Good Thursday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a safe and pleasant day. Are you ready for some football???
I’m joined this morning by UW Stalwart Jimmy Corcoran, our resdent WFL expert, whose deep and often personal knowledge of professional football uniforms from the mid-1970s is almost second to none. Jimmy approached me with his idea for a look back at a few uniforms which made their debut in this era, and which were replaced just one season later. Of course, nowadays teams can’t change uniforms until five years have passed, but back then teams had individual uniform contracts with different suppliers rather than a league-wide uniform deal as is now the case. It wasn’t until 2001 that Reebok got the first leaguewide NFL clothing contract.
So, without any restrictions on how many years a uniform had to be worn, and of course no retail market to speak of, teams could dump or alter a uniform after one season, and amazingly, between 1973 and 1977 six teams wore “One Year Wonder” or “One and Done” uniforms.
I’ll turn it over to Jimmy now who’ll take us the rest of the way.
by Jimmy Corcoran
Now there is a five-year rule when a team wants to change uniforms, but back in the ’70s teams changed them any time they felt like it. Sometimes it was the logo, something on the jersey, the pants or even the socks. But for some reason, a uniform that they were happy with only twelve months earlier, after one season they felt it had to be changed. Today we are going to take a look at some of these one-hit wonders. I am not counting teams that wore a patch on their uniforms for an anniversary or even the Dallas Cowboys in 1976 with the one red stripe.
I know there are some Uni Watch readers out there that actually saw these teams play in the ’70s. Please tell us what you remember about the one-year styles! OK let’s get started…
Dallas Cowboys 1974-75
During the 1970’s, the Cowboys made small adjustments to their uniforms, but in 1974 they had a one-year style uni. This was the first year that they wore the heat pressed numbers on their jerseys and it appears in 1975 they moved the shoulder numbers higher up and closer to the collar, but you can always tell 1974 by the socks. Dallas always wore blue socks with two white stripes on them in the ’70s, but in 1974 they wore a solid blue sock with a white tube sock over it that had two thin blue stripes. I prefer the 1975 version.
The Chargers went with a new uniform in 1973. I got to see them in person that year, but they wore the white jerseys that looked great. I thought the blue jerseys would have looked better with a white number. They went with an all-new uniform in 1974. These jerseys were made by Sand Knit, but no longer had the wide gap between the numbers 10-19. I got to see these uniforms too in 1977 and I liked them better than the 1973 version.
The Broncos changed their socks several times in the 70’s. 1975 was a one-year style that I always liked as a kid. I thought the white socks with stripes that matched the sleeve stripes on the white jerseys looked great. In 1976 they changed their socks again, and wore this blue style for two seasons including their Super Bowl year of 1977.
The Bucs wore these white uniforms for only one year but changed them because the numbers were hard to see on TV. In addition, they also got rid of the white socks after the 1976 season. I always preferred that uniform because it reminded me of the Southern California Sun of the WFL. Speaking of the Sun, that is Sun RB Anthony Davis in the 1977 photo.
People either loved of hated this one-year style logo. It is referred to as their “Disco” logo or their “Studio 54” logo these days. The helmet looked like a WFL helmet to me. I think the New York Stars would have looked great with this on their helmet but to me it never fit the personality of the NY Giants. I thought the word “GIANTS” that they used the next year was much more serious looking and fit the team better.
The Eagles went with an entire new uniform for the 1974 season. They finally gave up on the white helmets that people liked, but they did nothing but lose in them. There was something on the ’74 uniforms that only made it that season, the socks: a green tube sock with two white stripes. In 1975 they switched to a new sock that added grey, and they wore this style for the rest of the time they wore these uniforms. I think that was a big improvement that finished the uniform.
This was a very cool look back! It’s unthinkable today with leaguewide uni contracts and the whole merchandise racket, but not all that long ago changing a uniform after one year not only was possible, but happened often in the mid-1970s.
How about you readers — do you have a favorite “one and done” uni (in any sport)? Baseball had several teams with one year wonders (and not all were met with fan approval — like the 1956 Cardinals, who removed their iconic “birds on bat” logo for a script “Cardinals” — fan backlash forced the birds on bat back on the chest the next year … or the 1960 Tigers, who also foolishly removed their own iconic Old English “D” logo for a script “Tigers” wordmark — needless to say that lasted only one season before the “D” returned in 1961). What is the worst “one year wonder” you can think of?
The floor is yours…
Great overview of the changes from one season to the next. I have always loved long tube socks with three stripes so the 1975 Eagles socks were a real improvement. As for my Giants: I never hated the Disco NY. I have always found the GIANTS on the helmet very clunky and I am happy they have been wearing the current NY logo for quite some time now. Finally, the Chargers (as well as the Cardinals and the Dolphins) are the only NFL team(s) who should always wear white helmets with any jersey they wear. So the 1975 switch to blue in San Diego is best forgotten.
The 1974 Chargers uniform was only a three-year style, they then switched to white tube socks with two blue stripes, the Kellen Winslow era,
Much prefer the 76 Bucs with the orange numbers and red trim. And those Eagles 75 socks are magnificent. Crazy what an extra color, even grey, can do! — Fun article, Jimmy!
Thank you, Floorwalker, yes, it’s funny how big of a change the socks can make on a uniform.
Also the green on the 74 Eagles helmets were shiny then went solid in 75. This might be nitpicky but the Steelers altered their jersey numbers in the mid 70s. They started fat and “sharp” (for lack of a better term) through 74. In 75 they shrunk. In 76 got even smaller. Then went back to a normal size in 77 through the rest of the 70s until basically 97.
The difference in number sizes happened to a lot of teams, though, not just the Steelers. I think a lot of it involved teams switching uni suppliers from one season to the next and standards not exactly being “standard” in the way we think of them now. I remember seeing a photo of Joe Namath on the Rams in 1977 and his “12” covered up basically his entire torso, like literally from the collar V to just above his pants. Two years later they’re in the Super Bowl with Vince Ferragamo, whose “15” fits almost entirely on the upper half of his jersey.
The Chiefs and Broncos had undersized numbers when they switched from durene to mesh in the 1970’s. Those mesh jerseys were by Russell.
The smaller numbers on the Chiefs and Broncos jerseys were really pronounced on the front. The Cardinals also seemed to have small numbers on the front, not sure if their jersey manufacturer was the same as the Chiefs and Broncos.
I always thought the 1974 Eagles had a shiny different color green than the rest of the years, but I didn’t say anything about that because I was told by a helmet expert it wasn’t. I never noticed a difference in the Steelers numbers, but I will look next time I watch old films.
Look at pics of Joe Greene or Jack Lambert. Or anyone with a 5. You’ll notice the difference.
Ok, so the Birds switched to a shiny green helmet in ‘74, which became “solid” in ‘75.
My question: Did the helmet color survive the ‘85 uniform redesign? I say it did – meaning it was darker than the Braman-era ‘Kelly’ green tops…while the current throwbacks inaccurately color-matched the helmet.
I don’t know the answer, I was told they started out painting the helmets then moved to impregnated colors from Riddell.
To put it another way – the current throwback is made less accurate since (aside from the less than silvery pants) the Eagles matched the helmet color to the jersey color…that was never the case with the original set.
You missed the 1975 Saints, who wore white jerseys and white pants together that season. They introduced black pants with the white jerseys in ’76, and then did not wear white pants again until the late 2010s.
I remember that but it wasn’t something that stood out to me as a kid, these are the ones I still remembered.
Loved the first generation Saints “Superdome move” uniforms, even with the White Jerseys/White pants.
I always thought of it as the “Baylor” Look – Gold helmets/White Pants, where almost all Gold Helmet teams wore Gold Pants. When the Saints updated their look for the move into the Superdome, it was a very clean, modern look. The Black pants came in with Hank Stram’s hiring in 1976. I always thought Stram was attempting to mimic the Chiefs’ Red Pants over White jerseys look.
A detail NOBODY might remember, when the Saints introduced the new “Superdome move” unforms, the local newspaper in the infancy of color newsprint photos did a huge front page photo with the new black jersey/white pants uniform modeled by starting Saints RB Jess Phillips (who was traded to the Raiders not long after).
The Newspaper photo was misprinted on thousands of copies of that issue, with everything Black on the Saints new uniforms appearing as Green. The Green and Old Gold misprint actually did not look bad, looked pretty good.
I suggested it to the Saints GM years later as a one-off tribute to New Orleans’ Irish people.
Didn’t Happen.
GTGFTU: April 20, 2012, Yankees (6) at Red Sox (2), Fenway Park
Should have kept those as their road unis, even the maroon stripes on the socks
Not possible now in the NFL, but reading this got me thinking about a more recent one-and-done uniform. Really 2 of them from the same team in consective years. 1993 and 1994 New England Patriots.
Being a Cleveland fan, I’ve always been interested in the ‘84 Browns one-and-done uni, which also included a one *game* and done version in the preseason.
Oh yes, the “Paul McDonald” uniforms, as I call them. Perhaps I should have started with “Oh no”.
Once in a while you will see one of those jerseys on ebay.
I’ve always been curious about the backstory there. Did somebody get fired? They had to order an entire roster (expanded pre-season roster no less) worth of those with the orange numbers and then they were never seen again. It’s almost as big a mystery to me as the new 49ers logo that was floated on the press conference helmet.
If it’s consistent with the Browns history of the past 50+ years, they probably promoted the guy who thought that jersey design was a good idea.
A small thing that never gets noticed, but the 1977 Jets, in their final season wearing the Namath-era unis, had super wide and large TV numbers on their sleeves. Much larger and more noticeable than any previous season. I’m surprised this has never been documented as far as I know.
Good one! the Jets wore Sand Knit durene in 1971, and switched to mesh with screened on numbers by Champion in 1972. I never noticed the large side numbers in 1977.
Thanks Jimmy
Thank you too Steve! I have to looks at 1977 highlights on YouTube to see how I missed the big side numbers.
Always preferred the 1976 Bucs and the Disco Giants helmets.
The white 1976 Bucs are one of my favorites.
The 1975 disco NY gets very little love, but I was always a fan of it. I wish they would use that one as a throwback, although I get that our fan base wants to forget about that era of losing. I think the italicized GIANTS gets wayyyy too much love, as it’s boring and seems like little thought was put into it. The lowercase “ny” is still the best design and I hope they have no plans to relegate it.
I liked the Giants helmets from the Fran Tarkenton- Norm Snead and even Craig Morton in 1974 era, with the extra-large white numbers on the front.
agree Jimmy, those large helmet numbers were special. Early on they actually had them both on the front and back of their helmets. Perhaps overkill, but still cool.
Yes, totally!
My early ’70s NFL acumen is shaky, at best. I am grateful for Jimmy’s edifying posts on the subject. I love the Giants neon “NY”, but understand efforts to make the G-men “with it and hip” are fools’ errands. I also like the first season of the Cowboys’ navy blue jerseys with the silver and white numerals. A little harder to come up with a hated one-year design; maybe I’ll go with the 1990s Patriots uniform which introduced the blue jersey.
Actually, the Cowboys navy jerseys first had a grey number outlined in white, they changed them and added blue to separate the white and grey because it was hard to see the numbers on TV.
I liked the Chargers light blue in 73 better than the royal blue of 74. The 74 team looks too much like the Rams.
The 1973 Chargers uniforms were amazing, got to see the white ones up close that year, I like the blue but there wasn’t enough contrast with a powder blue jersey and a gold number. The mesh throwbacks they wore in 1994 were amazing, they were made by Russell Athletic, and they were similar to the 1973 jerseys, they looked great with the white number.
1967 Reds changed from their vests to a traditional red pinstripe home uniform. They dropped the pinstripes for 1968.
You say you prefer the 76 Bucs unis because they reminded you of the Southern California Sun, but the 77-onward jerseys to my eyes were far more similar to the Sun’s, with their darker numbers matching an element of their helmet logo.
I hear what you are saying on that, but the 76 Bucs white uniforms (I’m going to use a 70’s term here) had a far out look to them, and I got the same feeling with the white 76 Bucs that I did with the Sun and some other WFL uniforms. Also, the white socks in 76 had an almost futuristic look compared to the standard stirrup socks most of the NFL were still wearing.
GTGFTS: May 31, 2022, Reds defeat the Red Sox 2-1 for Cincinnati’s first win at Boston’s Fenway Park since Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, Oct 22, 1975.
Nice touch that they continue to use the odd abbreviation of Cincinnati as “Cinn.” on the Green Monster scoreboard. Why not just use “Cin.”? It’s not like Pittsburgh being abbreviated “Pitt.” as the double “n” in Cincinnati is in the middle of the name. Kooky.
You forgot the ’83 Redskins who had the “tucked feather” for only one year.
You are correct, I kept it in the 70’s, my favorite decade for football and uniforms.
82
Great article Jimmy! Love your 1970s retrospective pieces. To your point about patches, Denver was one of the few teams to wear a commemorative patch that decade. The Broncos wore the Colorado Centennial (1976) patch for the final three games of the ’75 season.
Yes, there weren’t too many in the 70’s, the 1975 Hall of Fame game had the Bengals and Washington wearing the bicentennial patch that was worn in Super Bowl X. I only would have included that if it was screened onto the jersey and not a patch though.
Cheers to the work done to find the Eagles Qb in the nearly the same position in 2 different years!!
Thanks Daegan, I would have rather found a picture of Roman in his white jersey, like the 1974 picture but I couldn’t find a good one that showed the socks well.
Unfortunately as a Leicester City fan, we now get 3 one and done kits every single year. Doesn’t give kits the time to breathe or make their mark in the memory. Waited ages for Adidas, and having had them for 7 years, we’ve now already had 21 kits from them! We had a beauty of a 2nd strip last year (bringing back the black with light blue sash), but its already gone after a year, replaced by hideous designs – including an “ice white” kit. White has been the most common away kit, but now needs a marketing gimmick.
The NFL gets a lot of stick about monetising everything (and unfortunately 3 helmet shells and City Connects (H-Town/Indy nights) and snow white are here), but fair play to them for their 5 year rule and resistance to adverts. Its great that in current climate of disposable looks, one year wonders remain a rarity in the NFL.
Awesome article, Jimmy!
Surprised the ‘72 Oilers didn’t get a mention. They wore stripe-less “H-Town” (TFPIC) Blue-topped socks that season with both the white and blue pants. For ‘73, they had white socks for the blue pants which featured R/B/R striping; for the white pants they socks took on the look of the sleeve pattern found on the blue jersey.
I didn’t do the 72 Oilers because I already did a guess the game from the uniform on that and mentioned to everyone the 72 socks were a one year style.
Yes, sir…you did.
Plus ‘72 isn’t exactly “Mid 1970’s”. ; ) Duh.
But given the fondness some (including myself) have for those, I thought for sure an exception would have been made for those exceptionally great uniforms!
I’ve always liked the Eagles “endless stripes” uniforms. As if someone took notes during a uniform brainstorming session and then, when handing them to the manufacturer, didn’t specify which stripes the team chose – so they got them all!
By the Ron Jaworski era the stripes started to disappear
The Eagles should wear a version of these today, as the disappearance of sleeves would allow for the shoulder numerals and many of the stripes. Every Eagles uniform since the change away from these have been pretty pedestrian.
I have a 1960s 2 year wonder: in 1965-66, the Dallas Cowboys went from their white helmets to the silver helmets but the blue star just had a white outline around it, not the white and blue outline it had now. Also, the jerseys hsd 3 stripes on the shoulders, and they wore dark grey pants. The home white jerseys and away blue jerseys had the 3 stripe sleeves and the sleeves were long, not short. These uniforms lasted two years before the look they’ve had more or less ever since: silver helmet with blue stars outlined in blue and white, two stripes on the sleeves, lighter blue/silver pants…I wish they’d do a throwback with those 3 stripe jerseys and the white ones outline star helmets.
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