UConn Huskies (1966-67)

This week, we’re going to look at some one-year wonders: Schools that unveiled a new uniform one year, only to ditch it the next year for something different. And no school in our little project had more one-year styles than the UConn Huskies, with the possible exception of Columbia.

Today, we’ll check out UConn’s unis from 1966 and ’67, John Toner’s first two years as Husky coach. After using a bizarre helmet in 1965 that was white on one side and blue on the other, UConn, in its first year under Toner, went to blank helmets and a new jersey, with the shoulders set off in contrasting colors. This pic is from the 1967 Nutmeg yearbook: 

Some subtle changes were made as the season went on. When the Huskies opened the season at Yale, the helmets had one stripe and the pants had two stripes. By the third game of the season (at UMass), the pant stripes were reduced to one. Two weeks later (at Temple), the helmet sprouted two more stripes.

And for the finale at Holy Cross, UConn wore its 1963-64 road jersey with blue shoulder stripes. Why, I have no idea. Perhaps it was a thicker, cold-weather jersey? UConn also wore it at least once in ’67. All told, the Huskies wore seven uniform styles over nine games.

Thanks to the Nutmeg, the Temple Templar and the Holy Cross Purple Patcher, I  found photos from all nine of UConn’s 1966 games, which is pretty remarkable. There are probably plenty of games from this era lost to history in terms of photographic evidence.

So it’s a pretty sharp look, right? Don’t get used to it. In ’67, the Huskies overhauled their unis again:

The jersey numbers reverted to a curved style used in 1964-65, the contrasting shoulders were ditched and a funky “UC” was added to the helmet. Here’s a pic from the ’68 Nutmeg:

And again, this lasted one year before another Toner (or whoever) ordered yet another overhaul. In ’68, UConn hit the field in a style similar to this, but without the sleeve numbers. What’s most bizarre (at least to these eyes) is that the shade of blue changed from navy to royal blue, and stayed that way until a return to navy in 1989.

Speaking go which, here is a fascinating article on UConn and its color conundrum. 

Next time, we’ll check out a couple one-year wonders from the UNH Wildcats.