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Let’s Look at Some Cool Vintage Sports T-shirts

On Saturday I visited my favorite vintage clothing shop. I don’t usually look through their T-shirts (when it comes to vintage apparel, I’m more of a shirt/sweater/jacket guy), but this time, for whatever reason, I found myself sifting through a big table of old tees and was struck by how many interesting ones they had, so I took a bunch of photos. Let’s start with the Birmingham Stallions shirt shown above. Granted, it’s probably easy enough to find reproductions of this shirt online, but it’s still fun to see an original one.

Here’s one that might be harder to find, either new or as a repro:

For those too young to remember, the WCT was the name of the men’s pro tennis tour prior to the rise of the ATP. I always loved that logo — very, very nice.

Next: After the Flyers won the Stanley Cup in 1974 and ’75, someone created a shirt urging them to go for a third consecutive Cup. Note their weird partial team logos under the word “Stanley” (and, yes, the apostrophe catastrophe):

That shirt might have jinxed the Flyers, because they haven’t won another Cup since then. But they’ve been back to the Finals several times, including in 1985, which led to this shirt:

I found two odd Penn State shirts — one showing a logo-clad football helmet (shocking!) and one with a logo I’d never seen before:

If you attended the 1987 Final Four in New Orleans, maybe you bought one of these:

Speaking of March Madness, here’s a really specific shirt, celebrating St. Joseph’s upset victory over top-seeded DePaul in the second round of the 1981 Mideast Regionals:

I didn’t buy any of these, but they were fun to look at!

I did consider buying this shirt, but it was a little too pricey for me. Enjoyed wearing it around the shop for 15 minutes, though.

 

 
  
 
Comments (10)

    Hi Paul. I think there’s a word missing in the first paragraph – Let’s with the Birmingham Stalions shirt….

    Rooting for the Islanders in the mid to late 70’s, as they were becoming great but not yet clutch enough to seal the deal in May, there were a ton of shirts, bumper stickers, etc., emblazoned with “Lord Stanley’s Moving to Long Island.” He finally did, stayed four years, and hasn’t been back since :(

    Remember all the “Bring FOURTH the Cup!” and “Drive for FIVE” paraphernalia in 83-84?

    Those were the days…

    I had one of those 1985 Stanley Cup Finals shirts when I was a teenager. It no longer fit me so I gave it to my teenage nephew.

    My favorite shirt is the unknown Penn State logo with the lion looking around in wonder. That Final Four shirt is also remarkable: a ball blowing a trumpet on top of a riverboat.

    My favorite shirt is the unknown Penn State logo with the lion looking around in wonder. That Final Four shirt is also remarkable: a ball playing a trumpet on top of a riverboat.

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