy.

I thought NOBs started in '70 for the NFL teams...

I'm repeating myself but I love the rich color in these pics.

[BlueSky]

The Niners had an odd shade of gold back then:

[Hontas]

Fantastic photos, thanks for posting them.

[Gothamite]

The 50th Anniversary patch looks really odd on those Vikings jerseys. Teams with sleeve stripes wore it on the shoulder:

[infrared41]

The 50th Anniversary patch looks really odd on those Vikings jerseys. Teams with sleeve stripes wore it on the shoulder:

Were those Vikings jerseys practice jerseys worn in a preseason game or something?

[BBTV]

"49ers had an odd shade of gold"

Weren't they actually red and silver back then?

[BlueSky]

"49ers had an odd shade of gold"

Weren't they actually red and silver back then?

Well, silver would be an odd shade of gold, wouldn't it?

But seriously, no, 1963 was the last year with silver in the uni.

[Gothamite]

The 50th Anniversary patch looks really odd on those Vikings jerseys. Teams with sleeve stripes wore it on the shoulder:

Were those Vikings jerseys practice jerseys worn in a preseason game or something?

The Jets had lightweight solid-color jerseys they wore in a few early-season games about that time, maybe the Vikings did as well.

[Sport]

The 50th Anniversary patch looks really odd on those Vikings jerseys. Teams with sleeve stripes wore it on the shoulder:

Were those Vikings jerseys practice jerseys worn in a preseason game or something?

The Jets had lightweight solid-color jerseys they wore in a few early-season games about that time, maybe the Vikings did as well.

So did the Bengals. The sleeve stripes actually differed from the warm weather jerseys to the cold weather jerseys. The warm weather jerseys striping had a seperation between each stripe and the cold weather jerseys didn't. I've seen pictures where both are being worn in the same game.

[BlueSky]

The 50th Anniversary patch looks really odd on those Vikings jerseys. Teams with sleeve stripes wore it on the shoulder:

Were those Vikings jerseys practice jerseys worn in a preseason game or something?

The Jets had lightweight solid-color jerseys they wore in a few early-season games about that time, maybe the Vikings did as well.

So did the Bengals. The sleeve stripes actually differed from the warm weather jerseys to the cold weather jerseys. The warm weather jerseys striping had a seperation between each stripe and the cold weather jerseys didn't. I've seen pictures where both are being worn in the same game.

It's not an early season game. The caption on US Presswire states the date as 12/7/69, and the Vikes' schedule for that year shows them at Los Angeles. Here's another pic from the same game:

There are only a few other shots of the '69 Vikes in purple on that site, and in each they have sleeve stripes and the NFL 50 patch on the shoulder. In fact, they hosted the Rams in a playoff game on 12/27/69 and had stripes:

[Harmening]

If it was played in LA, could they maybe be wearing a warm weather jersey even in December?

[BlueSky]

If it was played in LA, could they maybe be wearing a warm weather jersey even in December?

Are we talking like a mesh jersey as opposed to the usual material? I guess that's possible but why couldn't they just put stripes on those? I guess that's the mystery!

[TruColor]

"49ers had an odd shade of gold"

Weren't they actually red and silver back then?

Well, silver would be an odd shade of gold, wouldn't it?

But seriously, no, 1963 was the last year with silver in the uni.

Oooh...that reminds me...I've been wanting to do a thread regarding the 49ers' colors over the years, and why it got so messed up in the '80s and '90s...

I'll start one in the near future in the Logos and Uniforms forum.

[Harmening]

If it was played in LA, could they maybe be wearing a warm weather jersey even in December?

Are we talking like a mesh jersey as opposed to the usual material? I guess that's possible but why couldn't they just put stripes on those? I guess that's the mystery!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Vikings

After reading that Wikipedia entry, it does sound like they used a warm weather jersey.

.....but yeah, why they didn't add stripes to them is a bit of a head scratcher. Maybe they thought stripes would be uncomfortable in warm weather? Maybe they wanted the least amount of material as possible on the jerseys? Hard to tell.

[John in KY]

If it was played in LA, could they maybe be wearing a warm weather jersey even in December?

Are we talking like a mesh jersey as opposed to the usual material? I guess that's possible but why couldn't they just put stripes on those? I guess that's the mystery!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Vikings

After reading that Wikipedia entry, it does sound like they used a warm weather jersey.

.....but yeah, why they didn't add stripes to them is a bit of a head scratcher. Maybe they thought stripes would be uncomfortable in warm weather? Maybe they wanted the least amount of material as possible on the jerseys? Hard to tell.

I also posted this on the other thread in the logos forum, the Vikings weren't the only team with stripeless mesh warm-weather jerseys. The Dolphins did the same thing from 1970 through 1972 (you will see some players in the Jan. '73 Super Bowl with the stripeless jerseys and some with the striped jerseys). I believe the Lions also went stripeless for a while, and maybe even the Bears. The Saints of 1969 had different stripes on the mesh jerseys than the durene jerseys - they were smaller, more like the Packers-style (which Vince also brought to the Redskins for 1969) on the mesh jersey but larger like they had worn in 1967/68 on the durene jersey.

As to why, my guess is that some jersey manufacturers had to figure out how to effectively screen stripes onto mesh. If you look at some of the early mesh jerseys like the Bengals, the stripes are starting to wear off by the end of the season. I guess some teams just opted to not have stripes until the manufacturing caught up with the fabric. Again, just a guess.

[andrewharrington]

Not a fan of those Rams jerseys either.

I feel like I'm looking at a black and white photo.

I personally don't need triple colors but

my faves were the 79 SB era Rams sets.

Maybe it's the shade of blue, but I'm with Harmening,

I don't feel that way with the Colts basic blue and white.

Yeah, I think that big ram horn just screams out for some color. The design of the uniform is perfect, it just needs more color.

[sc49erfan15]

For one, this helmet looks like it would be about as protective as a wearing a box on your head, and two, it's interesting that it doesn't say "steelers" in the logo.

What I noticed first (and I guess it's because I knew of the "Steel" -> "Steelers" deal, is the "2" font on the front of the helmet. Never seen that one before.

[The_Admiral]

I like the logo a lot better with just "Steel." It makes it feel like nickname developed out of being a U.S. Steel company team or something. They are representing steel, thus they themselves are Steel-ers.

[BBTV]

I like the logo a lot better with just "Steel." It makes it feel like nickname developed out of being a U.S. Steel company team or something. They are representing steel, thus they themselves are Steel-ers.

I remember one of the first times I was in Pittsburgh, I saw that Steel logo on the side of an old building or warehouse, and I said to my friend - holy s - I can't believe they'd rip off the Steelers logo like that!