By Darin The Evolution of the Pigskin: Why Do Some Footballs Have Stripes?
Have you ever looked closely at a football and wondered why the college game uses those iconic white stripes while the NFL ball is a solid, sleek brown? It seems like a minor detail, but as with everything in the gridiron's past, there is a fascinating story of utility, survival, and "hidden ball" trickery behind those markings.
On a 2022 episode of the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, host Darin Hayes sat down with Timothy Brown, the historian behind Football Archaeology, to dig into the "biography" of the ball itself. From its origins as a fat rugby egg to the high-tech prolate spheroid of today, the football has undergone a radical transformation.
1934: The Year the "Egg" Died
In the early days of American football, the ball was essentially a rugby ball—a fat, ovoid shape that was perfect for running and kicking but nearly impossible to throw with precision. Everything changed in 1934.
A rule change that year led to a sleeker, pointier design. This new shape made the forward pass easier for players with smaller hands, effectively birthing the "spiral" as a primary weapon. However, this evolution came at a cost: the pointier ends made the ball bounce unpredictably on the ground, effectively killing the drop kick as a reliable scoring method.
The Birth of the Stripe: BYU and Hidden Ball Tricks
The white stripes we see on college and high school balls today weren't always there. In fact, for decades, night games were played with balls painted entirely white or yellow to help visibility under primitive incandescent stadium lights.
According to Brown, the first recorded use of a striped brown ball occurred in 1936 during a game between BYU and Northern Colorado. The teams were at an impasse: BYU wore white jerseys, and Northern Colorado wore brown pants. There were genuine concerns that players could hide a white or brown ball against their uniforms for "hidden ball" tricks. The compromise? A brown ball with white stripes. It provided the necessary contrast against both uniforms and eventually became a blueprint for the sport.
The NFL vs. The NCAA: A Split in Identity
For a time, both the NFL and college football experimented with various markings. The NFL used white balls for night games until 1956, after which they transitioned to a tan ball with white stripes. However, in 1976, the NFL made a permanent change, removing the stripes entirely to create a clean, professional look that differentiated the league from the college game.
The NCAA, however, chose a different path. They sanctioned stripes in 1965 and formally adopted them in 1975. There were two main reasons:
- Visibility:Many college stadiums lacked the high-powered lighting found in pro arenas.
- Branding:The stripes became a visual shorthand for the Saturday afternoon collegiate atmosphere.
The "Slippery Thumb" Dilemma
If you look at a modern NCAA football, you’ll notice the stripes only cover the top two panels (adjacent to the laces). This is known as the half-stripe.
This design was an engineering solution to a player complaint. In the mid-20th century, when stripes were painted around the entire circumference, quarterbacks complained that the paint was too slippery. When a QB’s thumb hit the painted stripe, it lost the friction needed for a perfect release. The NFL solved this by removing the stripes; the NCAA solved it by simply leaving the bottom panels unpainted where the thumb naturally rests.
Conclusion: A Legacy of Practicality
Today, the presence or absence of stripes is mostly an aesthetic choice, but their history is rooted in the practical needs of the game. Whether it’s the CFL keeping full stripes on all four panels or the USFL experimenting with stars instead of lines, the football continues to be a canvas for the sport's evolution.
Next time you see a quarterback launch a deep ball, take a look at those white streaks spinning through the air—you’re looking at a solution to a 100-year-old problem.
One of the top experts in early gridiron history, Timothy P. Brown joins us in the discussion to identify why some footballs have stripes on them. Timothy Brown's FootballArchaeology.com has a daily football factoid that he shares that is really quite interesting in a short read. They preserve football history in a unique way and we are quite happy that Tim has agreed to join us each week to go over some of his Today's Tidbits. Click that link and you can subscribe for free to receive them yourself each evening. On Twitter, you can find him @FoFStrife.
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