Monday, May 22, 2017

Boston University Terriers (1958-62)





The Boston University uniform was a model of consistency from the late-1940s until 1965: white helmets, red jerseys, white pants, and that was about it. In 1958, the Terriers let their hair down and added white jerseys, helmet numbers and sleeve numbers. 

Boston University (in dark jerseys) chases down a Holy Cross ballcarrier in 1958
in a photo from The Crusader newspaper.
The 1960 Terriers. Notice how some sleeves are cut short, others
are all the way down to the wrists and others are in between.

In 1961, BU made a couple deviations from the tried and true: The helmet numbers moved to the front AND back (sorta-kinda like the New York Giants of yore) and added the school seal on the sides of many (but not all) helmets for the Boston College game, a 10-7 Eagles win.

In '62 the helmet numbers returned to the sides, and a second helmet stripe was added.

A "high flying Terrier" sports the school shield on the helmet
in a 1961 game against Boston College. Photo from the Sub Turri yearbook.

What's might be more interesting than BU's uniforms or the team (no winning record from 1958-64) is the stadium: Nickerson Field, which rose from (some of the) ashes of Braves Field after the baseball team bolted for Milwaukee in 1953. You can read more about the conversion here. Who knew Nickerson Field was named for a guy who helped in the development of the Gillette safety razor? 

The ghosts of old Braves Field is noticeable in the accompanying pictures -- you can even see the outline of the old baseball diamond, which makes me wonder if the BU baseball team played there. (Another shot can be found toward the end of this article. Photos of the 1950s renovation can be found here.)

Boston University/Nickerson Field in 1957.
Note the faint outline of the baseball diamond.

1959. The main grandstand later was torn down and replaced by dorms,
and the field was moved to face the right field stands, from where
this photo was taken. Both pics are from BU's Hub yearbook.

The team is gone, but the memories remain. More BU unis: 19971990-921988-891984-871968-701965-671963-641956-57.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Boston College Eagles (1989-90)






The Boston College uniform from 1989-90 -- the last two seasons under Jack Bicknell's tenure as coach -- is a bit of a transitional look between the Flutie-era glory days and the Tom Coughlin-era return to glory of the early-mid 90s. This uniform was worn by the sad-sack Eagles who came in between.

The sleeve numbers are bumped up to the shoulders, where they remained until the late 90s, and the stripes are replaced with the interlocking "BC" logo -- minus the eagle that usually graced the front of the logo. The mustard yellow pants from the Flutie era remained. 

A nice shot of the Boston College 1989-90 sleeve logo.
All these pics are from the Sub Turri yearbooks.
Continuing the theme of this being a transition period,
here's freshman QB Glenn Foley in 1990.
He later led BC to its famous 1993 upset of Notre Dame
and finished fifth in the '93 Heisman Trophy balloting.
And to think I always thought he was a Tom Coughlin recruit.
After Flutie's departure following the 1984 season, the program fell into a bit of a tailspin, achieving only one winning season from 1985-90. The Eagles went 2-9 and 4-7 in the transitional uniform and Bicknell was fired as coach. "I just don't look at it like it's a business," Bicknell said after his firing, according to Boston College Football Vault. "I look at it like it's a sport."

The road version of the 1989-90 uniform.
Bicknell was done at BC, but he was far from done as a coach. He coached in the World League of American Football/NFL Europe for 14 of league's 15 years, going 71-74-1 with three teams (Barcelona Dragons, Scottish Claymores and Hamburg Sea Devils). He won the 1997 World Bowl with Barcelona behind future NFL quarterback Jon Kitna.

And if you think some the uniforms on this blog are unusual, you should check out the duds Bicknell's Dragons wore. And duds they were ...

Craving some more BC unis? Look right here: 2016201520142013200720001995-961994198419821978-801968-771958-60, 19571955-561950-521939Rivalry Week (w/Holy Cross).

Remember those old "This is your brain on drugs" ads from the 1980s?
Well, Miami had its share of scandals then, and BC fans
were more than happy to rub it in. "Catholics vs. Convicts," of course,
was a label made more famous by the Notre Dame-Miami rivalry of the late 80s,
and is the subject of one of about a thousand "30 for 30" documentaries on Miami football.