The Varsity Jacket Thread

[charger77]

This idea poped up in the Sports in General thread and infraded got on me to do it so here we go!

This is my Varsity jacket from Romeo High School. I lettered in Wrestling & Tennis also but for what ever reason I only had football on it. I got the jacket following the 1996 football season.

Front (I had my last name on the front instead of my first) :

Back:

Right Shoulder Patch (a football with my # in the middle - 77) :

Left Shoulder Patch (my grad year) :

[Still MIGHTY]

Cool thread.

Here's my jacket from Laguna Hills High School, Class of 2008. I was a 3-year letterman in football, and I was a 4-year starter on the varsity lacrosse team, but the team was a club team for the first two years, and became a school sport for my junior and senior seasons. I was also 3 days from lettering in wrestling, but I had to leave, I just couldn't stand the coach and the whole attitude of the program.

Anyways, an interesting thing on the jacket, my freshman and sophomore years at school, we primarily used the brown and athletic gold. Then my junior year we jumped on the vegas gold bandwagon. That bled over into the jackets, first with the patches, then into the overall design. With the tan leather sleeves, the vegas gold looked more tanish/beigeish than it did gold. It looked washed out, whereas the athletic gold was bold and distinguishing. You can see the difference with the championship patches on the back, and some patches on the letter.

Front (Right chest has "Laguna Hills," my name, then "Football" and "Lacrosse." Left chest has the school crest, the "LH"):

Back (My last name and three patches. Left to right: Football 2006 Pacific Coast League Champions, Football 2005 Sea View League Champions, Lacrosse 2007 1st CIF season (first year as a school sport). I am missing one patch from my senior season, the 2007 Pacific Coast League Champions, because I just never got it put on. I got it in the December of my senior year, I was always wearing the jacket and just never got it into the shop and after I graduated, I never felt the need to add on to my high school stuff. I should get that put on there though.) :

Left Chest (School crest "LH," the letters is the crossed lacrosse sticks with a bar underneath for one of my varsity seasons, the football with a bar for a varsity season, and the pin is for the Hawk Excellence award for the Journalism department, basically student of the year in that department. I am also missing two things here, another varsity bar for football (ball = 1 year, bars = additional years) and another for lacrosse (each bar is each varsity year) but it's the same story as the league champion back patch. Both bars were from senior year and from the second half of that year. I just never got it done):

Left Arm (Football #70, position Offensive Line):

Right Arm (Grad year 2008, Lacrosse #1, position Goalie):

[The_Admiral]

I was a different kind of douchebag in high school.

[charger77]

I was a different kind of douchebag in high school.

The kind that rained on parades?

[Kevin W.]

Feel free to laugh at me all you want, but I lettered in Speech and Debate and got my jacket.

I just need to find a good picture of it.

[The_Admiral]

So you can incinerate it.

[Kevin W.]

So you can incinerate it.

Haters gonna hate. My school has one of the biggest S&D programs in the state.

[charger77]

So you can incinerate it.

Haters gonna hate.

Well, according to Jigga hatin is our national pastime.

Seriously Admiral, why are you in this thread just to be negative?

[oo_nrb]

Feel free to laugh at me all you want, but I lettered in Speech and Debate and got my jacket.

I just need to find a good picture of it.

I'll absorb those laughs for you... I lettered in Speech and Debate all 4 years, and have the team captain's pin too.

[The Fixer]

I JUST lettered in Football, and weightlifting a while back. I may do track this year. Not sure if I want to get the jacket or not. I was hanging out with some girl friends from other schools this weekend who had both arms front AND back covered in stuff. I felt so mediocre haha

[Kevin W.]

Feel free to laugh at me all you want, but I lettered in Speech and Debate and got my jacket.

I just need to find a good picture of it.

I'll absorb those laughs for you... I lettered in Speech and Debate all 4 years, and have the team captain's pin too.

Unfortunately, I was only in Speech and Debate for three years and I kinda sucked. The best I ever did at a tournament was third place by default, since all but three people dropped out before the tournament.

[poser]

How does one letter in a sport?

[Michigan Dave]

Here are mine. University of Michigan, football. The back and shoulders are blank, of course.

This one is not a letter jacket, but reflects an accomplishment.

[Sport]

I was a different kind of douchebag in high school.

The kind that rained on parades?

Hence why I said in the personal sports achievement thread that I wasn't going to apologize for having a varsity jacket. Some people have a problem with them, but that isn't something I'm going to worry about.

Here's mine:

Dublin Jerome High School in Dublin, Ohio. The school opened my junior year and those of us in the new district were transferred so this jacket only reflects what I did my last two years with that school, but I don't really need the two varsity letters from a school I've grown to hate, Dublin Coffman.

Fairly minimalist and I like it that way. We were given some patches for hockey tournaments that we won. We were Blue Jackets Cup champions my senior year, which basically means conference champs. We got a patch, but I never put it on. Forrest green and vegas gold for the Celtics. Tried as I might, but I could not convince the AD (and family friend) to get the basketball team to wear Boston Celtics uniforms. Though our soccer team has started to wear uniforms that look like Celtic FC.

and just for fun, one of my hockey jerseys

[infrared41]

How does one letter in a sport?

It's based on playing time. I'd imagine the requirements vary by school and sport. I honestly don't know if there is a uniform system for getting a letter.

[Billy B]

Front

Right side - Varsity football letter, graduation year

Left side - Dean's list letter, sophomore football letter, JV football letter

Back

Sleeve - Sportsmanship award from sophomore and junior year

[Armadillo]

I can beat Speech and Debate. I got my letter in QUIZ BOWL. Captained the team for two years, I did.

[Mingjai]

I can beat Speech and Debate. I got my letter in QUIZ BOWL. Captained the team for two years, I did.

Quiz bowl! We were state champs back in the day. I lettered in it, too, among things, but I never got a jacket because they wouldn't let me letter in volleyball because is was a club sport (despite 95% of the team being from our school and us using school colors), so I refused to get a jacket.

[Bouj]

How does one letter in a sport?

It's based on playing time. I'd imagine the requirements vary by school and sport. I honestly don't know if there is a uniform system for getting a letter.

It goes from school district to school district, from sport to sport even. In my school district, to get a letter jacket in the arts (music, theatre, speech & debate), you had to participate a min of 3 years and you could only get the jacket your senior year. My bro ended up going to the adjacent district and got his jacket after his freshman year for being in band.

For individual sports (swimming, track & field), we had to accumulate a certain number of points based on personal achievements. My wife lettered in swimming as a freshman but didn't get a jacket until her sophomore year (freshman can letter but not get jackets in my old district). For team sports, it was based on either playing on varsity or being a team member for the vast majority of the time, or coach's discretion. On baseball, we had a couple of guys who got called up from JV mid-way through the year and lettered even though they only pitched in a few games.

And all of this was totally different from my dad, who grew up in a small town in South Texas. Letters were only for sports.

[eRay]

Nice thread, but not for the reasons you might have guessed. We set up varsity jackets where I work and it's interesting to see all the different ways of displaying the information. Keep 'em coming, anyone have any wild set-ups? Name by the pocket was pretty wild for me.