Central Connecticut State, Colgate, Holy Cross, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, Stonehill (2024)

The review of 2024 uniforms continues with six FCS teams — two from the Patriot League, two from the Northeast Conference and two independents. Before we start, a minor rant about the two independents ...

Before the season, Merrimack and Sacred Heart left the Northeast Conference for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Since the MAAC doesn't sponsor football, the schools played as independents on the gridiron. Someone at one of these two schools had the bright idea of having these lonely hearts face off late in the season for the "Yankee Conference championship," complete with a replica of the old Bean Pot trophy last seen residing in the Willam & Mary trophy case.

Of course, this is completely ridiculous, as these schools have zero connection to the beloved and long-gone Yankee Conference of Maine, UNH, UMass and other New England cow colleges. (As a Maine grad, I can call them that.) This reminds me of a story I once read — perhaps apocryphal — about an obscure 1970s band that announced that since no one else was using the name, they were going to call themselves "The Beatles." (It went nowhere.) What's next, Texas State and Texas-San Antonio playing for the "Southwest Conference" championship? 

That said, if hell freezes over and the America East finally decides to sponsor football, I would be more than happy to have Merrimack and Sacred Heart as members.

OK, on to the unis:

Central Connecticut State, the NEC champion, didn't change a thing from '23, with the exception of the NCAA patch worn in the FCS tournament, where it almost upset Rhode Island. (Anyone remember when Rhody almost joined the NEC in a money-saving effort?)

Colgate also changed nada from the previous season, which is a good thing, says I.

Holy Cross made a couple minor changes. The Crusaders made slight alterations to their road jerseys, with wider numbers and a narrower wordmark, and the purple helmets used the "shield" logo in place of the big "HC" that had been used for more than a decade. (I prefer the "HC", but that's just me.) Holy Cross also dusted off the black alternate jerseys, last worn in 2022. The shirts were first worn in 2019 and thus had the college football 150th anniversary patch almost everyone else wore that year. Five years later, the patch remains!

Merrimack replaced the "MC" helmet logo with the school seal, a quite Ivy-ish move, if I say so myself. The Warriors covered up the NEC logo with an American flag patch.

Sacred Heart made a couple very minor changes. The star-spangled helmet, which is usually worn around the anniversary of 9/11, replaced the "SHU" logo with a script "Pios," short for Pioneers. (Funny, I always thought of them as the "'Neers." 😎) Like their "Yankee Conference" rivals, the Pioneers covered the NEC logo with the American flag.

For the second straight year, Stonehill wins the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) award for the fewest uniform designs: The Skyhawks used the same three unis they wore last year.

The (Somewhat) Complete Holy Cross Uniform History, Part IV

OK, time to get off my lazy butt and finish this thing. The fourth and final (?) chapter of Holy Cross' uniform history covers the 2000s.

Part I Part II Part III

2000: Numbers return to the helmet sides (again), and purple pants are worn on the road. Otherwise, the uniform maintains the basic look it had in 1999.

2002: The helmets go blank.

2003: Plenty of ugly number fonts have been employed over the years (Oregon, West Virginia, I'm looking in your direction), but Holy Cross' 2003 football uniforms might be the worst. The home jerseys feature what appears to be Bodoni font on PEDs, with enough curves and serifs to render the numbers practically unreadable. Not shockingly, this style lasted only one year.

2004: Common sense, and traditional numbers, return.

2009: Shoulder stripes appear on the home shirts, and white pants return.

2013: Big, wide numbers, almost like what the Boston Red Sox wear on the jerseys, are used on the helmets.

2014: An old friend returns in midseason in the form of the interlocking "HC" logo, which has been worn on the helmets ever since. The road jerseys add a slightly arching "HOLY CROSS" wordmark.

2016: The home shirts are redesigned to match to road models, and a black alternate helmet is introduced, including one with a Yankee Stadium motif that was worn for a game there against Fordham. (Considering Worcester is in the heart of Red Sox territory, this could have resulted in treason charges in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but somehow did not.)

2017: A gray alternate is added with another stylized number font (Clarendon Condensed?) that's a little easier on the eyes than the 2003 jersey. Note the patch the smart kids got to wear:  a graduation cap bearing the words "ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE 3.0+GPA." Let's just say that if I played for The Cross, I wouldn't have had one of these on my shirt.

2018: The gray alternate shirt is replaced by a black version, complete with matching pants.

2019: Plenty of mixing and matching going on here, with 10 uniform combos worn over 13 games. A classy white alternate helmet replaces the black version.

2021 (spring season): The home shirts use a new font for the wordmark and numbers. The  home shirts keep the older look right down to the college football 150th anniversary patch.

2021 (fall season): The home shirts now match the road versions.

2022: After three years in mothballs, the black jerseys return using the old design — complete with the college football 150th anniversary patch!

2023: The black jersey is retired again, but the black pants remain.

The (Somewhat) Complete Holy Cross Uniform History, Part III

Ya, it's been a while. Time to get back to the Holy Cross retrospecticus. Where did we leave off? 1969? Part III will take us through the 1990s.

Part I Part II

1970: Back on the field after the '69 season was cut short due to a hepatitis outbreak, Holy Cross ditches the stripes on the shirts, but keeps them on the socks, at least for cold-weather games.

1971: The "HC" logo and sleeve numbers vanish, making for a very plain uniform.

1972: The helmets are now white, and a squished version of the "HC" logo is on the sides. 

1976: With a coach in town (Neil Wheelwright), Holy Cross makes its biggest overhaul in years. Purple helmets return, this time with numbers on the side, and a spaced-out "H O L Y  C R O S S" wordmark appears across the front. I always liked this jersey, and I have no clue why.

1979: A crusader logo replaces the numbers on the helmets.

1981: Another new coach (Rick Carter) means more changes. Stripes return to the sleeves, white pants replace the silver models and the numbers return to the helmets. Also note the addition of the Champion logo on the sleeve.

1986: The silver pants return. This was the style The Cross wore when it went undefeated in 1987 and two-way threat Gordie Lockbaum was a legit Heisman Trophy candidate.

1992: A new "HC" logo debuts on the helmets and home jerseys. Curiously, the road jerseys and plants retain the older style.

1994: The road uniform matches the home version.

1996: Helmet numbers and purple pants return, and names on the back are worn for the first time. By this point, we're getting into the era when if you didn't like Holy Cross's uniforms, just hold tight because they'll probably change in the next half-hour.

1998: The full Holy Cross logo appears on the helmet, the silver pants return and the names on the back vanish. A year earlier, the Crusaders started wearing the Patriot League patch on the jersey fronts. The jerseys have a Wilson logo; the pants are from Reebok. Ah, the days before exclusive apparel deals. ...

1999: The 1990s were full of oddball fads, like the swing revival that was a big deal for about a week or people randomly shouting "Who's your daddy?!" Drop-shadow numbers were another fad of that era, although at least they lasted for more than a week. Holy Cross joins the parade in 1999 and keeps them through 2002.

Colgate, Holy Cross (2023)

 Time to review the two Patriot League teams profiled on this little ol' blog. ...

Colgate simplified things a bit, dumping the white helmet and sticking with the classic dark red 'gate lid. The road jersey underwent some minute modifications.

Holy Cross, which won a share of its fifth straight Patriot League title (and lost coach Bob Chesney to James Madison in the process — remember when he was supposed to be BC's next leader?), kept the same uniform as 2022, just changing a few combos here and there. The black alternate jersey from the previous few seasons was not used.

The (Somewhat) Complete Holy Cross Uniform History, Part II

OK, time to get off the couch and resume the history of Holy Cross uniforms. This time we'll go form the late 1940s through 1969.

Part I can be found here.

1946: For at least one game, the Crusaders wore the Orange Bowl-era uniform, with the silver helmet and plain jersey. But for the rest of the season, the helmets were white, the jerseys sprouted shoulder panels and the pants added stripes on the back.

1948: The 'Saders returned to a more conventional look, with all frills removed except for an alternate shirt with sleeve stripes. The silver lids also returned. And not much changed for a while.

1956: Plenty of changes here. Silver disappeared as a color, replaced with purple helmets and pants. Shoulder stripes were added the shirts; notice the Crusaders had a two-stripe pattern on the helmets, shirts, pants and socks, giving them a nice, consistent look that I'm sure the Fitton Field faithful noticed right off the bat. (OK, maybe not.)

This 1956 clipping from The Crusader newspaper 
note Holy Cross's new uniforms. "Dr. Eddie" is a reference
to Dr. Eddie Anderson, the Crusaders' longtime coach.

1957: Numbers were added to the helmets.

1963: By this time, Holy Cross has two white jerseys — a short-sleeved shirt for early-season games and a long-sleeved version for later in the fall. Against archival Boston College, Holy Cross wears silver helmets and pants. The new fashion statement works, as the 1-6-1 Crusaders upset the 6-2 Eagles, 9-0.

1964: The silver helmets and pants stick around, although the purple lids are dusted off for at least one game. The Crusaders wear numbers on the silver helmets for the BC game only.

1965: Holy Cross adds a purple short-sleeved jersey. Numbers are on the helmets except for the BC game (of course!), when the Crusaders replaced the digits with a small "HC" logo.

Holy Cross runs the ball against Northeastern in 1965. 

1966: The helmets are free of logos or numbers, and in some cases, stripes.

1967: The uniforms undergo a complete overhaul. Silver is dumped, and the purple helmets return, this time with an "HC" logo (similar to what the 'Saders have now). New jerseys feature three stripes on each sleeve and TV numbers on the shoulders. The socks also have three stripes.

1969: The season that wasn't. Holy Cross played two games, both losses, before a hepatitis epidemic on the team caused the rest of the season to be cancelled. The lower two uniforms were used only for pre-season publicity photos. Silver pants returned, as did a warm-weather short-sleeved jersey.

Holy Cross gets crunched by Harvard in its 1969 season opener.

Colgate, Holy Cross (2022)

OK, enough procrastinating. Let's take care of a couple more teams as we look back at the uniforms on 2022. This time around, it's a pair of Patriot League schools.

Colgate added a home jersey to match the road version that debuted in 2021, and the Raiders eliminated those odd stripes that wrapped around the front of the pants. I still prefer the 'gate' logo on the helmets to the generic "C."

Holy Cross didn't make any changes from 2021, but did revive the black jersey last worn in 2019, and even retains the college football 150th anniversary patch! The Crusaders wore a blue NCAA patch for their FCS tournament games.