Bowdoin Polar Bears (1939)

Coupla confessions before we continue our tour of historic Division III uniforms:

1) Despite growing up just two towns over from Bowdoin's Brunswick, Maine campus, I have never gone between the pines to watch the Polar Bears at Whitter Field. I did watch them play a Middlebury a few years ago. 

2) OK, this isn't really my first Bowdoin post -- a while back, I showed off a 2004 Bowdoin uniform to highlight some of college football duller uniforms. (Thankfully, those generic things have long since been ditched.)

But there's nothing dull about these dandy Bowdoin pre-war unis: Striped helmets, striped shirts and striped socks. I don't think I've ever seen a jersey pattern like this one: 1940s-syle Philadelphia Eagles mixed with shoulder stripes that didn't see widespread use until the 1950s.

The 1939 Bowdoin Polar Bears. Bowdoin's website has an amazing
team photo archive going back to 1890, which will only
encourage me to post more Bowdoin uniforms.

Two '39 Bears. This is from the school's comprehensive Special Collections and Archives
site, which will only encourage me to post more Bowdoin uniforms.

I could be wrong, but I believe this was a one-year style. I guess the rest of the world wasn't ready for these uniforms. 

The '38 Polar Bears, BTW, went 5-1-1 and shared the Maine State Series title (don't laugh, but the State Series was a HY-OOGE deal in those days). Bowdoin scored only 72 points all season, but allowed a paltry 39. Yes, college football was a different beast then.

Bowdoin plays Bates in 1939. The credit reads Portland Press Herald,
but the clipping is from the Bowdoin Orient, whose archives are all online
and will only encourage me to ... ah, you know the rest.

Up next: We'll pay a visit to one of those aforementioned State Series rivals. ... but which one?

This is the only logo I've ever wanted to hug.