I'm back on track and there's only three to go!
See description below if you've still not read these:
While we're in the off-season, it's nice to know about some different things. I've decided to take on the grueling task of researching each MWC's team (and future MWC team) uniforms and helmets. Uniforms are one of the defining characteristics of a team (as well as gameday traditions and mascots), and as someone who takes pride in trying to obtain as many jerseys of my favorite teams as possible and also obsessing on how each team dresses, I think knowing the history of each teams uni and where they're headed is important. If you have some information that i missed and you would like to share, email me at pontiaka@live.com or cjhondros@gmail.com (when you do so, put Uni-obsessed in the title so I know what it's about). I'm going to make the posts as often as I can.
Wondering where the previous breakdowns were? Click for joyfulness:
Mountain West logo (do you really want to? I don't)
These photos all came from the History and Records section of the SDSU media guide. I apologize for the grayscale and will interpret the colors the best I can.
The team on Montezuma Mesa has quietly had a rich tradition of football . These include not only uniform traditions, however the traditions around these uniforms. A quick side note to point out that 75+% of games of SDSU football has been played at night since 1930 and the all black unis have been a way to "intimidate" the other team (great idea). However, our uni-history only trails back to the late 1960s:
We can see that the all black unis have been with SDSU for awhile. The helmets were scarlet:
We can also see from the uniforms that the numbers were white, and the multicolored stripes at the beginning of the shoulders have been there for awhile as well.
In the late 70's, we can see SDSU's style hasn't changed much, however, the stripes became cleaner. Also in 1978, the helmet underwent it's first major change since 1963:
This helmet remained until 1988 (with one year in 1980 of a black varient of the helmet).
Shown above, the 1980's kept the same styles as before, however the number of stripes on the jersey and pants continued to decrease (Todd Santos models above). Possibly one of the less attractive changes was on the home uni, where a giant white stripe with "Aztecs" written in it (shown above). Outside of that, I like both solids, home and away.
1990's brought an SDSU legend, Marshall Faulk, and also brought back the multi stripes on the shirts and pants, as well as the arm numbers. "San Diego State" also first appears on the front of the jersey.
While the generic uniform style remained the same in the 90's to the early 2000's, the helmets changed 4 times, all for the better. They had the "Alaska Airlines" helmet:
The "Montezuma type" (with and without airbrush):
And the shield "A" alone, with "Aztecs" written on top (with the airbrush, which became uniquely Aztec, as I believe they were the first team to do this effect):
Once again, the Aztecs took away the stripes in the mid 2000's for a "cleaner" look (home and away shown below). Most noticeable changes are that the numbers return to the arms, the font changes on the numbers, and "San Diego State" is replaced for the shield in the home uni:
In 2006, SDSU brought back the stripes, and thickened the font on the front. Also the block numbers return, but they became outlined with scarlet and black. The other major change to the uniform was the helmet, which kept the shield and spear "A," but spelled out "Aztecs" as well. This look remains today:
So what's in store for the Aztecs? I'm not sure, however Nike currently sponsors them, and if they have a repeat season like last year, we may see some uni-changes. I don't thing the color scheme will change, but maybe another helmet change? Let me know what you think, or if you know something I don't.