The (Somewhat) Complete UConn Uniform History, Part III

The history of UConn uniforms continues! This segment takes us from the late 1960s through the end of the I-AA/FCS era. 

Part I is here, Part II is here.

1968: After years of wild designs, UConn simplifies its look with a rather plain jersey and pants. After decades of using navy blue as their primary color, the Huskies lighten it to something closer to navy blue. The helmet logo changes to a Chicago Bears-style "C" with stitches inside to simulate a football shape, a simple-but-clever logo.

1971: UConn becomes the first Yankee Conference team to wear names on the jerseys. The C-with-stitches logo moves from the helmet to the sleeves, making for a very bland helmet. Red is added as a trim color for the first time.

1973: The names are removed, while the helmet goes from white to light blue. The C-with-stitches logo returns to the helmet.

1977: The Huskies switch to a design that lasts well into the 1990s: A white helmet with a script "UConn" on each side  — the first time the school moniker appears on the helmets — and jerseys with three stripes on each sleeve. 

1982: There's nothing too different from the 1977 design, but check out the socks: There's a tiny "U C O N N" going down each side.

1984: Following a trend throughout I-AA/FCS football, the Huskies add names to the jerseys. By this time, blue facemasks appear on the helmets and the red trim disappears.

1989: UConn returns to navy blue, but the rest of the uniform remains virtually the same.  The "DEGENNARO" is for Matt Degennaro, a record-setting Husky QB of yore.

1994: Under a new coach (Skip Holtz), UConn makes its biggest overhaul since 1977. Navy blue helmets return with an italicized "UCONN" on each side. (A red outline is added in '95.) A husky logo appears on the sleeves and the pants, which come in both white and navy. UConn freely mixes and matches the shirt-pants combos over the next several seasons. Also note the Yankee Conference patch, first used in 1993 under the old design, and the disappearance of names on the back.

1998: In honor of the school's football centennial, a special patch is worn on the left sleeve. Also this season, the Huskies play their first postseason games in program history when they reach the I-AA playoffs. (During the season, UConn openly pondered a move up to I-A/FBS, so perhaps the '98 playoff run clinched the decision?) One year earlier, the Yankee Conference morphed into the Atlantic 10, and the league patch on the front reflects the move.

1999: In their final I-AA/FCS season, the Huskies change their look under new coach Randy Edsall. The taller "UConn" logo resembles the one used on the women's basketball jerseys, while drop-shadow numbers (oh-so-trendy in the late 90s) are added. Also note the alternate vertical striping on the shirts, much like what Boston College and the New England Patriots used around this time. The white pants are put on the bench for now.

Next time: The series concludes with the FBS era!

The (Somewhat) Complete UConn Uniform History, Part II

Time for Part II of the history of UConn's uniforms, a part-tribute, part-apology following the Huskies' shocking rise from 1-11 to bowl eligibility. This chapter chronicles UConn's look from the start of the Yankee Conference through 1967.

Part I can be found here.

1947: UConn continues its basic design dating to the early 1940s, with contrasting shoulder panels and three stripes on the lower sleeves.

1948: The shoulder panels disappear and the helmets go to blue from white. The Huskies flip-flop between blue and white lids over the next several years.

1949: UConn dumps leather helmets for plastic versions en route to the first of 15 Yankee Conference titles. 

1952: Gold pants debut and remain part of the Huskies' ensemble into the 1960s.

1957: Numbers appear on the helmet sides. By this time, most players are wearing facemasks and low-top shoes. The '57 Huskies won the second of five straight Yankee Conference titles.

1964: Here's when the Huskies start changing outfits like actors backstage at a play. Big, curved numbers replace the block digits and the helmets have a big "C" in a football shape. A white jersey with shoulder stripes and block numbers is worn for late-season games (heavier material for the cold weather, perhaps?). Note the blue trim on top of the low-cut socks.

1965: Ah, a true Bizarro World classic. The helmet retains the logo of '64, but is white on one side and blue on the other! The rest of the uniform remains the same from '64. I wrote about this design here. College football has seen tons of wacky uniforms in recent years, and nothing, not even from Oregon's wildest fever dreams, approaches UConn's two-toned helmet. The Huskies need to bring this back just once!

The C-in-a-football logo was used only during the two-year reign of head coach Rick Forzano (who later coached the Detroit Lions in the 1970s); coaching turnover can certainly play a role in uniform changes, as each new leader wants his own look. ... But then Forzano's successor, John "As AD, I Put UConn in the Big East and Hired Auriemma and Calhoun, You're Welcome" Toner, burned through a few styles quickly, so who knows? 

1966: Maybe in an overreaction to the wild '65 helmet, UConn switches to a plain blue lid. The helmets had one stripe early in the season, then grew to three later on. The jerseys, with block numbers and contrasting shoulder panels with TV numbers, are worn this season only. Most of the pants had one stripe, but ones with two or none have popped up in photos.

1967: Hey, how about another overhaul? Why not! The curved numbers return to the jerseys, although the striping is slightly different from 1964-65. A unique "UC" logo that resembles a pair of interlocking horseshoes is used this season only. The white late-season alternate jersey with the block numbers returns. 

The (Somewhat) Complete UConn Uniform History, Part I

Dear UConn football:

Hi, it's me again. I haven't been very kind to your program the last year or so, what with the cracks about going independent, going from the Fiesta Bowl to futility, how ESPN should do a 30-for-30 on your demise, how you should go back to FCS and reboot the Yankee Conference, blah-blah-blah. 

Well, you proved me and many other skeptics wrong. You reached bowl eligibility in your first year under Jim Mora and have the football world talking. I sincerely to apologize to you for questioning your program's direction, and I salute the Husky faithful who stuck through the team week in and week out over the years at The Rent.

I also made the following comment last year in regards to you and fellow FBS independent UMass: "If either team gets into a bowl game in the next few years, I'll be more than happy to do an "I WAS WRONG" post and blog endlessly about their uniforms for a whole month." Well, you're bowl eligible (not officially in a bowl, but good enough for me), and I was wrong. So I guess you know what that means. ...

Anyway, congrats on a great season, and hopefully this is just the beginning.

Sincerely,

Gridiron Garb

So yes, it's time to eat some Husky-flavored crow. Over the next month, I plan to do an overview of UConn's uniform history over the last century-plus. Many of these have been written about before; I'll supply linkage if that's the case. As I noted way back when, the Huskies have burned through tons of uniform designs, with some overhauls happening on a yearly basis. (Schools like Oregon, of course, make overhauls on a weekly basis.)

Part I of this series looks at the pre-Yankee Conference (1947) years. Part II will take us into the mid-60s, Part III will close out the FCS/I-AA era and Part IV will go over the FBS era. Sit back and enjoy!

1915: The earliest UConn photos have the players in a mishmash of uniforms, so I don't feel too comfortable trying to document them. By 1915, Connecticut Agricultural College appears to have worn navy jerseys (no numbers, I think) with leather helmets and brownish pants. Pretty basic for the era.

1919: I wrote about this team not too long ago and the tragic story of Gardiner Dow, for whom the old football facility was named. By the time, the jersey had sprouted Princeton-style stripes, and some, but not, all the players worse stripes on their socks.

1926: Yes, UConn really wore orange for a few years (likely 1922-28) while its other athletic teams continued to use blue. The move was done to avoid confusion when the Aggies played other blue-clad teams such as Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Trinity. By this time, the players wore numbers on the backs.

1929: By this season, blue was back in bloom. The not-yet-Huskies went all out with the stripes, even wrapping them all the way around, which made the numbers hard to read. White shoulder panels completed the look. (Fun aside: When researching this uniform in the old Nutmeg yearbooks, I discovered these jerseys were recycled by the hockey team that winter!)

1934: This was the year UConn adopted the "Huskies" nickname (or was it 1935? I've seen both), and with it came another uniform change. Judging by the few pictures I can find, it appears UConn had dishwater-gray jerseys with light blue trim, while the helmets were white with navy blue striping the style Princeton used in that era. This was also the year UConn kidnapped Rhode Island's ram mascot, giving birth to the "Ramnapping Trophy" series that continued through 1999.

1935: For whatever reason, UConn decided to return to its old jerseys, this time with a dark-colored helmet (likely blue) and tiny numbers on the front. In addition to the new nickname, the name "UConn" (or at least something similar, like "U-Conns") was being used in publications. Wonder if UConn was the first "U" school? Certainly, no one was using "UMass" or "UMaine" in 1935.  

1936: The stripes are dumped in favor of a plain jersey; again, it appears to be light gray (hey, could be tan or gold; we'll likely never know for sure). The Huskies also wore solid white socks, something you don't see much from this era. 

1937: A dark jersey is added with stripes placed at the sleeve, and striped socks return.

1942: UConn adds blue shoulder panels to the jerseys, and also rotates between white and blue helmets, a practice they returned to in the last decade. Tan pants are worn at least once. The number fonts change, but the alternate-colored shoulder panels remain for several years.

Jake Crouthamel (1938-2022)

Jake Crouthamel, 1976.

I was saddened to hear about the recent death of Jake Crouthamel, the Syracuse University athletic director from 1977-2005 who, among his other accomplishments, helped found the Big East and oversaw the construction of a little thing called the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome). He also hired Dick MacPherson as football coach, and Coach Mac went on to guide the Orange to an undefeated 1987 season. During Crouthamel's tenure, Syracuse won a national title in men's basketball and EIGHT in men's lacrosse. (Hey, when I was in high school, where lax was a big deal, "Syracuse Lacrosse" T-shirts were a big fashion statement, I joke you not.)

But before he turned Syracuse into The 'Cuse, Crouthamel got his start at Dartmouth, first as a player (1957-59) and later as an assistant (1965-70) and head coach (1971-77). He won one Ivy League title as a player, three as an assistant coach and three more as a head coach. 

Let's take a closer look at the three phases of Crouthamel's Dartmouth days, complete with uniforms, many of which I've written about before:

As a player: Crouthamel ran for 1,763 yards over three seasons, which, amazingly, is still tied for sixth on the Big Green's all-time list. (Hey, if you think that's wild, Myles Lane is the school's all-time rushing TD leader with 33; he set that record from 1925-27.) He averaged 4.6 yards per carry and ran for 12 touchdowns. He also played defensive back in those two-way days. Dartmouth was 19-6-2 during his time in Hanover.

Crouthamel in his playing days, This and the next few photos 
are from the Dartmouth alumni magazine's archives.

The uniforms above is from 1959, Crouthamel's senior season (he wore No. 27). Note the curved UCLA-style numbers and the horizontal shoulder stripes on the road jerseys. I wrote a little bit about this style here.

As an assistant: Crouthamel returned to Dartmouth in 1965 to coach the offensive and defensive backs. His work with the defense seems to have worked; the 1970 Big Green allowed a whopping 42 points over nine games and delivered six shutouts.

Crouthamel offers some tips on carrying the ball. I believe 
Gene Ryzewicz was the QB on Dartmouth's undefeated 1965 team.

The uniform above is from 1969, by which time the Big Green was wearing UCLA-style numbers at home but block numbers on the road. Dartmouth started wearing the Native American head on the sleeves of the road shirts in 1965 — the same year the classic "D" helmet with the funky stripes debuted — but the home versions didn't comply until 1970.

The 1969 Big Green had plowed through their schedule undefeated and frankly unchallenged, but was blown out by Princeton in the season finale, 35-7, and had to share the Ivy title with Princeton and Yale.

As a head coach: After the 1970 season, longtime coach Bob Blackman left for Illinois, and Crouthamel became head coach after top choice Joe Yukica elected to stay at Boston College. (Yukica, who also died this year, eventually replaced Crouthamel in 1978.) Crouthamel proceeded to win three straight Ivy titles out the gate (1971-73), extending the Big Green's title streak to five. 

According to this very long, detailed interview with former athletic director Seaver Peters (it's definitely worth the read if you're interested in the inner workings of an  athletic department), Crouthamel would quit nearly every year, only to come back for another go-round: "Jake quit two or three times, two or three years in a row," Peters recalled in 2001. "I'd come in on a Sunday to get caught up, or on a Monday there would be something on my desk, 'I can't stand doing what I'm doing to my family, the pressure's too great,' and then we'd meet, and then he finally meant it, of course (in 1977)." Peters also recalled that Crouthamel would deflect any praise sent his way: "Oh, yeah, but that's Blackman's material," the coach would tell Peters.

Crouthamel in 1971. Wayne Young became a longtime
Norwich, Vt.-based attorney and Big Green radio analyst.  

Crouthamel in 1972 after another Ivy crown.
Love those old 2-bar facemasks.

Perhaps Crouthamel was right; his last four years, Dartmouth went from Ivy juggernaut to merely good before he left for Syracuse.

The uniforms above are from his first and last seasons as head coach. The 1971 style continued what the Big Green wore in 1970. In 1973 (road) and 1974 (home), the Native American head on the sleeves was replaced by a "D;" some are tall and narrow, others short and wide. 

When Yukica became the the coach in '78, he overhauled most of the uniform save the helmet, adding thick stripes to the sleeves and black trim on everything.