Rhode Island Rams (1957-61)

This is one of the more complicated styles in this project, despite appearing simple on the surface.

From 1957-61, Rhode Island eschewed its traditional ram's-horn helmets and used versions with the numbers on the side, a style wildly popular in college football during that period. The jerseys and pants were consistent with what Rhody had been wearing for most of the decade, although navy pants weren't used until 1958.

Judging by photos from the Grist yearbook, the helmets appear to have been a shade or two darker than the jerseys, which gives the whole uniform kind of a minor-league look.

Rhode Island (center and right) takes on UNH in 1959 in a shot fem the 1960 Grist.
Note how the Rhody helmets are a little darker than the jerseys, which look almost white in comparison.
The player in the middle is also lacking a number, not uncommon for Rhody.

Toward the end of this design's lifestyle, Rhody did some funny things with the helmets. For 1960 only, block numbers were used on the helmets, and the curved numbers returned in '61. The striping is very inconsistent, as you can see in the uniform graphics above and below. A few players wore helmets with no numbers.

Other parts of the uniform were just as inconsistent; some players wore navy belts; others, white. It appears that navy belts were worn more frequently, so that's what I'm using here.

A nice shot of the Rhody bench, from the 1961 Grist yearbook.

In '61, sleeve numbers made their debut.

Rhody takes on UNH in 1961. From the '62 Grist.

In '62, URI made a complete overhaul, with navy as the dominant color through '66. It wasn't the last time the Rams ran on option play over the team colors.

I dunno ... maybe the mascot doubled as the team trainer?
Rhody football's always been run on a shoestring ...