Football Throwbacks

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National Football League Throwback Jerseys

Throwbacks were introduced in the NFL in their 75th anniversary season of 1994. The designs varied widely in their accuracy:

* While no attempt was made to simulate obsolete leather helmets which were phased out in the 1950s, teams simulating uniforms from the era of leather headgear simply removed all decals and striping from their regular hard-shell helmets.
* A rule imposed by the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 adopted the AFL’s policy of all jerseys displaying the player’s last name on the back side. This practice was not part of the NFL officially until after the merger, but in order to keep consistency with current rules, the names were placed on the back side of all throwback jerseys.
* In most instances the fonts and typestyles used were only approximate matches at best.
* The Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers wore reproductions of uniforms that pre-dated large numerals on the front of jerseys, so instead smaller numerals were worn on the right shoulder.
* The Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills received some criticism for their portrayal of their throwbacks. The Cowboys wore their early 1960s uniforms with their current helmet, while the Bills wore their then-current uniforms with the old “standing buffalo” logo in white on their red helmets, in place of the current blue “charging buffalo” logo. Later that season, the Cowboys used the “double-star” uniform, which could be considered an updated version of the 1960s jerseys. Both teams have since adopted these throwbacks more accurately as alternates, with Dallas now using the original, plain star helmet and Buffalo using the original red “standing buffalo” helmet on white background, as well as wearing the O. J. Simpson-era jerseys as opposed to the Jim Kelly/Marv Levy-era jerseys. The New York Jets also received similar criticism for using their throwback logo on their then-current green helmets; when they adopted the throwback design full-time in 1998, they also went back to their original-style white helmets. The Bills and Cowboys did the same when they adopted their retro unis.
* The Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns hadn’t had major uniform redesigns up to that point or only made subtle changes, as the Seahawks and Buccaneers had joined the league just 18 years earlier. The Seahawks and Buccaneers have also since redesigned their uniforms in 2002 and 1997, respectively, while the Dolphins made some minor updates in 1997 and the Saints in 2000.

All the teams were informed that they would be wearing the Throwbacks during Week Three of the season. Some teams continued to wear theirs throughout the season. The San Francisco 49ers wore replicas of their 1955 uniforms in their Super Bowl XXIX victory. The uniforms were well-liked enough that the 49ers brought them back, in slightly modified form, for 1996-1997. In 1998, the gold pants from before were returned, in more modern form. In 2009, the team debuted an updated design of the 1980s uniforms that won them four of their five Super Bowls.

Both of the NFL’s New York City teams’ throwbacks proved so popular with their fans that the teams returned to wearing them full-time soon afterwards: The Jets’ replicas of their 1968 uniforms (with a darker shade of green than before), and the Giants’ 1961 uniforms, with the lowercase “ny” instead of the underlined uppercase “GIANTS” imposed after moving to East Rutherford, NJ. Both teams have modernized the 1960s decals for their current primary corporate logos.

As a result of the NFL modifying its rules to allow teams to wear alternate jerseys in 2002, throwbacks still make occasional appearances. The Thanksgiving Classic games hosted by the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys have been a showcase of throwbacks in recent years. The Bills, San Diego Chargers and Cowboys traditionally wear their early 1960s throwbacks twice each season.

The Cleveland Browns throwbacks are based on a uniform/helmet combination that first appeared in 1957 when Jim Brown was drafted.(Players Numbers appeared on the side of the helmet that year.) The Browns began wearing their throwbacks in 2006 as part of the team’s 60th Anniversary. They only wear them once per season.

Of note, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who drastically changed their uniforms and team colors in 1997, never wore their orange throwbacks from 1997-2008. In 2009, the team wore their throwbacks for the first time in against the Green Bay Packers on November 8 to debut the “Buccaneers’ Ring of Honor”, and will do so again in 2010, on December 5 against the Atlanta Falcons.

The San Diego Chargers wore their 1960s style powder-blue uniforms with white helmets as alternates from 2002–2006 and in 2007 adopted a modified version as their full-time uniforms. Meanwhile the San Francisco 49ers wore their 1980s-style home red uniforms as throwbacks in 2002 (in 2005 the team re-designated them as alternate uniforms to be worn 1-2 home games a season). The team also petitioned the league to wear the throwbacks on the 2007 season opening night, as a tribute to their late former head coach Bill Walsh. For the 2009 season, an updated design based heavily on the 1980s throwbacks was debuted by the 49ers, which was combined with the team’s current modern logo. On September 16, 2007, the Pittsburgh Steelers, celebrating their 75th season, wore a variation of their older early ’60s uniforms that featured gold helmets with black stripe, black jerseys with gold numbers and stripes, and white pants with black-and-gold side stripes as they hosted Buffalo. They wore them again on Monday Night Football on November 5 against Baltimore. The Steelers enjoyed immense success in both games, winning each handily (26-3 vs. Buffalo, 38-7 vs. Baltimore), in direct contrast to the team’s struggles when they wore those jerseys originally. On November 11, 2007, The New York Giants, wore their red uniforms against the division rival Dallas Cowboys. The New York Jets wore their New York Titans replica jerseys twice – once at home against the Philadelphia Eagles, and once against their divisional rivals, the Miami Dolphins.

The Eagles wore their powder blue and yellow throwback jerseys during the home game against the Lions on September 23, 2007. Though the Eagles had a big 56-21 victory, these particular Throwbacks were criticised as being very unattractive. During Sunday Night Football on NBC that week, Keith Olbermann named the Philadelphia Eagles the “Worst Persons in the NFL” for their blue-and-yellow throwback jerseys, citing “Throwbacks? Try throw-ups!”. The blue and yellow uniforms, which are the same colors as the flag of the City of Philadelphia, were used by the Eagles, and their predecessors, the defunct Frankford Yellowjackets franchise, until the 1940s when the more familiar pre-Jeffrey Lurie era kelly green was introduced.

For the 2009 season, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the American Football League, the eight charter members of the AFL wore throwback uniforms from the early 1960s on select “Legacy Weekends.” The Dallas Cowboys, also celebrating their 50th anniversary season, wore throwback jerseys for some games. Additionally, the Lions dropped their much criticized black alternates in favor of the popular 1940′s and 1950s throwbacks (plain blue jersey, silver pants and helmets) in 2008.

NCAA Football Throwback Jerseys

The Texas Longhorns college football team wore throwback uniforms for a single game during their 2005 national championship season as a way of honoring the past. The throwback jerseys were similar to jerseys worn during their 1963 National Championship season under Coach Darrell K. Royal.

The University of Virginia’s football team wore throwback uniforms in a single game on September 6, 2008, in honor of Virginia’s teams from 1984 through 1993. The university’s athletic department termed the game a “Retro Game” instead of using the term “throwback.”

Throwback uniforms and jerseys are one-time or limited-time variations on a sports team’s uniforms styled to resemble uniforms from that team’s past. First promoted in baseball in the 1980s, they have proven popular in all major pro and college sports in the USA, not only with fans, but with the teams’ marketing and merchandising departments.

Various Throwback Jersey Information

Throwbacks were first popularized in Major League Baseball, where teams not only wore renditions of their past styles, but also tributes to defunct minor league and Negro League baseball teams as well. Often, the games where teams will wear throwbacks are promoted as “Turn Back The Clock Nights”.

Throwbacks also make occasional appearances in college football games, National Hockey League games, and in National Basketball Association games.