Dartmouth Big Green (1934-40)

I previously wrote about the Dartmouth 1930s uniforms here. Well, after some further research (or as you kids like to call it these days, a "deep dive"), you can take that post and toss it into the virtual recycling bin.

When doing research, it's always fun to discover something you didn't know. It's also frustrating when you deal with conflicting evidence and you're forced to make the best judgment based on what's in front of you. Such is the case with Dartmouth under the stewardship of coach Red Blaik, who was a very good coach with the Big Green and an all-time legend at Army.

After wearing a fairly drab uniform in 1933 with dark green helmets and jerseys and brownish pants, Blaik called for an overhaul in '34, introducing brighter jerseys (which lasted only one year), shiny satin pants and striped helmets. We know the jerseys were green, but the color of the helmets and pants are a matter of dispute. Well, this Dartmouth Alumni Magazine article from '34 tells us the following (key parts highlighted):

A Boston Globe article by Mel Webb*, on the other hand, offers something different:

"Tight-fitting as the proverbial paper on the wall?" Ol' Mel should see today's unis. 

Anyway, we have disputes as to the color of the pants and the helmets. Silver and bronze are completely different things, whether in fashion or at the Olympics. 

We have a possible, clue, however, even though it's from a few years later. Here's a still image from a YouTube video of a 1938 Dartmouth-Cornell game. Actually just watch the video first, because it's pretty damn cool:

Here's a close-up of a Dartmouth player:

As you can see, the helmet clearly has a silvery top and the pants are more of a pale gold, almost tan ... maybe even gray/bronze/brown?

What I've decided to do is to make the pants bronze/gold with a silvery tint, which may explain why the Dartmouth Alumni writer called them silver. Whether this is what Dartmouth really wore in the 30s, we'll likely never know. (But hey, if anyone out there has a 1930s Dartmouth uni sitting in an old attic, I'd love to know about it!) And there's always the case I'm overthinking this whole thing. Geez, and I think it's crazy when people obsess about the jersey placement of the St. Louis Cardinals' birds-on-bat logo over the years or the color of the damn bird's beak ... who am I to judge? 😎

The Red Blaik era was an amazing time for Big Green football, with nationally ranked teams, a Heisman Trophy contender, that fifth-down game against Cornell ... and the 12th-man game against Princeton. Which means I likely haven't written the final word on this era and will have more opportunities to waffle about Dartmouth's unis.

Below are the other Big Green uniforms from the Blaik era. Numbers were added to the front in 1936, and the number of helmet stripes were reduced in '39, a look Dartmouth kept through 1954.

* Nothing to do with football, but Mel Webb later became (in)famous as the guy who allegedly left Ted Williams off his 1947 AL MVP ballot and allowed Joe DiMaggio to take the award by one point. This has been disputed, however, and some claim ol' Mel didn't even have a ballot that year.