One More NU Football Jersey

In the last edition of our series on Northwestern’s jerseys (at least for now) we look at NU’s road football jerseys. Also, in order to get a sense of the NU community as a whole, I’ve posted a poll on the topic of favorite NU football jersey. I invite all readers to register their vote. The reason the road jersey is last on this topic is because the basic outline of that uniform really hasn’t changed much over the years. The uniform above is a 1992-94 road jersey, but even with the changes since then the basic outline of a white uniform with purple numbers hasn’t changed. In fact, according to the history section on Hail to Purple NU wore a similar white jersey even in 1935. The 1995-97 versions of this jersey had an N-Cat logo similar to that on the Rose Bowl jersey featured yesterday. The 92-96 versions all had Northwestern striping as you can see above in the 92-94 version. Starting in 1997 the Northwestern stripping disappeared. From 1998-2002 the strips were Adidas strips. Since 2003 NU has worn a USC style single strip. NU has also changed road pants with at various times purple, black, and white pants being used on the road. Overall I like the look of NU’s white jersey. Perhaps that’s why it has stayed similar in design over the years.

More Uniform Talk: Rose Bowl Black

The old uniforms shown last week brought in several e-mail comments form readers. Clearly uniforms are a topic which many NU fans hold very strong feelings about. I think is likely due to the fact that Northwestern has worn such a wide variety of uniforms over the years. Today we return to the subject of Northwestern uniforms by focusing on the uniform worn during Northwestern’s historic Rose Bowl appearance on January 1, 1996. With the exception of the even patches, this uniform is almost identical to the uniforms worn during the 1997 Citrus Bowl and the 1997 regular season. The uniforms worn during the 1995 and 1996 regular seasons are also very similar to this design, except they featured the famous Northwestern strips on the sleeve below the N-Cat logo. I believe in the case of the Rose Bowl they were omitted due to the fact NU needed to wear two different event patches. In 1997, starting with the January 1 Citrus Bowl, NU switched uniform makers to Reebok and then Adidas, NU has not worn the Northwestern strip design since this change. The Rose Bowl jersey was manufactured by Russell Athletic. Of note the jerseys worn in 95-96 was the fact NU went to a solid white number. This was a change from first purple numbers (which were hard to see on black jerseys) and then a white number with a pruple outline. NU has used the white number with purple outline in the black jerseys from Adidas.

One of the features of the jerseys from 95-97 that I really liked was this N-Cat logo on the shoulder. I know some traditionalists object to the cat head being purple, but I think the logo looks great and most importantly, is clearly visible. This is far better than the small logo now on the sleeves of the new jerseys which is almost impossible to see. Also, I still think the NU strips should be on the sleeves.

Northwestern wore this patch during the 1996 Rose Bowl game. For some reason, USC did not.

NU also wore this patch. It is interesting to note that the Rose Bowl did not at the time have a cooperate sponsor. Even now the Rose Bowl handles sponsorship differently with the game being referred to as, “The Rose Bowl presented by AT&T” and not “The AT&T Rose Bowl” which is the form other bowl names take.

If NU does choose to wear black for a game in the future, I'd like to see them replicate the 95-96 regular season jerseys which would look almost like this, but have the N-Cat in place of the event patches and the NU strips on the sleeves.

News and Notes:

Kyle Rowley will play for the senior national team of his native Trinidad and Tobago. You can debate the level of talent in Trinidad and Tobago all you want, but I don't see how this can be anything but great for Rowley's development. While most college players can play pick up and college summer leagues with no coaches, I really think I guy like Rowley who doesn’t have a full lifetime of basketball experience will be helped by playing in an organized tournament with professional coaches.

Team USA's U-19 team won again in New Zealand, but the early report doesn't have any stats for John Shurna.

Shurna and Team USA Start Strong in New Zealand

John Shurna had 9 points and 8 rebounds for USA Basketball's U-19 team as the red, white, and blue defeated Croatia in scrimmage by the score of 97-68. The full story is here: http://www.usabasketball.com/news.php?news_page=09_mu19_exh1

Memorabilia: Uniform Edition

Today’s look at Northwestern memorabilia focuses on uniforms. As someone who finds uniform designs interesting to analyze, I really enjoyed when Northwestern use to have their athletic garage sale to sell off used equipment. My parents bought much of what you see below at those events.

When I think about Northwestern’s uniforms over my lifetime, I suppose the biggest criticism I have for both football and basketball that they haven’t been particularly consistent. Below, you see uniforms which were purple, black, and grey. I think this lack of a clear brand probably hurts NU when it comes to be a recognizable team. I mean everybody knows Michigan’s winged helmets or North Carolina’s powder blue. I’m well aware that NU fans debate whether the ‘Cats should wear purple or black home uniforms for football. Personally, I must admit I really did like the black, but right now I’d stick with purple the majority of the time. It is, after all, the school color. Still, I would love to see the ‘Cats come out of the tunnel in classic throwback black for the Penn State game in October. If NU were ever to return to the black jerseys, though, I would want them to be a true throwback to the 95-96 era with the Northwestern strips and the N-Cat logo. The black jersey below is actually from the 1993 season.

NU’s current basketball jerseys are among the best I’ve seen the ‘Cats wear. They are simple, yet clearly interesting and I think memorable enough that should the team win they would be a solid brand which fans would want to buy and wear. The basketball jerseys presented today come from the 95-96 season. The purple is very similar to the current road jersey, but it doesn’t have the black stripping (which I really like) that the current jerseys have along the side. The grey Evan Eschmeyer jersey below might have belonged to one of NU’s best players, but grey is not a good color for an NU home jersey. When your schools colors are purple and white it doesn’t make much sense to wear a grey jersey. Some schools which don’t use white as a school color might want to change things up and not wear traditional home whites, West Virginia has a nice grey jersey, but in NU’s case I’m glad they choose to put the grey uniforms aside and stick with the white. Overall, I think what Northwestern wears currently for both football and basketball are among the best jerseys NU has wore in my lifetime, but I still would love to see throwback 1995 football jerseys just once this season.

For more on NU uniforms visit Hail to Purple: http://hailtopurple.com/features/unis1.html

A black with purple numbers 1993 NU football jersey

The 1993 jersey featured the famous Northwestern strips

Northwestern wore these grey basketball jerseys briefly during the 95-96 season

Field Set for Chicago Invitation Challenge: NU and ND to play on Nov. 27th

The following teams will play in the Chicago Invitation Challenge at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates on November 27 and 28. EDIT: Northwestern and Notre Dame will play on the 27th.

University of Notre Dame
Northwestern University
Iowa State University
Saint Louis University
Liberty University
Mississippi Valley State University
Tennessee State University
Kennesaw State University

Some early round games in the CIC will be played at Welsh-Ryan, I believe this a great event for NU to play in and I am looking forward to it.

NU Women’s Hoops Picks Up Major Talent

I try not to get too excited about the signing of recruits. I think it’s a little crazy to treat a 17 year old kid as the savior of a program or the heir apparent to a player with four years of college experience. I also have seen more than enough top recruits fizzle and bottom-tier recruits shine to know rankings aren’t the be all and end all that they often seem. That said, obviously recruiting rankings have some value as sites like Rivals and Scouts make millions each year producing top 100 lists. Therefore, I think it is time note the amazing work done by NU Women’s Hoops Coach Joe McKeown in recruiting for next year. He has four signed players and all rank in the nation's top 105.

Coach McKeowen has signed 4 players to play for the ‘Cats next year. Right now, McKeown’s class is rated 27th in the nation, but that actually doesn’t take into account the signing of point guard Inesha Hale of Raytown, MO and wing player Kendall Hackney of Cincinnati, Ohio (ranked 11th best power forward and 55th overall) who decommitted from USC. ESPN says of Hackney, “Having both size and mobility to combine with her well honed skills she presents defenses with headache on every possession.” For her part, Hale is rated 87th nationally overall and 14th nationally at her position.

Before inking Hale and Hackney this spring, McKeown signed forwards Inga Orekhova and Dannielle Diamant in the fall. The 6-3 Orekhova is ranked 40th in the nation overall and having missed a good portion of her junior season, probably deserves to be rated higher. Diamant is rated 20th in the nation at her position (105 overall) and at 6-4 gives NU a very athletic forward. She also has some great basketball genes at her grandfather is former UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

So what do these four players mean for NU Women’s Hoops. Well, first it means McKeown must be able to sell NU as well as anybody this side of Pat Fitzgerald. Second, it means both NU’s Men’s and Women’s hoops teams are trending upward. Could the 2009-2010 season see both squads in the NCAA tournament? That might be a reach, but with the talent Coach McKeown has assembled it seems a WNIT breath is a realistic expectation this year and an NCAA breath can’t be too far away. People forget NU's Women's Basketball team has a great history, so to see the program moving back towards the high points of that history is a great thing for both Coach McKeown and Northwestern.

NU Links

Here are a few worthwhile links to check out for NU fans:

First, check out Lake the Posts for an interview with the Head Coach of NU QB commit Trevor Siemien. Coach Bob Head makes Trevor sound like a perfect fit for NU, but even more important I think is that Coach Head tells of what a great job Fitz and the staff are doing in selling NU across the nation: http://www.laketheposts.com/2009/06/ltp-interview-with-trevor-siemiens-head.html

Second, I want to welcome another NU site to the blogosphere. Rodger, a sophomore journalism student at NU, has started a site called The Purple Drank on which he has already written basketball and football previews. As I've said before, I think our local media lacks in NU coverage, so I really do believe getting more NU content on the web is a big positive for 'Cat fans. Here's the site: http://sippinonpurple.blogspot.com/

Finally, I want to mention a few future posts I'm working on the let everyone know what else is coming up on WRR in the next few weeks. Thanks to the great deal of positive e-mail I got when I posted pictures of the NU's poster programs I will go back into the archives and pull out some more poster programs. I will also bring out a few other items from NU's past history which I'm sure will please fans both old and new. Also, I'll have some thoughts on the great work of Coach Joe McKeown as NU's Women's hoops team seems to sign a top-100 player each day.