The Definitive Notre Dame Uniform History Pictorial
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 17, 2011 9:28 AM EDT
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PrintDoes Notre Dame have the greatest uniforms in college football?
You can spend hours debating that with Alabama, Penn State, Michigan, Texas, Ohio State, and USC fans, but the Irish certainly have their own glorious uniform tradition that continues to this day.
Over five years ago, a tremendous article on the history of Notre Dame's uniforms was published by the regretfully retired blog The Blue Gray Sky, and that piece served as a the groundwork for this pictorial journey that One Foot Down now presents to you.
There will be a 15 question survey as a companion piece to this pictorial, so make sure to check back for that next week.
Now sit back and enjoy this, while you relive over 100 years of Notre Dame aesthetic history on this St. Patrick's Day.
The very first Notre Dame uniforms were all-white and had a blue ND across the chest. Notice how they are very similar to the baseball uniforms of that era.
By the turn of the century and lasting well into the 1930's, Notre Dame's uniform consisted of a very basic navy blue top with brown pants and leather helmet. During the Jesse Harper era beginning in 1913, white numbers were placed on the back of the uniform as was becoming common practice throughout the country.
By the late 1930's the first drastic change occurred as white numbers appeared on the front of the jersey as well as a white shoulder yoke.
It is unclear exactly when the usage of the white shoulder yokes first began (possibly in 1938), and they were definitely worn in Frank Leahy's first game at Notre Dame in September 1941, but it is believed that they were never used after this game against Arizona.
Although the green uniform had been worn sporadically by coaches before the early 1940's (they were worn for the first time by Knute Rockne in 1921 and made famous in 1927 against Navy), Frank Leahy was the first coach to wear the emerald shade on a consistent basis, including exclusively in some years.
This practice continued right up until 1959, when the green was worn sporadically again for the next five years through the 1963 season.
It is also believed that during the Leahy years the modern-day metallic gold helmet came into existence, although many players continued to wear the old school and dull-colored leather helmets well into the 1950's.
By the early 1950's Notre Dame was wearing white uniforms on the road with simple blue numbers on the front and back. Notice the players in the above picture still wearing leather helmets in the 1957 upset of Oklahoma, ending the Sooners NCAA record 47-game winning streak.
In 1959, new head coach Joe Kuharich added UCLA stripes to the shoulders and numbers to the arms of the jersey. The stripes were gold and white for the home jersey and blue and gold on the road jersey, although the pattern may have changed over a four-year period.
A radical change Kuharich made was placing shamrocks on the golden helmets, having them awkwardly upside down at first then eventually switched to a right side up look. The Irish primarily wore blue during this era but broke out the green on occasion as well.
During Huge Devore's one year stint in 1963, the Irish removed the shoulder stripes, and replaced the shamrock on the helmet with white Alabama-style numbers.
In 1964, Ara Parseghian returned Notre Dame's uniform to a more traditional look, removing the numbers from the helmet. The Irish have now worn this same plain gold helmet for 47 straight years extending into the recent 2010 season.
Also, during this era Notre Dame began wearing the two-piece socks in a style that is mandatory today in the NFL. They were white on the bottom and blue on the top near the knees.
Parseghian never wore green as the Irish wore blue at home for all 11 years of his tenure.
The only change Parseghian brought after his first year in South Bend was the use of helmet stars for big plays, putting blue ones on the front of the helmets. The team never wore name plates on their jerseys during this time, with the only exceptions being for the 1973 Sugar Bowl and 1975 Orange Bowl.
Dan Devine kept the uniforms the same when he took over as head coach in 1975, except he did put name plates on the back of the jerseys.
Trying to stay with the times during the 1970's, the team started wearing socks with striping on them a year or two before Devine became coach and would continue to do so through 1980. They were usually white with one gold strip surrounded by two blue stripes.
Notre Dame also started wearing white cleats during the later portion of the Devine era and would do so until 1986.
Of course Devine is famous for breaking out the green uniforms in 1977 against USC, complete with gold numbers and a gold/white collar striping pattern.
It is important to note that although the pants stayed a rather light colored old gold, the gold used on the green jerseys was essentially the color yellow.
Devine also introduced the first road white version of the green and gold look. These jerseys had green numbers outlined in gold with a green collar and sleeve endings.
Gerry Faust made some changes of his own in 1981 by adding Northwestern stripes to the arms, moving the numbers up to the shoulders, and switching the color of blue to a lighter "Madonna" shade.
Faust kept the names on the back, but eventually removed the stripes from the sleeves for the start of the 1984 season, while also changing the color of blue back to navy in his fourth season in South Bend.
Faust had the Irish wear white knee-high socks during the colder games with the interlocking ND monogram making its first appearance on them during this era.
That grainy photo above is from the 1983 USC game where Faust broke out the green against the Trojans. He also brought out the green (sans sleeve striping) after halftime of the 1985 USC game.
In a way, Lou Holtz returned Notre Dame to a more traditional look, but he also made some rather radical changes. He added the ND monogram to the sleeves and had both that and the numbers outlined in gold, changed the color of the pants from old gold to the current metallic gold the team still wears today, and put the ND logo on the left side of the pants.
His first season in 1986, the Irish featured the unique look of having the numbers on the shoulders with the ND logo also on the sleeves. Holtz also removed the names from the backs of the uniform and never used them over his 11 years in South Bend, while also returning the team to the two-piece socks for colder games.
Holtz also returned the Irish to black cleats, which they've worn for the past 25 years.
After Holtz' first season he took the numbers off the shoulders and stayed with the above look for the home and road uniforms for the next five years. Notre Dame's last national championship team wore these uniforms.
For the 1992 Sugar Bowl, the Irish wore a green-clad away uniform complete with green numbers and sleeve monogram outlined in blue, as well as green and white two-piece socks.
In 1992, Champion made some changes to the uniforms by adding gold trim to the collar and sleeve endings for the home jersey and blue trim on the collar and sleeve endings for the road jersey.
Starting in 1994 (and not 1992 with the first Champion changes as reported by BGS), a golden dome logo was added to the base of the collar on both the home and away uniforms.
Notre Dame wore green under Holtz for a second time in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl against Colorado. Like the '92 inspired green uniform, the numbers and ND logo were also outlined in blue.
During Bob Davie's first year as head coach in 1997, the uniforms remained the same as the previous three years.
In 1998, a gold-blue-white striping pattern was added to the collar and sleeve endings for the home uniform. Also, a gold-blue striping pattern was added to the road uniform.
Bob Davie's only game with a green uniform was in the 1999 Gator Bowl. This jersey had the numbers and monogram outlined in gold, to go along with the collar and sleeve-ending striping that was introduced the prior season.
During the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, the Irish wore a green shamrock with a gold ND in the middle on the sleeves, instead of the usual blue and gold ND monogram.
Major changes came for the 2001 season as Adidas replaced Champion as the uniform manufacturer. The striping was removed from the collar and sleeve endings, and a green shamrock with the script "Irish" below it replaced the logo of the golden dome at the base of the collar.
In addition, the Adidas logo was added to the right chest as well as an American flag to the left chest after the attacks of September 11th. Also, a green shamrock with a gold ND logo replaced the old blue monogran on the pants.
The road white uniform during this period was surrounded in controversy because of the gold flanks added from the arm pit down to the waist.
In Tyrone Willingham's first season in 2002, the Irish wore green against Boston College. The color of green used was very bright and the numbers and monogram were outlined in gold.
Notice the American flag, shamrock, and Irish script were also removed from the jersey for this game.
In 2004 the uniforms went under another change and would stay this way until 2009. The ND monogram was removed from the sleeves in favor of numbers, the American flag was removed, and the ND logo replaced the shamrock at both the base of the collar and on the pants.
Since Adidas took over as the uniform manufacturer, the Irish have rarely worn the two-piece socks during the colder months, instead opting to wear solid color knee-high socks. Black socks have also become much more common since 2004.
Notre Dame wore green on three separate occasions under Charlie Weis. The Irish wore the dark green in 2005 against USC and again in 2006 against Army. These jerseys are known for reversing the color scheme from the previous five incarnations having gold numbers outlined in white.
The Irish also wore 30th anniversary throwbacks in honor of the 1977 national championship team in 2007 against USC. These were faithful to the original 70's design with the exception of wider stripes on the socks and a much more vibrant yellow used, especially with the pants.
This past season in 2010, the uniforms were changed once again under Brian Kelly. The ND monogram was placed back on the sleeves, and the Adidas logo was put at the base of the collar instead of the interlocking ND logo.
Unlike in previous seasons, the ND monogram outline completely filled in the logo (giving it a more patch-like look), whereas in the past (1986-2004) the base color of the jersey was visible in the middle.
Towards the end of the 2010 season, the Irish introduced the more tight fitting Adidas TechFit uniforms.
Notre Dame did wear two-piece socks against Army (see below) but stuck with short or medium socks (black or white) with Adidas logos otherwise. As is becoming the custom, many players simply wore long spandex underneath their socks in cold weather.
Notre Dame wore green in Brian Kelly's first season during the neutral contest at Yankee Stadium against Army. This version continued the same template used in 2005 and 2006, but with the current uniform design introduced in 2010.
Make sure to check back for the survey next week!
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I have a question and a comment: didn’t the second version of the Adidas uniform not appear until the first year under Weis which was 2005 and not 2004? Second, you state that under Weis the team wore black socks, which I can not say is untrue for all five of his seasons but I have no recollection of them ever being issued black socks when I was an insider who actually gave the team their socks during the 2005 season. The cold weather socks we issued out to the team that year were a very dark blue but up close were definitely not black. :)
by Kevin O on Mar 17, 2011 11:48 AM EDT reply actions
A couple of minor corrections pertaining to the Parseghian years. The stars were not blue stickers but were drawn by black magic marker using a home-made stencil. At least that was the case from 1968-1971 when I was a manager. Second, as to the names on the jerseys, they were certainly there for the 1970 and 1971 Cotton Bowls and I’m pretty sure the 1973 Orange Bowl.
by Mike72 on Mar 17, 2011 12:13 PM EDT reply actions
Kevin,
You are right, it was 2005, I went ahead and made the correction. I looked over this thing about a million times and should have caught that!!
I will take your word about the black vs. dark blue socks. Thanks for the information. I was looking at someone like Maurice Stovall (who finished his career in 2005) and to me they looked like black socks.
http://www.fivebuckstofriday.com/museum/irish/stovall.jpg
http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/nd/sports/m-footbl/auto_action/286518.jpeg
I remember vividly thinking in the beginning of the Weis era that they were wearing black socks. I kept asking people and most were split 50/50 on the matter. I am very mildly color blind and the dark blues I can have trouble with distinguishing. But now that you say they were dark blue I know!
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 17, 2011 12:38 PM EDT reply actions
Mike,
You are right about the stars being stenclied. I think that was made clear in the BGS run down. It slipped my mind and I wrote sticker. Thanks for the correction.
In regards to the names, we can then assume they were worn for all of the bowl games during the Parseghian’s tenure then after the Irish started going to bowls again? The photo evidence is very minimal from those days, but thanks for the correction.
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 17, 2011 12:41 PM EDT reply actions
Actually, the change to the numbered sleeves was indeed 2004, not 2005. They debuted at BYU in the 2004 opener. See this video of a game from 2004 for proof.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=603qcyFWmAA
by JB on Mar 17, 2011 12:58 PM EDT reply actions
So, let’s review.
Classic uniforms = good.
Changes/Stripes = bad.
Two of the greatest coaches in the program’s history (Holtz and Parseghian) reverted back to a classic look in numbers on front and back, interlocking ND on the sleves.
Brian Kelly made a few minor changes, reverting back to a more tradtional/classic look on the uniforms. Does anyone else follow? I’m just sayin’…
by Jim Miesle on Mar 17, 2011 1:06 PM EDT reply actions
Okay it has been changed back to 2004.
Brady Quinn wore the ND on the sleeves his freshman year, and then for his sophomore season the team switched to the numbers on the sleeves which they would wear for 2004 and all of the Weis era.
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 17, 2011 2:02 PM EDT reply actions
Jim,
Very astute observations sir. I think a lot of people will draw that exact conclusion. Although I still think some of Holtz’ changes were pretty radical (ND on the sleeves, metallic pants, etc.) that would have seemed very different if he took over directly after Parseghian instead of after the green years of Devine and the Madonna blue and striping of Faust.
Let us hope Brian Kelly wins no matter what! I think he definitely has liberal policy towards the uniforms but it will probably be balanced by the natural Notre Dame need to stay in a more traditional look. I think we’ll stay with something similar to what we wore in 2010, but I can see him being open to a lot of tweaks over the years.
One thing is for sure, if the Irish start dominating again, Adidas is going to want to start introducing some changes. It’s always going to be a tug and pull.
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 17, 2011 2:10 PM EDT reply actions
Maybe I’m wrong but didn’t ND wear names on the back of their jerseys for the 2011 Sun Bowl? Check it out- http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Robert%2BBlanton%2BHyundai%2BSun%2BBowl%2BNotre%2BDame%2BELrUvHkX3tKl.jpg
by Adam on Mar 17, 2011 2:21 PM EDT reply actions
Adam,
Yes they did. And for the Hawaii bowl in 2008 as well. I didn’t mention that, thought it was pretty fresh in everyone’s minds.
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 17, 2011 2:36 PM EDT reply actions
No one has mentioned anything about the gold jerseys worn when Bob Davie coached. I believe they only wore them once.
by Biddle13 on Mar 17, 2011 4:28 PM EDT reply actions
Biddle,
They were worn for the 2003 spring game, never in a regular season contest.
Check back for the survey next week as there will be a question on them.
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 17, 2011 4:34 PM EDT reply actions
I just spent an hour typing out a message to you people.
Where you have “Mail” I put down my mailing address.
236 etc. (My mailing address)
Then I put down my email address.
Then I clicked on “Submit Comment” and after all this time and effort, I am told that my
comment is not proplerly presented!
What exactly do you want when you ask for MAIL???
by Joe Fairleigh on Mar 18, 2011 1:11 AM EDT reply actions
I am amazed at how flawed my memory was on the uniform change, I mean I was in school there at the time! I looked at the pictures of Stovall and in the small one vs. MSU I can see that they look black and those are not the cold weather socks as that was an early season game so maybe they are black but it seems unlikely (I Honestly don’t recall the warm weather socks one way or the other). The photo with the high socks looks dark blue to me (I think it’s the BYU game which was cold and wet) and those are the tall blue socks I remember issuing as the weather got colder.
by Kevin O on Mar 18, 2011 1:27 AM EDT reply actions
Holtz put the names on the back just once, the 1988 Cotton Bowl, Tim Brown’s senior year. After the loss Lou said never again would he do that.
by tw on Mar 18, 2011 8:35 AM EDT reply actions
TW,
I did not know that, thanks for the info!
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 18, 2011 11:34 AM EDT reply actions
Good stuff, don’t forget the gold jerseys that were used in Ty’s Blue Gold Game.
http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/nd/galleries/footbl-042603a/schiccatano-042603-lg.jpg
by PQ on Mar 18, 2011 6:12 PM EDT reply actions
In the 50s, ND first wore white jerseys at home in the 1955 opener versus SMU. After that game, they also wore them on the road for some games. But they did not wear them again at home. The white jerseys had green, not blue numbers. During the Brennan years I don’t believe that blue was ever worn.
Also during Devore’s one year, there were no shoulder stripes. The home jersey was solid blue, similar, if not identical, to the one worn during the Parseghian era. White with blue numerals were worn on the road, except for the Syracuse game at Yankee Stadium where green was worn.
The helmets were as described in the article, gold with white numerals.
by Jim Bigham on Mar 18, 2011 6:31 PM EDT reply actions
I remember Paul Hornung wearing the leather helmet with the cross on top. It was somewhat of a shock when ND started wearing a more update helmet.
by Pete on Mar 18, 2011 7:35 PM EDT reply actions
Jim,
That’s some huge information there!
White jersey at home? I never knew the Irish did that. Any idea what SMU wore that day?
And white with green numbers? So the Devine white jerseys with green numbers were predated by some 20 years? That’s pretty fascinating. I’d love to see color pictures of that.
I was thinking the stripes were gone for 1963, although I didn’t have much visual evidence. The picture above with the old guys behind the line clearly shows no stripes. I believe that caption says they are at Stanford, but no one is in the stands and I thought maybe they were wearing some sort of practice uniform.
Thanks for the info though, it’s much appreciated!
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 18, 2011 8:01 PM EDT reply actions
Pete,
http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID30425/images/Screen_shot_2010-03-17_at_6_18_19_AM.png
Is that the helmet you’re talking about?
I found researching the helmets really difficult, and would love any info on them.
You’ll notice Lujack wearing what looks like to be some sort of “modern” plastic-like helmet, yet some 10 years later players like Hornung are still wearing leather-like helmets.
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 18, 2011 8:05 PM EDT reply actions
I keep postinf this but it doesn’t show up!
Fantastic images and very informative!
Here is a great site for ND helmets from 1934-present day:
http://www.klausgebhard.com/infinitehelmets/ncaa/bcs/independents/notredame/notredame.php
Metallic gold leather helmets first worn in 1941.
Leather eventually gives way to plastic but leather returns in 1950. Leather is gone for good when ND goes back to metallic gold helmets (with green or black? numbers) for 1958.
White shoulder yokes first began in 1936
E-mail me through the site for any images.
Thanks!
by Klaus Gebhard on Mar 18, 2011 8:42 PM EDT reply actions
SMU wore crimson jerseys with white numerals, all crimson helmets, white pants. ND wore wore white jerseys with green numerals, their standard gold pants, and the leather “cross” helmets. This game was the season opener for 1955 and it was at ND Stadium. Send me an EMail and I will return with B&W photos from the game.
by Jim Bigham on Mar 19, 2011 8:05 AM EDT reply actions
Eric, that’s the helmet I was referring to. Thanks.
by Pete on Mar 19, 2011 10:00 AM EDT reply actions
Eric,
I really enjoyed the article and have enjoyed following all the comments from so many Irish fans knowledgeable about the uniform changes.
Jim,
Here is a photo from the ND-SMU game in 1955 I found. If you can put your black and whites on Picassa, you can link them in the comments. https://picasaweb.google.com/SMUtoyou/SMUFootballPhotos#5361753871245586290
by Michael Collins on Mar 19, 2011 11:12 AM EDT reply actions
Two other odd Notre Dame helmets I have on my site @
http://www.klausgebhard.com/infinitehelmets/ncaa/bcs/independents/notredame/notredame.php
are:
A 1948 helmet that they wore Vs. Pitt on 10-02-1948. Gold helmet with a wide white stripe going from front to back. As far as I can tell they only had the stripe for this one game in 1948.
and a similar design worn Vs. Iowa on 10-26-1946. Same gold helmet and wide white stripe but with additional white stripe going from side to side to form a + design.
Again, I believe they only wore this Vs. Iowa in that 1 game that year. Not sure what the reasons are for these special designs.
by Klaus Gebhard on Mar 19, 2011 1:13 PM EDT reply actions
The first game with names on ND’s jerseys appears to have been the 1973 Orange Bowl vs. Nebraska. It was the only time between 1970 and 1988 that ND wore blue jerseys for a bowl game—ND wore white for the other 11 bowl games during that era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJvvG6GDIac&feature=channel_video_title
Names were not on the jerseys for the 1971 Cotton Bowl win over Texas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YuDkzl_L0s
In 1977, ND did not wear blue on any occasion after first breaking out the green in the rout of USC. I attended the following two home games, annihilations of Navy and Georgia Tech, and ND was clad in green both times. Names weren’t on the green jerseys for the USC game, but were added shortly thereafter and remained on all ND jerseys until Holtz arrived.
In 1984, Faust not only removed the stripes from the jerseys, but changed the color back to the traditional navy blue (except, oddly, for that second half of the 1985 USC game).
Thanks for all the good work!
by John Manier on Mar 19, 2011 3:24 PM EDT reply actions
Klaus,
That is a great site for the helmets. Thanks for sharing that!
I could do a whole new post just on the helmets, but you’ve already done it!
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 19, 2011 8:21 PM EDT reply actions
Alright I have made some of the necessary changes given the evidence that everyone has presented. I hope it is more accurate now.
I read through the thread on NDNation, some good stuff in there. Although the one guy calling this post “replete” with errors is just a little bit excessive, don’t you think? I think it’s important to remember that there is precious amount of information for 120 years of football and that I don’t work for the University of Notre Dame nor have access to school archival information.
Anyway, I am fascinated by this 1955 white jersey with green numbers worn against SMU. Does anyone have a color picture of this uniform!?!? We need to find a color picture!!!!
Also, what was the reason for wearing white at home for the season opener? I’d like to know how much of a big deal it was back then, as I can imagine some people getting pretty upset that the Irish weren’t wearing blue or green for the game.
Was 1955 the year the NCAA made teams first wear white? Or was that just something that evolved over time? I thought someone had commented on that somewhere but I can’t find it. It’s interesting because in the NHL, one of the reasons they switched back to dark jerseys for the home teams is that with so many teams wearing dark colored alternate jerseys, the road team can just bring their whites instead of both sets.
Would SMU have worn white that day if the Irish stuck with green? I am thinking SMU probably wore red all season, but if they had a white uniform for the ’55 season, that probably means Notre Dame had to notify the Mustangs that they planned on wearing white at home.
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 21, 2011 9:14 AM EDT reply actions
Hi, Eric:
Your site has some really fascinating stuff on it, and I’ve enjoyed it hugely.
I’m writing specifically in the hope that I can shed some light on the first appearance of the yoked jerseys. A site called www.criticalpast.com has a newsreel clip of the 1930 USC-ND game. USC is in white, and the Irish are clearly wearing yokes. The yoke, as it turned out, was 27-0 on favored USC, and watching this clip makes it clear why ND deserved to be national champs.
by Ed Butler on Mar 26, 2011 7:09 PM EDT reply actions
Thanks for the information Ed, it is much appreciated.
I do believe someone somewhere had mentioned that the white yokes were first introduced by Rockne. 1930 would have been his last season.
I wonder if they were worn anytime before that or how often in the early part of the 1930’s? Also, it would have been pretty rare for a team to wear white in 1930, no? That would probably be a rare occurrence so long ago but I’d have to check with someone who knows USC’s uniform history.
Thanks again!
by Eric Murtaugh on Mar 27, 2011 2:56 PM EDT reply actions
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