Illinois Football Unveils Throwback Uniform for Stadium Rededication Game vs. Michigan

Late last evening, the Illinois “Fighting Illini” unveiled a 1920s-era uniform to be worn on October 19, when the team takes on the Michigan Wolverines. The significance of that game — and date — will mark 100 years and one day after Red Grange’s historic six-touchdown performance against the Wolverines during the Memorial Stadium Dedication Game in 1924. They’ll be “rededicating” the Stadium for this game.

According to the University, “the helmets, jerseys, and pants [are] all designed to mirror the attire worn by Grange and the Fighting Illini football teams that represented the university during the early years of the program’s existence.”

Jake Rosch, Director of Football Equipment Operations, said, “The program has done some throwbacks in the past, but it was really important to be more accurate to the time the stadium opened. We kicked around some ideas, but we ultimately settled on recreating Red Grange’s uniform from 1924.”

And boy did they do a great job with that.

Let’s take a look, starting with the helmet, which is one of the best fauxback leather helmets I’ve ever seen.

That looks incredible — now, how much detail will be seen from the stands or long shots remains to be seen — but this really does have the appearance of a leather helmet.

Here’s how the school described the process for creating it:

Always stuck on the idea of modeling the appearance of a leather helmet, the Illini reached out to their vendors to find a solution, which came via Armando Villarreal, the owner of an airbrushing company in southern Nebraska, who will hand-paint each individual helmet. Villarreal is one of only two artists in the nation who specialize in airbrushing football helmets.

The process is quite complex. The helmets are first sanded down before being sprayed with a sealer. Villarreal then adds a base coat before letting the helmets dry and scuffing them up a bit to add some texture.

The helmets are next sprayed dark brown, and Villarreal uses a stencil to give the exterior a more authentic leather look. Once the helmets dry, Villarreal airbrushes the straps, stitching, and holes, all of which help replicate the look of the helmets worn by Grange and the Illini in 1924.

Villarreal completes the helmets by adding a clear coat to create a matte finish. Each of the leather-brown helmets – which are a slightly different shade from the tan color of the jersey due to the kind of leather that was used during the 1920s – takes one to two hours to complete, but Rosch knew he needed that level of attention to detail to achieve the team’s desired look.

Here’s a closeup of the back of the helmet, featuring a 100 year Memorial Stadium decal, and showing the detail of the artist.

The rest of the uniform isn’t nearly as complex as the helmet, but it’s just as beautiful.

The jersey is a navy blue, with a series of thick tannish-gold stripes running vertically down the front. These are meant to mimic the “friction strips” common to jerseys of the era. They run from the base of the front of the jersey in a pyramid pattern, extending upward to the top of the numbers. Those numbers are white with blue outlines. A 100-year patch adorns the upper right of the jersey.

The rear of the jersey is solid blue with white numbers. Jerseys are NNOB

The pants will also be a tannish-gold color, and are stripeless. The team will wear solid blue socks with the outfit.

Here’s another view of the uniform:

Normally, I’d show you the hype video at the beginning of the article, but I’ve saved it for here. You can get some very good looks at the whole uniform here, as well as a bit of history of Red Grange during his time at Illinois.

A streak of fire, a breath of flame. Eluding all who reach and clutch, a gray ghost thrown into the game.

As a program that always remembers who came before us, we will honor Red Grange and his incredible impact on football during our Memorial Stadium Rededication Game on Oct.… pic.twitter.com/FjUSjZmJ3x

— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) August 8, 2024

And here’s a particularly good video featuring Armando Villarreal, who is the artist behind the helmets. Definitely worth a few minutes of your time to watch!

Absolutely incredible.

I can’t wait for these to be worn on the field. I can’t say for sure, but I have a hunch this may just make Jimmer’s 5 & 1 (on the good side). Let’s just hope Michigan wears maize pants.

Your thoughts?