Michigan Football Jersey History/Timeline. Where is it?

Submitted by othernel on

Is there any place where we have a timeline of the history of the football jerseys? Both Home and Away?

I'm trying to figure out if UM ever had the word "Michigan" on the front of the jerseys couldn't find it. I figured if there was a history site, you guys would know about it.

Germany Shultz

August 19th, 2009 at 1:49 PM ^

I've been looking for a neat, comprehensive history of M football uniforms. Haven't found it yet. The Bentley site is cool, but difficult to search. From my own common knowledge, I've never seen the word "Michigan" on the front of our uniforms. I'm also interested in the history of the helmets. There have been small tweaks -- even recently -- that many don't notice. Every few years it seems we change helmet types and it affects the wing. Some years, the "bump" on the front of the wing is larger than other years. I like the look of the late 70's early 80's helmet over the late 90's early 00's. Anyone else notice this?

Blue Bennie

August 19th, 2009 at 2:02 PM ^

Not only that, but changes in the color shades, as well as painted wings and stripes versus stuck on vinyl.

I have a helmet from a few years ago that I believe is a practice only helmet, and it has the vinyl wings and stripes.

For the main question, I don't think that the word "Michigan" ever appeared on the jersey, and I am 99% sure.

WolverineHistorian

August 19th, 2009 at 2:44 PM ^

In the 60's, the players had their numbers on the sides of their helmets. Picture of us in the 1965 Rose Bowl against Oregon State...

http://alumni.oregonstate.edu/eclips/carry/images/122002_rose_bowl.JPG

In the mid-70's, the team wore white pants to all the away games. We looked like Penn State with winged helmets.

In answer to the original question, I've looked at a ton of old UM football pics over the years dating back to the Fielding Yost days and I never remembered seeing "MICHIGAN" on any of the jersey's.

Bronco648

August 19th, 2009 at 3:31 PM ^

Didn't the two side stripes used to meet the center stripe about two inches above the back of the helmet? IIRC, this was the way they were in the '69 OSU game (that I just watched on the BTN). Now, all three stripes seem to converge at the back of the helmet.

Blue Bennie

August 19th, 2009 at 3:41 PM ^

For a uniform that never changes, it seems that there are subtle changes every year. Aside from the mentioned helmet striping and detail, we have also had both gray and black face masks, as well as "atta boy" helmet stickers.

A detailed study would be interesting.

othernel

August 19th, 2009 at 4:37 PM ^

It's probably because our changes are so subtle, that no one has thought to throw together a history of it.

I'm sure schools that change uniforms every year (couch, couch, Oregon) have prob tracked the changes better.

aenima0311

August 20th, 2009 at 12:43 AM ^

I don't mind the pride stickers, but the little footballs we had back in the day didn't look very good. They couldn't come up with something more interesting? Or something smaller?