Football History

Northwestern's helmet design, like the team itself, has seen a rich evolution reflecting changing times and traditions. Here's a quick summary:

Early Days (1876-1940s):

Started with simple leather helmets, sometimes white, sometimes black.

Experimented with cross-hatch patterns and even a brief "dog flap" style.

In 1940, they became the first college team to wear a modern plastic helmet, dark purple with black and white stripes.
Modern Era (1950s-1960s):

Switched to white helmets with purple stripes mirroring the jersey sleeves.
In 1968, a landmark moment: the first NU logo, the connected "NU," appeared on an all-purple helmet.

The Purple Reigns (1970s-present):

Various shades of purple dominated, with stripes or solid designs.
Notable additions included player numbers and chrome facemasks.

Special edition helmets emerged, like the black "Murder Cats" helmet or the white helmet honoring women's athletics.
Today and Beyond:

The current helmet is purple with white stripes and the classic "NU" logo.
Variations often feature chrome accents, unique decals for special occasions, or even matte finishes.

Northwestern's helmet journey illustrates their commitment to tradition while embracing innovation. Each design tells a story, reflecting the evolution of the team, the sport, and the ever-present "purple pride."

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Imagine getting all of your equipment at the beginning of the long football season. Shoulder pads, pants and pads, and of course a helmet. You look and the head piece looks a bit funny... it has no chinstrap. This is how it was in one era of football, and FootballArchaeology.com's Timothy Brown explains.

From Tim's original TidBit article: Football Helmets Without Chin Straps .

Timothy Brown, who runs the website footballarchaeology.org. The two discuss how early football helmets did not have chin straps. Instead, they had laces in the back to tighten around the noggin. These devices were not very effective in keeping the helmet on the player's head.

A company called Goldsmith, which was a major sporting goods manufacturer at the time, tried to fix this problem by creating a helmet with an adjustable back. However, this design did not work well and was soon abandoned.

In the 1970s, helmets with inflatable bladders were introduced. These helmets were more effective in conforming to the player's head, but they were still not as safe as today's helmets with chin straps.

The video concludes by mentioning that Timothy Brown's website, footballarchaeology.com, has more information about the history of football equipment.

-Full Transcript of the Episode on Helmets Without Chinstraps

Darin Hayes:
Welcome to Tuesday. Timothy P. Brown of FootballArchaeology.com is here to tell us a little bit about one of his recent tidbits. Uh, Tim, welcome back to the pig pen.

Timothy Brown:
Darin, thank you. Oh, it was a pleasure to be here and join you as we talk about old stuff, old football stuff.

Darin Hayes:
Yeah, most definitely, you had a recent tidbit that really caught my eye when it came out. I actually reread it a few days ago because it's just so fascinating. It's called the football helmet without chin straps, And it's, you know, something kind of peculiar that when we think of the football helmet, the chin straps are almost like an automatic part Of it in our day and age, and so it's very interesting what you wrote about, and I'd love to hear about it here in the podcast.

Timothy Brown:
Yeah. Well, so, you know, it's one of those funny things. Yeah, sometimes I've wondered, you know, how the name came about, like chin strap? I mean, now, chin straps are covering the chin, right? And then they connect up to the helmet with the two points on either side, but back, you know, that's really a post-1940 kind of look. Before that, that headgear, the wrestling-type headgear, and then, after that, you know, what we think of as leather helmets. For a long time, the strap kind of went from the ears and then looped under the jaw, not over the chin. Right? So, but I think they, I think, I think chin straps originated, I believe, on military helmets, and you know, so a lot of times they had them in military hats. So a lot of times they had those little straps, like kind of on the chin, a little bit below the mouth, that kind of thing. That's probably where that where the term came from. But anyway, so, you know, they had those original straps that were kind of elastic or cloth, they weren't, and they could tighten them. But, you know, they certainly weren't as good about, you know, keeping the helmet on the head as today's, you know, two or four-point, you know, chin straps do. Plus, the helmets are just tighter. So, you know, if you've got a leather helmet, you know, it can only conform to the head so much, right? I mean, if it's a little bit bigger, you've got it, you know, just nobody's had it shaped the same way, or no two people's are shaped the same way. So, you know, there's probably some little extra space here, little extra space there, in any given leather helmet. And so, you know, they used to come off. And so, so Goldsmith was, which was, you know, one of the original manufacturers of baseballs. They started back in 1875, and they were a big sporting goods manufacturer, at least till 1940. That's the last catalog I have of theirs. So, I'm not sure exactly how much longer they lasted. But so Goldsmith was trying to fix this problem. How do we keep helmets on? Because these little chin straps don't always work. So what they did was they got rid of the chin strap, which seems kind of dumb. They could have kept him, but they tried to make the size of the helmet adjustable. So they did that by putting it together like a drawstring system at the back of the helmet. And if you think about it, like, you know, we've all seen movies of like a Victorian woman who's getting her corset, you know, adjusted where they're pulling those straps and they're, you know, making her stomach, you know, look or make it look like she's got an 18-inch waist, you know, that kind of thing. So I mean, they basically had a system like that, or at least functionally, that was what it was supposed to do supposed to tighten the base of the helmet around the head. And so, but, you know, the fact of the matter is, it didn't work very well.

Darin Hayes:
You probably needed help getting your helmet on and off every time, I would assume.

Timothy Brown:
Yeah, you know, I hadn't even thought about that. Yeah, it could be that. Yeah, you had to, you know, so it's what's funny that you mentioned that it's like, you know, back at that time, players, the front of their football pants, also had those like leather patches, the thighs and well, probably typically twice on the thighs on each thigh. They basically had drawstrings to tighten the thigh or tighten the pants so that they didn't move all around, and then they'd get protected by the thigh pads or the pants. So, you know, they didn't have really good elastic back then. So it's a matter of, you know, pulling laces of one form or another to try to get things to fit. So, you know, somehow, you know, they tried to do that with the helmet. But, you know, it was they were gone from the catalogs in about a year or two. So it tells me the thing just didn't work. The concept made sense. And in fact, you know, in the 70s, when people started, like, I think it was, I believe it was right now that did it first, but you know, they had the bladder helmets, where you pump air into it, and it conforms to your head, whatever the shape of it may be, you know, so they were trying to do that same thing. They just didn't have the means to do it at the time. And so, you know, good idea, bad execution. And so then that just disappeared. But I, you know, I still haven't figured out why you would get rid of the chin strap. So, even if you have this other cool thing going on, why get rid of the chin strap? Because I've never read anything about people being bothered by it, you know, like the nose guards. Yeah, that was big, you know, everybody, nobody liked wearing the nose guard because they had difficulty breathing and that kind of stuff. But chin strap, you know,

Darin Hayes:
Yeah, I mean, it's a natural place to secure because you sort of got that hook shape under your chin. You know, it's a good anchor point to tie it down to your head and get a little tension on there. That's that's weird. Thank you.

Timothy Brown:
So sometimes, you know, some of the stories, I mean, again, I like the stories where, you know, as football evolved, there were all these dead-end paths, right? Just like in, you know, animal species, right? And, you know, so for some of them, the thinking behind the path made sense; they just didn't have the tools, technology, or the right materials to make it happen at the time.

Darin Hayes:
Yeah, you, uh, very, very interesting story, but just you describing the back of that helmet and the core whole corset idea, it took me back to some time playing like a junior high ball, you know, we got sort of leftover pants and one year I had drawstring pants for football where you had to tie them up. Like you tie your shoe. What a pain in the ass that was every, every day for practice for game day. It just, especially when you're like, you know, 11, 12 years old, you know, you don't want to take your time to snap pants even, let alone, you know, sit on time and take them up and, and if you didn't tighten them up, then you had, you know, your, your jock and everything else was, you know, flopping, falling all over the place. And it was just a bad, bad design. Whoever designed those pants. I didn't enjoy those.

Timothy Brown:
Yeah, well, and again, it's one of those things that, depending on your age, you may not have as much experience with. But, you know, back in the day, there were a lot of people on the football field with, you know, white athletic tape wrapped around their thighs or around their knees to keep things in place. Right. And so I, you know, I've spotted that kind of thing going on back to the 20s and 30s. So people, you know, even back then, they were tapping the same problem.

Darin Hayes:
Oh, I didn't. I never thought about that. Yeah, I guess I guess you wouldn't be able to do it, too. Then I'm always sitting, sort of thinking like athletic tape and duct tape. You know, the fabric tape is more of a modern invention, but I guess they would have had that back then.

Timothy Brown:
And they had, if you look at the old catalogs, I can't tell you it was the exact same kind of tape, but they had athletic tape and illustrations like Walter Camp, the football guides, they had illustrations of how to tape an ankle, that kind of stuff going back pretty far.

Darin Hayes:
So, yeah, very interesting. Thank God that they have the chin straps, but even with chin straps, and I don't know about you, but when I played early on, I don't even think I saw a four-point chin strap until maybe I was in high school or something, I think it was sort of a, you know, the late seventies type innovation, I think, or at least became popular at the levels I played at then. But you see so many people with the four-point head strap chin straps, and they still come, their helmets still come flying off, especially the NFL level and big-time big-time college; it's unbelievable that those can come off. Cause once you have those helmets on, if they're done rubbery, I mean, it's hard to unsnap them when you do want to take it off, let alone have it come flying off in the middle of the game.

Timothy Brown:
I hate to tell you this, but some of those guys are stronger than you and your buddies were.

Darin Hayes:
I realize I'm still a

Timothy Brown:
has a little bit more force. Yes.

Darin Hayes:
Still, that's a lot of stuff to pop a helmet on us. It's amazing, Tim. That is a great story and a great piece of football history that we, you know, seldom get to appreciate something like that and what the sort of forefathers of football had to go through to do that, and you talk a lot about this kind of items on your website football archaeology calm and want you to tell people a little bit about it and how they can enjoy footballarchaeology.com

Timothy Brown:
So it's footballarchaeology.com. It's a sub-stack website. So, if you're familiar with sub-stack, you can find me there. I also post on Twitter and on threads, but the site itself is a subscription site. If you subscribe for free, you get access now to about a third of the stuff, and with paid subscriptions, which are basically five bucks a month or $50 a year, you have full access to everything, including the archives. So, if that's what you're into, then subscribe away.

Darin Hayes:
Well, excellent job as always, Tim, and if folks, make sure you take advantage of what Tim's saying because there is really a plethora of information on football history. We get to talk a little bit about it, you know, each week, but Tim has so much more in there. I think, what did you say? Do you have over a thousand articles in there right now?

Timothy Brown:
Not quite a thousand, but it's getting close.

Darin Hayes:
Yeah, wow. That's uh, you know, four digits there, guys. That's, uh, that's some good stuff to look at football history from different angles. So Tim, we really appreciate you coming on, and we would love to talk to you about more great football history next week. Thank you

Timothy Brown:
Pretty good; look forward to it. Thanks, Darin.

-Frequently Asked Questions

-Who was the first player to wear a football helmet? We have your answer in our in-depth study ofthe first to wear a helmet.

-What is the history of each college team and their helmet designs? Check out many of them with our series College Football helmet history of schools.

-How come some teams have player numbers on their helmets? We asked this question too and had a college football expert historian help divulge helmet numbers history.

-Why do some teams like Michigan and Delaware look so odd and similar? It's really uncanny isn't it that the Wolverines and Blue Hens look the same, check this out for a reason History-of-the-Winged-Helmets">when helmets had wings.

-What do stickers on college football helmets mean? Some of them look really crazy but there is some goos reason for the extra adornments and we have the scoop Why all the stickers on some football helmets?.

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For decades, player numbers on football helmets were as iconic as the sport itself. However, their use has steadily declined in recent years. Let's delve into the history of this practice and the few remaining teams that cling to it.

Football Archaeology's Timothy Brown joins us in telling the history of the headgear emblem and its importance in football history. Tim's original Tidbit article with great images can be found at The Rise and Fall of Helmet Numbers.

You Can also find the podcast version of the discussion

In the early days of football, jerseys did not have numbers on them. Numbers were introduced to help fans and media identify players on the field. In the 1950s, with the invention of television, conferences required teams to put numbers on jerseys or helmets to better identify viewers. Since then, helmet numbers have become less important because TV screens have increased, and logos have become more popular.

From Humble Beginnings to Widespread Adoptio

While seemingly a simple design element, helmet numbers in American football play a surprisingly multifaceted role. From aiding player identification to fostering team unity and even impacting strategy, these numerals hold significance beyond mere decoration.

Helmet numbers' most basic function is clearly identifying players on the field. With multiple players wearing similar uniforms, these numbers allow coaches, referees, and spectators to distinguish between teammates and opponents. This is crucial for officiating calls, play recognition, and overall game flow.

Love the helmet designs and evolution wait till you check out the College Football helmet history of schools.

The early days of football helmets offered little protection, let alone space for numbers. As helmets evolved in the 1930s and 40s, teams experimented with various methods of putting numbers on the outside. By the 1950s, displaying player numbers on helmets' backs became common. It provided better visibility for referees and fans, aiding in player identification.

The Rise and Fall of a Tradition

Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, player numbers on helmets remained a staple. However, several factors contributed to their decline.

In conclusion, helmet numbers in American football transcend mere decoration. They serve vital functions in player identification, fostering team spirit, and even influencing strategic decisions. As the game continues to evolve, the role of helmet numbers might expand further, offering new avenues for player expression and strategic innovation.

Here is the transcription of our conversation on helmet numbers:

Darin Hayes
Welcome once again to the Pigpen, your portal to positive football history, and welcome to Tuesday. It's footballarchaeology.com's Timothy P. Brown day, and Tim has another one of his great tidbits. He was going to reveal some interesting history that maybe we don't remember or just have been forgotten. Tim, Welcome back to The Pigpen.

Timothy Brown
Yeah, thanks, Darin. This is a story about when somebody's number was up, right?

Darin Hayes
And somebody's number is up indeed. And up at the highest point, it can be worn, I would guess, because you titled this article a few not too long ago, The Rise and Fall of the Helmet Numbers, which is an interesting piece of history. So yeah, would you tell us a little bit about that story?

Timothy Brown
Yeah. So we've talked about this, you know, in the past about the elements of football that were there for the fan, as opposed to the players on the field or the coaches. And so the numbers that are on the backs and then later on fronts of jerseys were there for the fans, not because the players or the coaches wanted them, they were opposed to them in many cases. Still, they were for fans in the stands to figure out who is who and be able to attract, you know, who was Red Grange or whomever, right? So, similar changes were made when they were for the fans in the stands. Later, when the TV came along, they, you know, made one of the changes to use white jerseys for the road team in football, and then the home team would wear dark jerseys. Now, that wasn't so much for the players in the stand or the fans and the stands because they could tell a red jersey from a blue jersey. But they couldn't tell the difference on black and white television and small screens of the day. So that was the rationale for going to the road white and home dark jerseys. The other thing that happened at about that same time was that the NFL passed the Road Jersey rule in 1954; the NCAA didn't adopt it until 1983, after everybody did it. Really, yeah, that's just one of those, you know, just like they didn't, they didn't require face masks till 1993 or something like that. It was just one of those things everybody did, so they didn't need a rule until they finally put it in. But back in the mid-50s, from 53 to 54, the National Photographers Association represented photographers, and presumably, they were involved with TV cameramen and you folks like that. They requested schools and then conferences. They wanted them to put more numbers on uniforms to make it easier to identify who was who. So, you know, anybody who's actually watching this on YouTube, my background has a team from a 1910 era playing, and nobody's wearing jerseys or no one's wearing numbers, so it's hard to tell who's who. But even in the early 50s, you know, depending on how somebody is standing or getting tackled, you might not see the front or back of their jerseys well enough to see their numbers. And so they said, can you put more numbers on the jerseys and so or at least on uniforms? So in 1950, in 1955, Georgia Tech was the first team I identified with TV numbers on their uniform. What they did was they put numbers on the shoulder pads. On both shoulder pads, they've got numbers. A week later, West Virginia opened its season, and the team had numbers on its helmets. And so other teams put numbers on sleeves. But, you know, basically, what happened is, almost every conference required teams to put numbers, ideally on their helmets, but they would grandfather you, if you have had numbers on your shoulder pads or your sleeves, then you wouldn't have to put them on, on your helmet. And so from, you know, say 56 is when the conferences started implementing those rules from 56 till like the mid-sixties, if you look at photographs from those years, almost everybody has numbers, the side of their helmets, college teams and some of the proteins too, you, know that the old, uh, San Diego Chargers, AFL at the time, but they've got numbers and the lightning bolt on their helmets. So that, you know, that kind of thing was, was not an, you know, was fairly common.

Darin Hayes
It was shocking with that lightning bolt.

Timothy Brown
Ah, yes. Yes. That was pretty good. Only two dads could appreciate that joke. Yes, so I got a charge out of it. But so anyways, everybody starts putting these numbers on and but at this, you know, in the late 40s, you know, he had the Los Angeles Rams, you know, they painted the horns on their helmets, and so there was a slow shift to logos as you know rather than numbers and the helmets and so if you look at you, look college yearbooks or you know whatever during the 1960s, you start seeing more and more teams putting logos on their helmets. Another thing that happened in that area was that Wisconsin did it; I don't know what Vanderbilt did, but there are a couple of others. But in the 1960 time frame, several teams had logos, or they had numbers on the sides of their helmets, and then they would have the letter of the school, like Wisconsin W, Vanderbilt, had a V, seat on the front of the helmet, which was dumb looking, you know, it's a terrible look. You know? I mean, some people think it is cool, but I just think, yeah, kind of pig ugly. So, for a long time, it was like, why did they put these things on the front of their helmet? Well, because they had numbers on the sides. Right? Anyway, by the '60s, more and more teams were switching over to logos. And so a few, Alabama, put the numbers on the year before Bear got there. But then they've kept them all along. So for them, that's kind of a, you see that color, and you see the numbers on the side of the helmet, it's like, well, that's Bama,

Darin Hayes
right?

Timothy Brown
So it shouldn't be identifiable because they're more or less, you know, at least one of the few that does it, then it's tied to them. So anyway, it was kind of an interesting deal. Yeah.

Darin Hayes
Go ahead. If you had another point. Yeah,

Timothy Brown
I was just going to say, you know, that it wasn't logos, but I also think TV screens got bigger, so fans at home could see numbers better on slightly bigger screens. And so they just kind of like, we just don't need that anymore.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, now we can count nose hairs to identify the players.

Timothy Brown
Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, have you ever thought about this? And I don't know why I think about this, but you know, especially in what seems like the 1970s, A lot of the college and pros teams had probably an inch and a half or one-inch high number on the back of their helmets. If they had a stripe down the middle, it'd be a number you; the number one digit would be on each side of the stripe. The only thing I can think of is maybe to identify the player if their helmets are on a sideline. Hey, I'm 22. I'll grab my helmet because it doesn't help anything for TV or during the game or anything like that. But that's the only thing I can think of. Do you have any other thoughts on that?

Timothy Brown
Well, sometimes there are shots from, and if there's a pile or even like in a huddle situation, you would see the numbers at the back of their helmet. So, yeah, it's not uncommon. You know the Giants, you wouldn't have the number on the front of their helmets. But it is the same situation as you described on either side of the middle or the center stripe. But, and I meant to say this early on, but originally, there were numbers, like in the 30s, see this fairly often, see numbers on people's helmets, on the back, but they don't correspond to their jersey number. So, they appear to just have been like an inventory number that the equipment manager would paint down there so that he'd make sure that you got 27 back from, you know, whoever wore that helmet. But then it also, I'm sure, part of the rationale is that it helps people identify their helmets, but I mean, I always knew which helmet was mine. And I think everybody else did. There's just something about whatever the scars were or your face mask. You know you just,

Darin Hayes
You kind of recognize your nasty mouthpiece stuck in it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I don't want to pick up his helmet. I want that. Yeah. Very, very interesting. Again, you know another little aspect of football that we sometimes overlook, and we see Alabama play multiple times yearly. It's, you know, they're a popular draw to have on our televisions, but you never really think about, you know, why those numbers are on,. They did it, and they're cool because it is cool watching TV, and most of the time we had that sideline view And to know who number 17 is, you know, he's like quarterback especially the Alabama I think what they were like swapping quarterbacks a couple of years ago like one series would be one quarterback I think when Jalen hurts was there they did that, ya know and Uh, uh, Tua got hurt. They were bringing them in and out, you know, from each other. So, at least you knew who was taking the snap. Yeah.

Timothy Brown
And Bryant, when he was coaching, he was one of the guys; there weren't many teams that would do this, but if they played, say, Mississippi State, because their helmets at the time were they also had a maroon helmet. But when they played Mississippi State, Alabama would wear white helmets with the numbers on the side because he wanted the differentiation, especially for, you know, pass receivers. So I mean the original reason for painting helmets was to be able to identify I pass the receivers downfield. I mean, that happened in 1906, but. So, you know, back in the day, you'd see helmets were painted like the back of the helmet would be one color, the front of the helmet would be another. And it would only be the eligible receivers who had that. So anyway, there's some history behind Alabama's helmets, even if they look kind of plain. I mean, they've done, you know, they have done a little bit of their own thing.

Darin Hayes
They look quite lively compared to Penn State's helmets. But they're iconic—both helmets are iconic—and you can't picture that team wearing something else, you with any colors or logos on it. So yeah, very interesting.

Timothy Brown
I'm going to challenge Penn State. I'm going to tell them I'll donate half a billion dollars to them if they put logos on their helmets, and we'll see what they say.

Darin Hayes
Oh, I'm sure you'd put your football archaeology .com emblem on there if you want to. You donated that much to him, I am sure.

Timothy Brown
But I don't think you have to worry.

Darin Hayes
about that.

Timothy Brown
It just is it's a pittance.

Darin Hayes
Very interesting, Tim. I appreciate you sharing these little pieces of football history, these little nuggets, or tidbits, as you call them. And you have these on your website. You have almost a thousand of them, I believe you said. Maybe you could tell the listeners how they can share and take in some of this football history.

Timothy Brown
Yeah, just go to the website, football archaeology.com, and or Google it, and you'll find you find it. You can subscribe. You just submit your email. You subscribe for free. That gives you access to about a third of the content. Paid the subscription is five bucks a month or 50 bucks a year, and then that gives you access to everything that I publish, and I'll send you a copy of, you know, One of my books, and you get access to all the car archives and all that kind of stuff So, you're not just kind to the that's the deal. Whenever I publish a new story, I publish it or post it on threads and Twitter. So, if that works for you, then follow me on those.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, folks, it's a great deal. Like Tim said, if you subscribe, you even get a copy of one of his books, which is an excellent read to get some more information. So I highly recommend it, and I recommend you check with us each Tuesday because we get the benefit of having this gentleman join us to talk about some interesting football history. So Tim, we thank you for that, and we will talk to you again next Tuesday.

Timothy Brown
I thank you, sir. I look forward to it

-Frequently Asked Questions

-Who was the first player to wear a football helmet? We have your answer in our in-depth study ofthe first to wear a helmet.

-Why do some teams like Michigan and Delaware look so odd and similar? It's really uncanny isn't it that the Wolverines and Blue Hens look the same, check this out for a reason History-of-the-Winged-Helmets">when helmets had wings.

-What do stickers on college football helmets mean? Some of them look really crazy but there is some goos reason for the extra adornments and we have the scoop Why all the stickers on some football helmets?.

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The Wisconsin Badgers football program boasts a rich history and a passionate fanbase. A key element of this identity is the iconic logo, a bold red "W" with a white border. But unlike some teams with logos steeped in lore, the Badgers' visual representation has a surprisingly concise history, reflecting a focus on tradition and simplicity.

Early Days: A Time of Transition (1890s-1940s)

The early years of Wisconsin football (1890s-1940s) lacked a singular, official logo. Teams often used generic designs or variations of the university seal for branding purposes. Live badgers, the program's mascot since 1893, even made occasional appearances at games, proving to be a bit too "spirited" for long-term viability.

The Rise of the 'W' (1940s): A Symbol Emerges[b]

The need for a cohesive visual identity grew in the 1940s with the rise of college football merchandising. In 1940, artist Art Evans designed the now-iconic "W" logo, featuring a bold cardinal red letter with a clean white border. This simple yet powerful design mirrored the "Block W" logo adopted by the university around the same time. The "W" resonated with fans and players alike, offering a clear and recognizable symbol for the Badgers brand.

[b]A Commitment to Consistency (1940s-Present): The Power of Simplicity

The brilliance of the Wisconsin Badgers logo lies in its enduring simplicity. Unlike other programs that have undergone frequent logo revisions, Wisconsin has remained committed to this singular design. This consistency has allowed the logo to become a timeless symbol, instantly recognizable and synonymous with the program's rich tradition.

Beyond the Logo: A Badger's Spirit[b]

The Wisconsin Badgers logo embodies the fighting spirit of the program, the unwavering dedication of its players and coaches, and the passionate loyalty of its fanbase. It's a symbol that unites generations of Badgers under a shared identity, a source of pride that resonates throughout Camp Randall Stadium on game days.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Logo PNG The 17 varsity teams representing the Georgia Institute of Technology play under the name of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and share the same logo. Meaning and history 1964 We will start the story of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets logo from the one introduced in 1964. You could see — 1000logos.net

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The Georgia Tech logo, like the Yellow Jackets themselves, has undergone a fascinating evolution, mirroring the institute's history and embracing its unique identity. Here's a quick journey through its transformation:


[b]Early Buzz (1888-1961):

-In the early days, Georgia Tech needed a formal logo. Teams often donned an "A.A." (for Atlanta Athletic Association, precursor to Georgia Tech) or represented with yellow and white colors.

-The iconic "Techie Buzz," a mischievous bumblebee mascot, emerged around 1906, buzzing onto team sweaters and becoming a playful symbol of the institute's engineering spirit.


Golden Tornadoes and the Heisman Touch (1920s-1960s):

-During the 1920s and 30s, the "Golden Tornadoes" logo, featuring a swirling yellow tornado, appeared on football helmets and letterman jackets, adding a touch of dynamism.

-Under legendary coach John Heisman (yes, that Heisman!), the "H" for Heisman emerged as a popular logo variation, briefly adorning helmets alongside the Techie Buzz.


Enter the Tech Tower (1961-Present):

-In 1961, a new era dawned with the iconic Tech Tower logo. The stark silhouette of the institute's landmark building, symbolizing technological prowess and academic pride, replaced the Techie Buzz as the primary emblem.

-The Tech Tower logo underwent subtle evolutions over the years, adopting bolder lines and modern typography while retaining its core identity.


Beyond the Tower:

-Today, the Tech Tower logo represents Georgia Tech across various applications, from athletic uniforms to academic documents. It has become synonymous with the institute's spirit, recognized not just within Tech's community but also across the wider college football landscape.

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Welcome to today's interview with Chris Willis, a seasoned sports historian and the author of the compelling new book, "The NFL's 60 Minute Men." This book delves deep into the remarkable stories of those unsung heroes who have played every minute of every game in the NFL, showcasing their resilience, endurance, and pivotal roles in shaping the outcomes of matches. Chris Willis, known for his meticulous research and passion for football history, takes us on a journey through decades of NFL seasons, uncovering the grit and determination of these players who embody the essence of football's toughness and commitment. Join us as we explore the inspiration behind "The NFL's 60 Minute Men" and gain insights into the fascinating world of NFL history from the perspective of its most dedicated warriors.

You can order a copy of Chris Willis' The NFL's 60 Minute Men book at the Publisher McFarland.com website or on Amazon The NFL's 60-Minute Men.

-Chris Willis 60 Minute Men Interview Transcript

Darin Hayes
Hello, my football friends. This is Darin Hayes of pigskindispatch.com. Welcome once again to the Pigpen, your portal to positive football history. And welcome to another edition where we get to talk to an author about a great book on pro football history. And this is going back all the way to the beginning of the NFL and talking about some of these great early players. We have Chris Willis of NFL Films joining us, who's been on more than a few times to talk about some of his books. He's putting out a book quite a bit, and we're really enjoying him. Chris, welcome back to the Pigpen.

Chris Willis
It's awesome to be here, Darin, especially to be able to talk about these early players. So, thanks for having me.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, certainly. Now, the title of Chris's latest book is The NFL's 60 Minutemen: All-time Greats of the Two-way Player Era 1920 to 1945. Chris, that's a big topic. And these are some guys that maybe our modern ears aren't used to hearing their names. Maybe we've heard one or two of them because there are some big names in there. But there are many guys in there that most folks have not heard. What was your inspiration for writing a book like this?

Chris Willis
Uh, that's a good question. Um, I think the first sort of momentum was in 2019 when the NFL celebrated its 100th season, you know, they had the all-time team, which I was a part of the, of the voting. Uh, and then I did some rankings for the pPro Football Journal John Turney's site. And so I had some feeling of who, you know, who some of the best players were, the most significant players. Um, but I felt all the time that they don't get as much recognition as, you know, some of them sort of modern players. I mean, um, even, even if you're a casual fan, you might know who Joe's name is, Jim Brown, you know, uh, you know, let alone the paintings and the Tom Brady's like, there is a certain generation that you still might know. And then really the early years, it might be just, you know, Jim Thorpe and Red Grange, and that's it like, well, now anyway, here's 25 years of history, especially the first, you know, two and a half decades of great play by many more players than, uh, just a handful of names that some people know. So, uh, so I think when you combine, you know, that a couple of years ago, you know, with trying to promote and trying to get these players names, maybe out there a little bit more, that's what was the inspiration of, of putting the book together.

Darin Hayes
And it's a great timeline that you choose, you know, ending at 1945, which, you know, we've talked about with other guests, and I believe a premium talk with you about it before because it's sort of that World War Two era sort of broke that the single platoon system because there was a lot more talent out there. There was, you know, some they're having some trouble having some guys play, you know, having players during the war and everything. So I changed into that. What we know today is that we have specialists, offense, defense, and special teams. And of a single platoon. That's why the title, I assume, is 60 Minute Men.

Chris Willis
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's like the first 25 years in the NFL, you know, from 20 to 45. And that was a real key point for me, you know, was, I wanted to evaluate these players, who, they knew all the players played both ways, they played 60 minutes, you know, so some of the first questions I get when I say, Oh, this is the book title, and they think, Oh, so Chuck Bennerik, well, Chuck Bennerik, although it's a great feat, was the last to go 60 minutes, you know, but he did not play against players, you know, consistently going 60 minutes, you know, so, so some of those players that were sort of near the war years, or at the end of the World War Two, you know, I just cut it off there, just to say, Okay, I know all these players all went 60 minutes, you know, they played offense, defense, special teams. And so that's where that sort of 25-year era, you know, to me, is the two-way era in the NFL.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, sort of the layout of the book; I mean, you have it really interesting. You talk about, you know, you rank the players and you have a top 45 where you go into some great detail on tell some stories. You have a lot of excerpts of players that were contemporary that played against and with some of these guys that really had some great insight to them, so you can't get much better than that. And then you have a list that takes it up to 100 after that, like the 46 through 100. So why don't you maybe tell us how you determined the ranking and who to put on the list?

Chris Willis
Yeah, so the first goal I said came out was, well, what year am I starting with? What year am I ending with? So we found that 1929 to 45. So I was a first. And then it was, you know, roughly eight, I think it was like eight or nine, you know, sort of criteria is that, that I would look into, they all played a part, none of them was weighed higher than any other. So it was, you know, all-time teams. And it was a big thing, you know, where I was trying to find as many all-time teams from players and coaches and executives and sports from that era, you know, so because then that tells me who they thought was the best. And you take that into consideration, like, you know, you know, did the coach coach him or did the player play, you know, a lot, a lot of guys are going to pick their teammates and buddies. But when you start seeing names of opponents, you know, that gave you a little bit more sense of who people might have thought was great. So you had oral histories, you had win and loss records, you had championships, you know, other honors, you know, whether it's all pro teams, whether they were on, you know, a ring of honor or teams Hall of Fame, you know, so all those criteria were meshed into one evaluation, you know, so and I sort of went through that and to say, Okay, you know, who has the best resumes, you know, and then I started ranking them that way, you know, so it wasn't just like, Oh, you know, you had to be in the Hall of Fame. No, I believe I have almost a dozen players who aren't in the Hall of Fame in that 45. And then some of, you know, like, if I say, Oh, who's number 100? Well, Jim Thorpe is number 100. And you people might say, well, you're crazy, Chris. Well, you know, Thorpe's best years were before the NFL was founded. 1920 was really his only productive year, and you can maybe say 21 a little bit. But his ooh rang Indians years, and you know, the one game with the New York Giants and in the car, like, he was not an elite player at that time. Now, it was 1915. Yes, you know, and leading up. But so people might be surprised, well, Jim Thorpe 100. And who's in the top 50. So, but that was like the, you know, fun part of it, which is just, okay, let's evaluate everybody. Like I said, if I could have written 100 full bios, but then it would have been like, you know, six 700 pages, I don't know. Besides us, you know, who would maybe want to read a 700-page book about 100 of two-way players, but McFarland was great, the publisher, and you know, be able to do 45 full, you know, bios and to be able to talk, and I wanted it to be more not like a Wikipedia page. That's why I wanted to write a little bit of fuller bios. Because it's just one of like, oh, that's, I can get that off Wikipedia or pro football reference. Now I wanted it to be a little more detail. And oral histories and testimonials was a huge part of it. That was one of my first goals to try to find players talking about another player; you know, I can write what I think makes, you know, Red Grange grade or Mel Hine or Don Hudson. But I wanted to hear it from other players, coaches, executives, you know, owners, sports writers who, you know, okay, this is what made, you know, you know, Dutch Clark grade, this is what made, you know, Patty Driscoll grade. And it came from them instead of me just reverberating, maybe what I think, or what's in Wikipedia, Wikipedia or your profile bar reference, you know, because I think it could be misleading stats, some of the scoring, like you had to dig deep in it, you know, and say, okay, I think one perfect example was 1929 with Ernie Nevers. And Ernie Nevers is great. You know, he's up there, pretty high. And, but his 29 years included the game where he scored six touchdowns, he scored 40 points, and you're like, oh, wow, you know, the guy scored 12 touchdowns. Well, the majority of those touchdowns came against the three worst teams in the NFL, you know, you know, the six against the Bears, then there was like three against Dayton, three against Brooklyn, you know, so like, nine of his 12 came against like some of the worst teams, where the other the better teams sort of shut him out. So you got to take it, you know, like I said, you got to, you know, dig a little deep to maybe find, okay, what actually happened where now, we can watch it, we go online, you got tons of stats, you know, and all the time, and you can know that, okay, this guy has had a great year, you know, so, so that did make the fun part of it.

Darin Hayes
Yeah. I mean, I'm, I've loved some, some of the comments that you said on the players, uh, the contemporaries that were playing against them, some of the best ones were the linemen, linemen against linemen, and just some of, you know, Hey, this was the toughest son of a gun I had to go up against in my years of football. And just, you know, just some of the comments like that, that, you know, using some of the, the, the chat of the day. Cause I assume these are probably like some of these interviews are probably like in the fifties and sixties when these guys were, you know, out of football, but, uh, you know, still seasoned and, uh, you know, talk, still talking and reminiscing. So I thought that was, that was great, but I, I love the consistency of your format on those first 45. And maybe you could explain to the listeners and viewers about that, what they can enjoy when they get a copy of the book.

Chris Willis
Yeah, like I mentioned, you know, you're following your criteria, so you want to touch on all that. And I mentioned before, like, oral histories and testimonials were a big key of finding, you know, like I said, as much as they're great players, sometimes I found, you know, some player who played for like two years, three years, you know, which was the norm, you know, average playing was three years, who did talk about, you know, some of these other guys, you know, or some of they only play three years, well, they might have played, you know, four games against, you know, you know, some of these great players, and they can give you a testimonial. Yeah, he was, he was that good. So, and footage is another thing, you know, like, I try to find as much game footage and game film. And because that's, like you said, the linemen, it was a running game, it was a lineman game, you know, you know, so you wanted to see a little bit more of some of those guys that are just popping up on all pro teams, or you just assume is in the Hall of Fame, like, oh, you know, and the perfect example is, I mean, his name's been bounced around. It's Ox Emerson, like, there's, you know, there's a little bit of footage of him, you watch him, well, he was really good, you know, and, and that's why he made all those all pros. And, and you look at him, he's like, well, why isn't he in the Hall of Fame? You know, because he's, he's got all the check marks on his resume, you know, whether it's, you know, played for a championship team, you know, they finished high and rushing for four or five straight years, you know, you know, that Dutch Clark and good personnel, and all these backs that made all pro, well, somebody had to block for him, you know, so, so he gets lost a little bit. But when you look at these things, and you look at the, especially the linemen versus linemen, like, well, there's a reason why, you know, Bronco Nagurski had him on his all-time team, Red Grange had him on, it was like, he must be a little better than that, if, if Red and Bronco are saying, you know, if I had to field a team, I'm going to take Ox Amherst as one of my guards. So, so that's part of, you know, the explanation, you know, the chapters and the, like I said, the bios being flashed. And then, you know, there's, there's some good stories, you know, some of them have been heard if you but some of them haven't been so I tried to find, you know, some stuff that also made it, you know, enjoyable to read and then like, okay, well, I didn't, that's a great story of the 20s and 30s and playing 60 minutes, you know, so that was that's the title of the book. So I wanted to get that impression of these guys playing both ways. Some of them said, Oh, I love playing offense better than defense. Some of them just said, Oh, I just love the hit. So, you know, stuff like that. So it was enjoyable to try to find that type of research.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, the consistency of each of those first 45, you sort of have the reader, you know, me as a reader, you sort of have me dip my toes in the water a little bit, have those basic bios, you know, the name, rank and serial number, where they played, went to college, things like that, basic bios that you would see on some of the reference pages like you talked about. But then you take us down, and you get into the text, and we're the story and the, you know, the testimonials about that player and everything. So I thought it was well done and consistent. And it was great to, you know, it was sort of, there's stories to it, but it's a reference book, in some ways too, or you could throw on your coffee table and somebody comes to visit and they have 10 minutes to kill, they can, you know, knock out one of these legends and read it or, you know, a dentist office or something like that. You know, it's great for that too, or to sit down and have a long read. So I think that was kind of incredible. And you have a book like that, that you can go both ways like that. So well, well done on that. Now, now, okay, you talked, you led to a little bit, you had, you know, about a dozen non-Hall of Famers on that list, which I thought was fantastic because there's, you know, it's very well publicized that, you know, folks want to see some more seniors getting into the pro football Hall of Fame. And maybe this is some avenues, you know, by, by folks like you, telling about some of these guys and letting us know about these legends. So maybe if you could talk maybe about a couple of these guys that are not in the Hall of Fame, I know you've already mentioned one or two.

Chris Willis
Yeah, I mean, and I didn't plan it that way. Like I said, once you start reading and doing the research, you're like, okay, because there were some impressions. Okay, I like him, but is he going to make the list? And then I'm like, Oh, you know what, you know, maybe he makes a not only does he make the list, he's up pretty high, you know. So Ox Emerson is one of the I think the ones that I really enjoy when I do the research is Bern Llewellyn, the Packers half back, you know, who was pretty much the go-to guy for the Packers teams that won three straight championships 29, 30, and 31. I mean, here's a guy that the team won three straight, you know, only Lombardi's Packers have won three straight NFL championships. And he's not in the whole thing. You know, I went back, and I did some retro MVPs that are in the front of the book, which is my research as you go through, and I picked who would be in the top five MVP, and Llewellyn would have won back-to-back, and 29 and 30. So, to me, he's like a no-brainer. You know, I've always liked his resume, and you know, like I said, he's very high on this list. You know, I won't reveal where he's at, but he is very high. And he's a head of a lot, a lot of Hall of Famers that are already, you know, like I said, have been elected, and he's not, you know, it's an Emerson's, you know, up there pretty good. And, and then you, yeah, then you get to some guys that you hopefully, you know, as I said, we talked about Lineman's earlier, like, you know, Joe copcha of the Bears, another guard of George Christensen, that lions are another lions alignment during that time when they won a championship and a tackle. And so those guys are tougher to, to evaluate because you don't have and like I said, some of the testimonials, you know, I mean, there's nobody living that can really push, you know, some candidacy, candidacy. And so, but it was very interesting, you know, like I said, you know, and then, as you mentioned before, I have 46 to 100. And there's Hall of Famers on there, you know, I list them and I make sure, hey, these are Hall of Famers. And so you can take it, you can take a look and say, okay, the guys that are ranked in the top 45, you know, maybe, maybe they need to be looked at a little bit harder. Or, you know, like I said, investigate a little bit more, based on, you know, because I find it hard to believe that the NFL or at least a probable Hall of Fame in the selection committee, like they're done with anybody who played almost like since 1950, you know, like, there's so everybody that was great, that's that is now in the Hall of Fame, you know, who played the first, you know, 40 years of the league, like, that, that would be a surprise to say that they're all in there, let's move on to this, the more modern era, you know, so, so hopefully, like I said, these chapters can bring some of these players to life and give them that, maybe proper attention.

Darin Hayes
Yeah. Well, before I ask it my next question, why don't we give the opportunity here to tell folks again, the name of the book and where they can get a copy of it at? Yeah, it's.

Chris Willis
60 Minute Men was published by McFarland just this past March, and you could pick it up on Amazon or Barnes& Noble's website. You can also go to McFarland and Company. They play some football, but they play a lot of baseball. You know, if you're a sports fan or historian, you might know of McFarland because they do a lot of unique titles. So yeah so 60 Minute Men in the era of the two-way play era from 1920 -1945.

Darin Hayes
Alright, great. Now, folks, I highly recommend it to it's a great read. Now, well, Chris, when you're doing the research, okay, I'm sure, you know, as a writer, I know that sometimes we have some preconceptions, we're gonna write a story, but then you get into the research, and the story sort of takes you a different course maybe than you really thought it was going to go. And I'm sure you probably had some surprises with some of these players. Who is somebody that pleasantly surprised you? That was maybe somebody you knew a little bit about, but you didn't realize how good they were till you got into the research.

Chris Willis
Yeah, I mean, I mean, I've mentioned Llewellyn. He's one that, you know, over the years, like, as I do more research, I've been impressed with, you know, how good he was and how great he was. So, you know, I think the, maybe the other guy that comes to mind is a couple of quarterbacks that might get overlooked a little bit, because they're the way they perform is a little different function than now is red done, the old pack, you know, play for the Cardinals and Packers, and Ed Denowski, you know, the old Giants quarterback. So, I think I didn't; once I started digging a little bit more, I was more impressed by what they did, and especially their leadership. You know, Dunn was a pretty efficient passer and Lambo system. In those early years, you know, he did a little better than I thought. And Ed Danowski, I think was underrated. I think Danowski, when I more I looked at, especially in the passing game was, was highly efficient, you know, led the league, I believe, a couple of times in, in passing percentage and, you know, was a member of Giants championship teams, especially the sneaker game, you know, played very well in that game and the upset against the Bears. So, those are two names, I think, besides Llewelyn, I think, that sort of jump out a little bit more and were a little more impressive than I thought.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, that Danosky; I'm glad you mentioned him because he's probably one that really jumped out for me. You know, I knew of him, but I'm sorry, good boy. What's interesting is Danosky where you have him. And I started reading. I'm like, well, you know what, you make a pretty good case for him. And he's maybe a lot better than what I realized he was. So I learned a lot about him. So I appreciate you have him having him in there. So, okay, sort of maybe on the flip side, who is somebody, maybe you had to go in some high expectations saying, oh, this guy's going to be way up on the list. And maybe, you know, not because of his play, but because some of the plays, some of these other fellows that, you know, advanced beyond him on the list, who maybe some of those things.

Chris Willis
Yeah, I think, yeah, there was a couple of guys where I'm thinking, maybe, you know, I mean, George house is one, I think, people automate, but he wore like ten different hats. So, besides being a player, he did actually play, and he was solid; I wouldn't say he was spectacular. And obviously, he's in the Hall of Fame for, you know, the variety of things he did for the league, you know, and his impact, you know, so, so sometimes you see him, he's like, Oh, you know, I mean, I mentioned Thorpe being at 100. But how should I go? Should he have been higher or lower than the other couple guys, you know, that sort of came in that mid-30-year, you know, that I thought would be, you know, a little bit higher Joe Guyon, because he plays his professional career in the 20s, you know, so he's in the Hall of Fame, he was in, like the third or fourth class, you know, but maybe not quite as dominant, you know, as some of the ones in the top, you know, 45, you know, so, so there's a couple of players like that. I think the other one, they were not as it's Joe Stade higher, he, you know, when you look at him, like, you know, I mean, Alice praises him a lot, but that was one of his guys, you know, he did have some all pro teams. But maybe not just like that, in my opinion, but there were some examples like that, where, you know, you thought you might have them higher, but you know, didn't quite make it.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, I think, and I don't disagree with you on it. You know, after reading what you had about these players ahead of them, I thought like, you know, George Wildcat was Wilson, somebody that famous, maybe more famous because, you know, his college play and playing out, you know, in the original AFL and, you know, the Wildcats and everything. But, you know, some of the other backs are ahead of him. But I don't disagree with you after I read it. And I'm thinking, OK, you know, he's probably right. You know, it's just maybe the name makes me think higher of them because, you know, it's been pounded into you for four years. But maybe some of those other guys, too, are the same way that you mentioned. So, you know, so great, great job. And I, you know, I can't argue with the rankings, and it's it's fun because they're debatable, and we're not going to debate with you on it. But it's one of those things that makes it interesting. That's what makes good reading, and people buy the book, too. So that's that's always a good thing, too. So we'll save that for people in forums, comments, and other stuff like that. They can do that. Sure.

Chris Willis
And that's part of it. If people discuss it, that's fine. It means they're reading the book and they're putting some energy in it. And if they want to say, hey, why is this guy high on his list and not high? So that's fine. That gives a good discussion. That's always productive.

Darin Hayes
Yeah. Now, did you have, did you go back and look at any ratio of, uh, were there more quarterbacks and other players? I mean, I didn't really go into the tally, but I just sit here thinking about her. Was there, is there one position that was more predominant to make this to 45?

Chris Willis
Uh, I mean, I don't think there was one of four dominant. I mean, I think it played out, um, the way it did, um, with the importance of the positions, you know, I, I, you know, uh, like there wasn't quite as many centers, obviously, because there's only one on a team and they start, you know, where you have two guards too. So I think if you look at the breakdown, they're kind of consistent with what the positions were or the importance of each position, you know, so, um, you know. Obviously, the guys who touched the ball are going to, you know, are going to be somewhat, but I, I didn't want just to go off that, you know, so that's why there is a decent amount of guards and tackles on, on the team. Um, so, uh, so I, I always thought that it was, it was a good breakdown. I just didn't overload it and like, Oh, wait, I only got like two guards and three tackles. Like, no, it didn't come to that. I think, you know, if I did, you know, my proper research, I thought it came out that way, you know, you look at it, and you're like, okay, you know, there's some, some, some guards and some tack because they were just as prominent as the backs, even though the backs probably got more of the headlines, you know, um, you know, I mean, the Cal Hobbs and the, the Turk Edwards and them of the world, you know, the Mike Mitchell, they're up there and they're up there pretty high. And you're like, okay, you know, because that's why, you know, a lot of people that are saying how great they were, you know, um, so that's, you know, I thought it came out, but there wasn't one like, Oh, uh, you know, it was all, it was going to be a bunch of quarterbacks, and you know, that wasn't going to be the case.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, I'm glad you said that because I got the feeling of it, you know, reading it. You know if I was gonna put it, you know, these guys played both ways. So they played offense and defense, but if you're gonna put it in a modern term of, you know, the rooms, you know, I think there was probably just as many interior linemen as there were ends as there were You know backs as there were quarterback So I think you broke it very well and evenly and distributed them around it wasn't you know The the top 10 weren't quarterbacks and then half backs I loved how the placement of these guys and probably fairly so and even some teammates You know going on and I loved how you sort of interconnected some of those you had You know when you had like Fats Henry and Link Lyman in there You know no pun intended, but there's sent sort of link together, and you know to be in those bookends for the Canton teams, and you know They play together over on Potsville too. I can't remember if they did or not, But I know I know FASTA. they're just some interesting things that you did that connected the stories, Even though they were separate stories. So that was enjoyable, too.

Chris Willis
Yeah, I mean, as many teams that came in and out of the league, especially in the 20s, a lot of the greatness was on certain, obviously, teams and franchises, you know, the Bears, Packers, Giants have a lot of, but then you'd have like, like we mentioned Ernie Nevers, well, he played for, you know, Duluth and then the Cardinals, you know, some guys, you know, might have only played, you know, for, you know, and Sean played for a lot of years with Staten Island before we went to the Giants. So, you know, yes, the, you know, the, the main teams that survived and the teams that won championship obviously are well representative. And there's a lot of links, as you mentioned, a lot of links between those teams and, you know, you know, guys like Cal Harper to play for the Giants and the Packers, and he won championship both. So, you know, the, he's going to play with really good players too. So then they're representative in the list.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, most definitely. No, I guess, Chris, you have you have any last things to say, maybe the share with the listeners to encourage them to buy the book and we'll let you tell you where the book you can get the book again.

Chris Willis
Sure. Uh, yeah, no, I mean, I think if you, uh, if you love early pro football, you know, this is a book that you'll be interested in, you know, like I said, the chapters flow pretty easy. You can, like, like you mentioned, stop, put it down. If you want to, you know, read just one chapter a night, then, you know, you can, uh, you can do it pretty easy. And, and, you know, these chapters kind of sit by themselves, so to speak. And, uh, and then the other thing for me is, uh, I mean, you know, the internet and social media is huge on who they think deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. And a lot of it is modern guys, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I would hate for this era of players and even talking into the fifties and even early sixties, I hate for some of these players to get lost just because, you know, nobody's around to talk about them, you know, or when they're not living, uh, or there's just something coming, you know, you can't watch footage on YouTube or whatever, like, you know, these players are still great, you know, they can be, it shouldn't be ignored. So I think between some of that, you know, the book has, you know, can give a reader, you know, a very, you know, fun read as well as educational. I'm just like, you know, this is a good source.

Cause like I said, it's not just reading the Wikipedia page or just reading a stat page, you know, puts it in a lot of context of the era, you know, who, what players thought who was great, you know, how they became great. I mean, I love some of the Don Hudson, you know, stuff about, you know, how he made himself just a great receiver, whether, you know, practice, he would catch though, you know, when I read that, or when I did the research and read the Hudson, it just almost looks like it's a Jerry Rice story. Like, you know, that he did in the eighties and nineties. Well, that's, you know, Hudson did it in the thirties and early, you know, or forties, you know, like the way he practiced, the way he played, you know, the way he worked, you know, shoulder pads that weren't all that, but you know, like, you know, to give him more speed and things like that. Like, you know, he was a legit athlete and played some solid defense too. And then eventually, he played some thought into it when he, you know, found the correct position. So, if you go, yeah, so if you go on the McFarland website, publishers, the book will be there, and then you can also get it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Darin Hayes
Yeah, folks, I highly recommend it. And if you want to know who that top spot is, the best way to do it is to get that book and, uh, enjoy it just like I did. And, uh, you know, Chris probably did it during his research, and people read it. So Chris, we really appreciate you coming on. I appreciate you preserving football history and writing that book. And, uh, thank you for your time to tell us about it.

Chris Willis
Thanks for having me again, Darin. It's always a pleasure to talk about early football history. So thanks for having me.

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In the leather-helmeted days of yore, football jerseys were a canvas of clean lines and bold colors, proudly displaying a team's name or city across the chest. This is the untold story of how logos, once relegated to the shadows, muscled their way onto the gridiron, forever changing the face of the beautiful game. We'll delve into the fierce competition between sportswear giants, the cultural shift that embraced branding, and the trailblazing teams who dared to be different. Buckle up, football fans, as we explore the fascinating origin story of the logos that existed on jerseys before players' numbers did.

Timothy P Brown takes us on his research of football jerseys with embarrassment and who did it first. From Furman to Lafayette and points in between, we learn about uniform decor transformation.

-Transcribed Conversation with Timothy Brown Jerseys with Emblems

Hello, my football friends. This is Darin. He's at pigskindispatch.com. Welcome once again to The Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history.

Welcome to Tuesday and a research journey to footballarchaeology.com and Timothy P. Brown. Tim, welcome back to The Pig Pen. Darren, thank you.

Looking forward to chatting, as always. It should be. This is, I think, actually a pretty fun one. Not that others aren't.

But, you know, this one's just particularly fun. Yeah, this is this is a neat one because we get to talk about uniform adornment. Your tidbit back in the middle of May was titled Football Jerseys with Emblems.

So this is a fascinating spectacle of football that we love colors and seeing teams with great designs on their uniforms. So this may be the start of it. Yeah.

You know, well, the weird thing is I was looking at a. Yeah, I was running through some social media that I happened to see a guy wearing a jersey from the 90s, and it may have been an arena team; it could have been, you know, whatever, some off league. But anyway, they had a big dog on the jersey, and the number was smaller. But anyway, I hadn't seen anything like that for quite some time.

So this one is about, like, you know, if you think about it. Um. You know, hockey, especially, you know, they've got jerseys on their sweaters, right? They're not jerseys.

They've got emblems on the sweaters, the red wings. You know, I live in the Detroit area. They got the wheel and the wing.

Right. And everybody else has some kind of a, even if it's just a wordmark or the Blackhawks, whomever, you know, they've got they got a big emblem. And even baseball has some.

Basketball has a pretty good number of emblems. You know, a lot of times it's just, you know, the wordmark or something like that. But it's not unusual.

Like San Francisco's, you know, Golden State has had, you know, their the Golden Gate Bridge and things like that on their jerseys. But football doesn't typically have not had that. So, you know, I was trying to figure out, OK, when they had them and, you know, kind of why and, you know, why don't they anymore, those kinds of things? And so, you know, football had.

So, you know, in the beginning, a lot of times football teams wore jerseys with the like the main letter, like why, if you were playing for Yale or an H, if you played for Harvard or they'd have smaller, you know, the smaller combination of letters like Slippery Rock Normal School might have S.R. and S. You know, so I mean, there's if you look at old time pictures, you see even on like the canvas jackets and the canvas vest, you see those kinds of initials. But oftentimes, they were just plain. And even when, you know, the first numbers were worn on the backs of jerseys in 1905.

And it took a long time, took a couple of decades, really, for teams to start wearing numbers on the front of their jerseys. So in the meantime, you end up having, you know, you had the onset in mid-teens. You had the onset of, you know, stickum cloth or friction strips.

I mean, there are different names for it. But, you know, if you think about, you know, almost any picture of red grains, you see, you know, vertical stripes on his jersey. And he probably has stripes on the inside of his arms.

And that was kind of treated leather that, you know, the belief was that it held running backs, in particular, you know, hold on to the ball. And when those first came out, a lot of times, you're just big ovals or even squares on the front of the jerseys. But they, you know, they had a functional use, but then people kind of got fancy with them, and they started creating designs, and they started putting them on the linemen, too, who sometimes carried the ball.

But, you know, for the most part, did not. And became quite a laundering nightmare, I'm sure, after the game, trying to clean up. Yeah, I don't know how the heck they did it sometimes, you know.

Probably didn't wash them is probably what they did. Yeah. Well, in fact, then they didn't, you know, I mean, hardly anybody wore white.

But here and there, you know, there were teams that did. But how they got that stuff clean, I don't know. But so then, you know, they kind of started having taken some artistic license.

And so often it was like teams that were like their main letter, their name, their school started with what I'll just call a straight a straight letter, meaning a K and an L, a Y. So it's just a series of straight lines. And then they'd incorporate that letter into the friction strip pattern, you know, and so there are some of them that are actually pretty cool looking. But, they still weren't like emblems in the way that's like hockey, you know, a sweater might have.

But then the earliest one I found was Furman in 1925 had a bullseye on there. You know, I think it had three rings in it. So folks, you have to see go to the show notes and go to the link of Tim's story on this on the tidbit.

And you'll see this great image of the Furman team from 1925 that he's describing. You'll see exactly what he talks about. These uniforms are really great.

I'm looking at it right now. It's looks like a certain red department store would be very pleased with these jerseys that make a commercial out of this. Although it was purple and white.

So. Oh, OK. And actually, somehow, they got ahold of one of those things.

So their their archives has one of those original jerseys. You know, really cool looking. So now why Furman had a target on their jerseys? I don't know, but.

Maybe it will help the quarterback with the forward pass downfield. Well, all the linemen had it, too. The next one I found was Bucknell, which is actually kind of interesting. It was like Bucknell in 1930.

They've got they've got a small number up kind of on the chest on the front of their jersey and then down basically on the belly. There are two Bucknell is the bison. And so there are two buffalos or bisons kind of charging at each other.

You know, kind of across the belly. And so, you know, they've got both the emblem and the number. And then, kind of the weirdest one, I think, is probably 1932 Lafayette.

So, it's the same general neighborhood as Bucknell. It's, you know, there are goofballs from Pennsylvania. And so, you know, they're named after the Marquis de Lafayette.

And so they have this kind of looks like the outline of George Washington on a court, right? You know that profile. But it's it's an image, or it's a profile of the Marquis, and it's sitting there on the jersey. It's like it's fine enough.

You know, there are little inset lines where his nose or his ears are, whatever they are. And there's no way anybody in the stands can see that stuff. You know, even in a small stadium.

So it's it's kind of it's so finely done that it kind of just didn't make any sense, frankly. But anyways, it's just this great image. And it's like, who the heck decided to put that baby on the jersey? Yeah, you have two different images.

You have like a full team picture of the Lafayette team. You know, all the members are sitting in bleachers. It's kind of far away.

And you can you can see it's maybe somebody's head looks almost like, you know, the front of a dime, you know, that kind of image. But then you have a picture of five players a little bit closer, and you can see, you know, the marquee there. So it's very, very detailed for an emblem on the front of a jersey.

Yeah. Yeah. A hundred years ago.

Yeah. You know, you know, I mean, presumably, it's a black-and-white image. So I assume it's all just a white or a gray or something, you know, logo.

So you're like the Blackhawks. You know, there's multiple colors. And so at least it helps, you know, kind of differentiate the features in a face.

But anyway, this is one of those things that, you know, I mean, football at that time, you know, football didn't require numbers on the jerseys on the front of the jerseys until 1937. And it was like in 41, where they started numbering by position. You know, guards are wearing this number, and tackles are wearing that.

But, you know, so I mean, these preceded those rules. Right. So it's one of those like, OK, well, why didn't football have more emblems? You know, they could, they could have.

Right. Right. And other sports did.

But football, for whatever reason, didn't go the emblem route. And, you know, ultimately, the space got taken over by numbers. Well, perhaps it was this 1932 Lafayette jersey that just did them in.

We've got to stop this. We've got to stop the madness. That's a reasonable assumption to make.

However, is it 1932? Isn't it that same era where you have claims to the ugliest uniforms in football history? Yes. The 30s, 30s are the 30s in general. And kind of the longer you got it, the further you got into the decade, the worse it got.

So so maybe Lafayette was not so bad compared to their their peers at the time. Yeah, I'd have to see the back of their pants. Make a judgment because in the 30s, you saw those stripes up the back of the pants that are absolutely hideous.

Of course, the poor guy's head is trapped in between two friction strips. You know, if those are walls, he's not going to have a very good view of anything looking off that jersey. Well, very interesting, Tim.

This is something I've never really thought about with the emblems being on hockey and, you know, so prevalent and why they aren't in football. I never really thought of it. But you really pointed out something else, the obvious that probably many of us overlook and gave us a history on it.

And we really appreciate that. And you do this a lot. You have these little oddities that, you know, we we probably should know and just don't think about.

But you do it on a daily basis. And it's really fascinating. I think the listeners would love to enjoy some of these and your tidbits each and every day.

So please share with us how we can share in learning this. Sure. Real simple.

Go out to my website, FootballArcheology.com. Any story that's out there gives you an opportunity to subscribe at the end. And if you haven't been there before, I think it kind of forces you to at least say yes or no to subscribing. But anyway, if you subscribe, you'll get an email every day at seven o'clock Eastern that has that day's story.

Typically, a one or two-minute read with a couple of pictures. Alternatively, you can follow me on Twitter at Football Archeology. And, you know, then it becomes more hit or miss because of the way Twitter is working nowadays.

Who sees what is a total mystery? All right. Well, Tim, we thank you very much for sharing your time and knowledge and information with us on a daily basis.

And we thank you for joining us each Tuesday to talk about some of these. And we hope to talk to you again next Tuesday. Yeah, I'll see you a week from now.

Thanks.

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.

Love the football jersey designs and evolution wait till you check out the History of American Football Jersey.

-Football Jersey Frequently Asked Questions

-What are American football jerseys made of? Modern jerseys are a mix of synthetic fibers such as polyester or a blend of different materials such asspandex, for more check out our in-depth study ofThe Make up and Materials of Football Jerseys.

-When did football jerseys start having numbers on them? Though there was documented talk of it since 1894, players did not all wear digits in a game until the 1905 Iowa State at Drake game, check this out more on this storyThe Origins Of Football Player Numbers.

-Whose college football jersey was the first to be retired? Red Grange's Number 77 Ilinois Illini jersey was the first college uni to be shelved in 1925. There were a couple more about the same time and we chatted with a college football expert historian help divulge College Football and its First Retired Jerseys.

-Who are some of the most famous NFL players at each jersey number? From Red Grange's jersey number 77 to Tom Brady's iconic number 12, a slew of NFL players made their digits proud. Want to know more? You are in the right place as we covered all 100 jersey numbers and the best to wear each:About Football By Numbers.

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The UCLA Bruins, a powerhouse in Pac-12 football, boast a rich history and a recognizable logo that has undergone subtle yet significant changes over the years. This essay delves into the evolution of the UCLA football logo, exploring how it has reflected the changing aesthetics and identity of the team.

The Early Years (1920s-1940s): Birth of the Bruin

The UCLA Bruins adopted their mascot in 1929, replacing the previous "Golden Cubs" moniker. The first logo, designed in the same year, featured a simple cartoon bruin with a determined expression, charging forward. This logo, reminiscent of early sports mascots, lacked the detail and refinement seen in later iterations.

The Mid-Century Modern Era (1950s-1960s): Refining the Image

The 1950s ushered in a period of modernization for the UCLA logo. The bruin's form became more athletic and streamlined, with a dynamic running pose. The linework became sharper, reflecting the mid-century modern design aesthetic. This logo remained in use with minor variations for several decades, solidifying itself as a recognizable symbol of UCLA football.

The Bruin Takes Center Stage (1970s-1990s): A Focus on the Mascot

The 1970s and 1980s saw a shift in focus towards the mascot itself. The logo became more minimalist, featuring a close-up of the bruin's head with a fierce expression. The blue and gold color scheme, synonymous with UCLA, became more prominent. This era's logo aimed for a more intimidating and powerful image, reflecting the team's growing competitive spirit.

The Modern Era (2000s-Present): Maintaining Tradition with a Touch of Style

The current UCLA Bruins logo, introduced in 2002, maintains the essence of the previous iterations while incorporating modern design elements. The overall shape became slightly more rounded, and the bruin's face is presented at a three-quarter view. The color scheme remains consistent, but the lines are more refined, giving the logo a sleeker and more contemporary look.

Beyond the Logo: A Symbol of Excellence

The evolution of the UCLA Bruins logo reflects the program's journey. From a simple cartoon to a refined and powerful image, the logo has mirrored the team's rise to national prominence. More importantly, it embodies the core values of UCLA football – determination, athleticism, and a fighting spirit.

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The Kentucky Wildcats football uniform, like the team itself, is a story of evolution, tradition, and a dash of Southern swagger. While the iconic blue and white remain constant, the details have danced across decades, reflecting changing trends and team identities.


Early Days (1892-1930s):

-The early years saw a hodgepodge of styles, from simple white jerseys with blue lettering to striped socks and even leather helmets.

-The "Wildcat" nickname emerged in 1920, but wasn't officially incorporated into the uniform until later.


Golden Era (1940s-1960s):

-Coach Bear Bryant ushered in an era of dominance and uniform consistency.

-The now-classic white jersey with blue trim and block "Kentucky" lettering became the norm.

-Blue pants with white stripes completed the iconic "home" look.

-This era also saw the birth of the "Runaway Rupp" logo, adding a playful touch to helmets and later, shoulder pads.


Experimentation and Evolution (1970s-1990s):

-The 70s brought a flurry of changes, including yellow numbers, striped sleeves, and even an all-blue alternate uniform.

-The "K" helmet logo returned in the 80s, accompanied by a return to the classic white-and-blue look.

-The 90s saw the introduction of the "scratching cat" logo, later replaced by the more ferocious "leaping cat" in 1999.


Modern Era (2000s-Present):

-This millennium has seen a focus on refining the classic elements.

-Blue pants now feature a single white stripe, creating a cleaner look.

-Alternate uniforms occasionally emerge, with variations on blue and white themes.

-However, the core identity – the clean white jersey and blue pants – remains unchanged, a symbol of Kentucky football's enduring legacy.

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Which NFL division boasts the most Lombardi trophies? We reveal the champions of the Super Bowl stage and dive into the fierce rivalries that forged this dynasty. From legendary quarterbacks to unforgettable playoff battles, this video explores the rich history and dominance of the division that's consistently sent teams to the big game.

Who are the reigning kings of the Super Bowl? Tune in to find out! Check out the video above for the results.