A Look At USA Basketball Olympic Uniforms Through The Years

[Editor’s Note: As part of our continuing Olympic uniforms coverage, please welcome Joshua White, who takes a deep dive into the hoops uniforms worn during many years of Olympic Games. Enjoy! — PH]

• • • • •A Look At USA Basketball Olympic Uniforms Through The Years
by Joshua White

The 1936 Berlin Olympics are best known being the games American great Jesse Owens won the 100m gold medal in front of Adolf Hitler. What’s lesser known by many is that these games are the same that debuted basketball as an Olympic sport. The manner in which these games occurred would be largely unrecognizable to present day viewers as the event was held outdoors, in the rain, and on tennis courts. Images from these events show a crowd of spectators huddled underneath umbrellas while players jumped across a muddy surface tossing around a heavy, uneven ball. Uniforms and images from these games are difficult to track down. Many of the images are misleading, showing a team with a “UP” across the chest. UP?? That can’t be right. Where’s pre-WWII Team USA and where’s their unis??

Quick impromptu history lesson. The United States did field a basketball team and sent them to compete in Berlin. However, the selection process of the team was a bit different than it is today. Half of the U.S. team was comprised of the company team from Universal Pictures (yep, that one!) after prevailing in a national tournament, earning the right to represent the country in Berlin. The other half of the team was the runner up in said tournament, another company team of oil refinery workers from Kansas. These two company teams combined to establish the very first Dream Team Team USA for the sport of basketball. The jerseys the team donned in Berlin were a simple white tank with the number on the player’s right side, a shield on the left, and a diagonal sash separating the two. A simple look, but a bold and stylish design compared to the years that would follow.

The next Olympic Games wouldn’t be held until 1948 due to a few…. non-athletic interferences around the globe. When the U.S. team reconvened in London that year, they would have home and away jerseys in white and blue (presumably). The “USA” script hadn’t come to the front of the jerseys just yet, but the numbers featured a slight futuristic block shadow style that teams still use to this day.

1952 in Helsinki was the year the USA script was introduced to the front of the jerseys. A very clean, simple “USA” above the jersey number. A simple design for a simple time. No changes needed, right?

In 1956 Team USA decided to go back to a more conservative look, removing the USA from the front of the jerseys and going with a generic, rec-league looking number in the middle of a tank top style. Maybe it was the committee’s way of trying be unassuming about the fact that the team consisted of future Hall of Famers Bill Russell and KC Jones and the closest margin of victory would be 30 points that year.

The name returned to the front of the jerseys for the 1960 games in Rome, with “U.S.A.” complete with punctuation. Away jerseys were royal blue with white numbers and lettering with a thin red trim. The shorts had a shield with red and white stripes and the Olympic rings over a blue background, in addition to a stripe with a vertical “USA”.

1964 appears to be very similar to the 1960 jerseys, albeit without the punctuation in the “USA”

1968 in Mexico City still featured a simple look with blue outlined around the edges and red lettering over white. The “USA” going down the side of the shorts was replaced with a simple red, white and blue striping pattern.

Not much change in 1972, though maybe there should have been. These games were the first time in its history that Team USA failed to take home the gold in a very controversial finish that’s been well covered.

The US bounced back in 1976 in Montreal, again taking home the gold. This year’s iteration of the jerseys switched the lettering from red to blue, and the jersey itself featured a vertical stripe down the side, matching the waistband and shorts.

1976 was also the very first year for women’s basketball in the Olympics. The US women took home the silver that year in uniforms that looked nothing like their male counterparts. The “USA” was vertical going down from the left shoulder to the chest, while the front number was all the way down in the opposite corner. This left a huge space in the center of the jersey that sponsors today would be clamoring for.

Team USA wouldn’t return to the Olympics again until 1984 in Los Angeles. They brought Michael Jordan, Cheryl Miller, and a larger stripe down the side. The women’s uniform featured a pattern within the side stripe while the men’s did not.

This was also the first time that Team USA were equipped with alternate jerseys, as they had separate white, red, and blue versions. The logo on the right shoulder is Descente, which was the first outside company to manufacture uniforms for Team USA.

1988 saw player names added to the backs of the jerseys for the first time. Other than that, the uniforms were largely the same. The Descente logo was replaced by a Nike Swoosh this time around, however.

1992. Barcelona. The Dream Team. Probably the single most familiar uniform in the history of USA basketball. This marked the debut of the USA basketball logo which covered the front of the jersey along with the Champion logo. The men and women sported identical uniforms this summer.

1996 in Atlanta saw Team USA (Or Dream Team III. Dream Team II played in the FIBA games in 94) getting bolder with uniforms. In a design definitely indicative of NBA jerseys in the 90s, the font and numbers became more stylized, even underlining the “USA” and the side stripe now had stars within. The USA Basketball logo that was extremely prominent on the 1992 jerseys now existed as a small patch on the upper right, above the “USA”.

The men and women were in blue and red, respectively, when not wearing the home whites. Another slight note is the men’s uniforms had crew necks while the women’s sported V-necks.

The jerseys went back to simplicity for the 2000 games in Sydney. White and either blue or red with a stripe down the side. A simple font again for the script and number, along with a star at the base of the red, white and blue V-neck almost creating the illusion of wearing a medal, which this year was worn by both the men and women. The men and women were in blue and red, respectively, when not wearing the home whites.

Some overall changes in 2004, though not huge ones. The script appears to be a bit bolder and there are some horizontal stripes within the side vertical stripes.

One change that did stand out was the men’s team donned red uniforms for the first time since the 1980s. They finished with a bronze medal so they haven’t tried that again since. The women’s team has won gold every Olympics wearing since they’ve started wearing red, so not a bad idea to leave it to them.

The side stripe went away in 2008. What remained was a bit of color just underneath the arm which went around to the back as sort of a diagonal stripe if viewed from the side. “USA” remained on the front, but with a star within the A for a nice, patriotic touch. The USA Basketball logo on the front was replaced with an American glad, along with the Nike swoosh on the opposite side. This also marked the first time that the script on the front and the jersey number were two different colors (unless you count the Dream Team jerseys).

With Nike at the helm, there were definitely more style changes than past years and attempts to modernize Team USA’s look. 2012 saw a very prominent S at the center, almost as if it were to symbolize Superman, along with the U and A going down each side of the center to create a pyramid shape. The jerseys also featured a thin side stripe that continued down along the shorts, getting wider towards the bottom after starting wider at the top of the jersey. The back of the jersey features the secondary color going across above the player name.

After the super jerseys, Nike decided to tone things down in 2016. A simple “USA” script on the front, no stars, prominent letters, or fancy style. The white uniforms featured a white side stripe that was nearly impossible to see, along with different color script and numbers. The blue and red jerseys had side stripes in the respective opposite colors, as well as white across the board when it came to front script and numbers. Complete with the Nike Swoosh and US flag, it was a welcome return to simplicity.

In 2020 2021, Nike seemed to be torn between modern and simple. Three different distinct jerseys were worn across the men’s and women’s teams in Tokyo. The home whites, worn by both teams per usual, featured a thin, blue vertical side stripe. The shoulders going down to the Nike Swoosh and US flag were red in the front, but it didn’t extend to the back of the jersey. The USA script was clean and uniform, matching the jersey number on all 3 iterations.

The men’s blues had very little red in the design other than the very base of the shorts. Throughout the design there were horizontal lines almost reminiscent of a television with poor reception. The vertical side stripe was also blue, making it much less prominent for in game viewing. Overall, not a bad look, but compared to the uniformity of other years it definitely looks like it stands out on its own.

Similarly can be said for the women’s jerseys in Tokyo, where pretty much the only similarity to the men’s jersey’s is the script and numbers. The collar of the jersey featured a unique wavy line along it, while the side stripe was much thicker and had stars going down. There was definitely an effort to make the men’s and women’s teams stand apart from each other. Or at least there would be if they didn’t wear the same white jerseys.

As what some have described as stealth jerseys, 2024 is the first time you’ll find a Team USA uniform where the script and numbers are the same color as the jersey itself. Using a secondary color as the outline and a tertiery color inside of the outside, there’s a slight block shadow style to make the numbers attempt to stand out. The women’s reds are probably even more difficult to see when using white as the outline. Nonetheless, 2024’s jerseys still contain some nice features such as a side stripe that has one color fading into another. And while unable to be seen from the screen when watching games, just above the tag at the base of the jersey reads “Sparks of Destiny” and “Embers of Dynasty” on the men’s and women’s respectively.

In a continued effort to keep the men’s and women’s look distinct but still tied together, both teams will wear white jerseys, but the women’s will be with red shadowing whereas the men’s has blue shadowing in regards to script and numbers. When it comes to the whites, the blue and whites provide a nicer contrast than the red and whites, though both have a clean look. Very likely even cleaner with gold draped in front of it.