[Editor’s Note: Today we have a very special “DFTS” from Kary Klismet — although the bones of this piece ran last year, Kary has reworked it and there are some new images and links. The piece will run in two parts today. Be sure to check back soon for Part II. Enjoy & Happy Thanksgiving! — PH]
by Kary Klismet
Happy fall, fellow uni-watchers! We’re even deeper into my favorite season of the year than we were just three weeks ago, when we explored the best uniforms for that other holiday pillar of autumn — Halloween.
As much as I loved putting that list together, I’m even more excited to share what I’ve uncovered for this piece because Thanksgiving is the holiday I love the most on the calendar. It provides a moment to pause and reflect on our blessings, it always includes an abundance of football, and it revolves around the one activity I think of myself as an expert at – eating! But most importantly, I was born on Thanksgiving, so it’s always felt like “my” holiday. And this list (indeed, the entire series) feels like my way of giving a gift back to the comm-un-ity.
Keeping with the previous editions of Dressed for the Season, I laid out some ground rules for myself as I examined all the sports uniforms that might make our menu of visual Thanksgiving goodies. For starters, I took a holistic approach to the teams I considered. I put some weight on teams with Thanksgiving-appropriate identities, but such teams were few and far between (unlike the plethora of candidates for Halloween). But with Thanksgiving being so thoroughly associated with the autumn harvest season, I expanded my search to include teams with color schemes that reflect the imagery of fall, particularly the changing of the leaves.
As always, I gave more weight to uniforms a team wore with some frequency as opposed to specialty or one-off getups. That’s not to say that a few alternate outfits might not get a nod or two in the upcoming rankings, but all things being equal, I stuck with a team’s regular garb whenever I could (in no small part because they’re usually easier to find photos of).
When all was said and done, I came up with a group of sixteen teams for this list (the same as with the Halloween rankings), And I had to make some tough cuts to keep it from growing any larger (like me grabbing another serving of stuffing at the Thanksgiving buffet).
But we’re not here to talk about my (annual and inevitable) expanding waistline during the holidays. Let’s clear the hors-d’oeuvres and get to the main course!
We dig into this feast of Thanksgiving-themed uniforms with a triple helping of Pilgrims. Yep, we have a three-way pie – err, tie – for the fourteenth spot! The holiday is synonymous in America with Pilgrims, so we simply couldn’t have this list without a team so aptly named. The problem was, while several teams use “Pilgrims” as a mascot, there wasn’t one that separated itself so thoroughly from its peers that it earned a solo spot on this list.
I was hoping to find a team out there called the Pilgrims with just the perfect look. Unfortunately, no such team exists (except in the results of my ill-advised decision to dabble into AI image generation, which yielded some… curious creations). Instead, there were three teams that brought distinctive enough elements to their visual identities that they separated themselves from similarly named teams, but without pulling ahead of the other two.
Our first of the three are the Pilgrims of Lansing (Mich.) Christian School. They warrant mention on this list due to a logo that conveys a fairly traditional representation of the Thanksgiving Pilgrim (although the cross on the Pilgrim’s hat is perhaps a bit of an embellishment, aesthetically speaking). And their color scheme earns mixed reviews. The black is on point for their identity, and the yellow could fit in with any number of autumn-oriented combinations (as we’ll see later). But together, the combination feels less than Pilgrim-y.
Even so, Lansing Christian’s coed cross country and track teams make the medal stand by emphasizing black (always popular with the Pilgrim crowd) in their uniforms and by featuring the Pilgrim logo prominently on their jerseys. It’s almost like Myles Standish, William Bradford, and their fellow Plymouth colonists themselves are sprinting to the feast on that first Thanksgiving Day! (Sorry to drop another one of those weird AI images on you, but I couldn’t resist!)
It’s no surprise that a college in New England would choose “Pilgrims” as its team name, given the region’s history. New England College, of Henniker, New Hampshire, earned its place in this three-way tie by having a logo that comes closest to the visual archetype that most Americans associate with Pilgrims – except, that is, for the color scheme.
Pilgrim apparel in red, white, and blue? Come to think of it, it wouldn’t be the first time that Puritanism has been conflated with patriotism, so I guess I’ll allow it. And it gives us the chance to highlight these great uniforms worn by the New England College’s women’s hockey team. The big, bold pilgrim graphic on the front of their jerseys makes them feel like something you could wear on Thanksgiving and look appropriately adorned for the festivities. (Just don’t spill any cranberry sauce on those gorgeous sweaters!)
An English soccer team? On an American Thanksgiving uniform list? Didn’t the Pilgrims flee the tyranny of England for, like, religious freedom and all that? Well, yes, but because the city that launched their transatlantic journey enthusiastically celebrates their erstwhile ancestors, this team has managed to claw their way into a tie with a couple of their American counterparts.
Plymouth Argyle, of the English Football League Championship (the country’s second-tier competition behind the Premier League), have called their team the Pilgrims as far back as their founding in 1886, while their women’s side started play in 1975 as the “Plymouth Pilgrims.” They traditionally wear green kits at home, occasionally accenting them with gold, which they did to particularly nice effect during the 202-24 season.
The combination of green and gold, while perhaps not as common as the earth tones, has its place as a legitimate autumnal color scheme (just ask the Green Bay Packers). And Plymouth Argyle enhances their identity well with the Mayflower featured prominently on their crest and the coolest costumed Pilgrim mascot out there! If they’re willing to cross the pond, these Pilgrims are welcome at my Thanksgiving table any time!
Pumpkins may take top billing at Halloween, but they’re equally at home as part of Thanksgiving decor. As such, an orange-clad team that calls itself the Pumpkins simply had to be on this list, especially when taking their heartwarming story into account.
Founded in 2006, the Pumpkins are the first female youth soccer team in Namibia. They earned their nickname from the orange hand-me-down jerseys donated by a team in suburban New York. Facing an uphill battle in a culture where many considered girls’ participation in sports inappropriate, they persevered by playing boys’ and women’s clubs, gaining their opponents’ respect and establishing a place for themselves in Namibia’s sporting landscape. Their story is told in a children’s book that can still be found for purchase online.
As you make your way through this list, you’ll notice that most teams mentioned have more than one fall-oriented color incorporated into their uniforms. But the combination of one of the most celebrated fall colors, coupled with a quintessentially autumnal team name, was more than enough to propel the Pumpkins into these rankings. Besides, it gives us a chance to celebrate their courage and pioneering role in gender inclusion in African sports, and that’s something that’s worth giving thanks for!
The Maples of Seaholm High School in Michigan are another team whose color scheme includes just one color associated with fall – in this case, a deep, rich maroon. Perhaps maroon doesn’t trigger thoughts of autumn for some the way brown or orange might, but it’s not hard to find maple leaves in precisely this shade dotting the landscape during the peak of the season.
And with a maple leaf logo on their helmets that looks like it could have even been plucked from a fall wreath, Seaholm has found a look that captures the Thanksgiving spirit splendidly. Now if only they’d bring back their old maple leaf sideline mascot, it might improve my attitude about having to rake leaves this time of year.
Let’s jump from the pile of maple leaves we were just in to a pile of oak leaves – or Oak Leafs, I guess! In this case, we’re talking about the Des Moines Oak Leafs, a competitive high school-age hockey travel team celebrating their 25th anniversary this season.
The Oak Leafs use a name that can be traced back to an old minor league team that played in Iowa’s capital as far back as 1961. Their color scheme includes blue and green, perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea for Thanksgiving decorations. But I’ve seen it pulled off well before, so it’s not unprecedented.
What really stands out, though, is the gold oak leaf at the center of their logo, rendered in a shade akin to beige that looks all the world like an oak leaf one might see blanketing the ground near the State Capitol on a brisk November day. It would be a worthy companion to the maroon maple leaf we already have in our fall wreath.
Is there a color combination that evokes a feeling of fall better than burnt orange and yellow? (Well, yes, now that you mention it, seeing as how we have nine more entries to go on these ratings. But, hey, the combo’s no slouch!)
The University of Montana’s official colors are copper, gold, and silver – a tricky palette to pull off on football uniforms. That has led the Grizzlies to use maroon and silver as their “spirit colors” on sports uniforms for much of their history. But for a glorious stretch of nearly 30 years, they tried to replicate the mineral wealth of the Copper State on their football uniforms.
The Griz settled for “Texas orange” in place of copper and yellow as a substitute for metallic gold. The end result might not have confused anyone with the output of the United States Mint, but the team could have blended in well with the vibrant fall colors on campus.
Even after reverting back to their old maroon and silver colors in 1996, the autumnal awesomeness of those orange and yellow uniforms has proven popular enough to be revived as a throwback option from time to time. A crisp fall day in Missoula simply couldn’t feel more fall-like than when the Griz break out these beauties!
If red, orange, yellow, and brown are the four colors most closely associated with fall decorations, and we explored two of them (orange and yellow) in our previous entry, is there a team out there that can cover the other two (brown and red) for us? Indeed there is! And they proudly use their school’s moniker – Brown University – to proclaim allegiance to their namesake hue in all its mahogany magnificence.
Across Brown’s athletic department, the Bears’ baseball team does the best job of balancing the school’s ubiquitous shade of brown with a splash of red to round out the fall feel to their uniforms. And in the process, they remind us that Brown is always stylish this time of year.
And with that, we’ve closed out Part I of the Thanksgiving edition of “Dressed For The Season”. Stay tuned for Part II to follow shortly!
Yet another vestiary volume in the Dressed for the Season series. I hope you found my picks palatable. But if not, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Whip up your best argument for who should have been included and serve it in the comments below! And here’s wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving!
Wow, no replies? I shall break the ice then.
I love the artwork, authentic and AI, you have found for each entry. The photo of the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines is exquisite!
Even before I got into uniforms, the influence of living in the capital city of Kansas for five years from ages 6 to 11 piqued my interest in the unique character of each state Capitol. The multiple-domed Iowa statehouse has always intrigued that volume of my lifelong interests, but continuing eastbound on I-80 from the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area has never been a priority in our travels. With a granddaughter due for an early spring arrival in Omaha – and perhaps a tap into the Oak Leafs as well – maybe a side trip to Des Moines will lend itself to an extended trip to central Iowa.
Thanks, Terry! I appreciate you breaking the seal on the comment section for this portion of the Thanksgiving uniform piece! I’d like to think that most people just save their comments for part two, but it’s nice to get a little bit of feedback on each.
And thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed it! Like you, I have a fascination with state capitols. It seems like it’s not that much of a stretch for those interested in the aesthetics and details of sports uniforms to be into The aesthetics and details of something like state capitol architecture, too. I visit every state capitol I can, and it is a bucket list item for me to make it to all 50.
I do recommend a side trip to Des Moines and the state capitol there, for sure! I live in Denver, but grew up in Iowa and make it back about once a year on average. Besides the classic Renaissance revival style architecture, it has lots of tidbits of Iowa history inside of it. And it’s on a hill that offers great views of the Des Moines skyline.
Thanks again, Terry! And Happy Thanksgiving!