The History of the
Wildcat Uniform
Page Three


1979-1980

JERSEY: Venturi, in his second season, introduced one of the boldest changes to the NU uniform.  In 1979 the purple jersey featured white sleeves with a wildcat head image.  The white jersey, however, remained the same as 1978: plain white, no stripes, purple numbers on the front and low on the shoulders.  The 1980 purple jersey was the same as 1979, and NU made the white jersey consistent, adding the wildcat head image on purple sleeves.
     
HELMET: Two more seasons under Venturi, two more helmets: both kept 1978's white shell with one purple stripe.  The 1979 helmet featured the short-lived "Script n" logo.  The 1980 version had the even shorter-lived "Script Cats" logo.

PANTS: Pants for both years were the same as before-- white, with one purple stripe.  However, for some (but not all) road games in 1979-80 the 'Cats wore purple pants.


1981
JERSEY: With Pont and Venturi's exit, the two-toned uniform left as well.  In 1981, Dennis Green's first team wore jerseys identical to the 1960 uniform: plain purple, no stripes, white numbers on the front and low on the shoulders.

HELMET: For the fifth year in a row, NU wore a new helmet onto the field.  However, unlike the others, the 1981 design would not only stick around, it would become one of the all-time defining images of the team and of the University.  It was the most important uniform change since "northwestern striping" was added to the jerseys in 1928.

NU went with a plain purple helmet, no stripes, and a white face mask.  The logo, in white, was a brand new design, created for Northwestern by Gordon Stromberg.  The design (variously called the "Athletic N," "Northwestern N," or "Sculpted N") was distinctive and modern; however, by its simplicity and its placement on a plain field of purple, it harkened to NU's earliest athletic letter designs and tied in school tradition.  The variant "N-Cat" design, with interlocked 'Cat-head, would take its place alongside the "Athletic N" logo a couple of years later, but the helmet's simple, flaired N design remained the more formal and elegant of the two, and remained on the Wildcat headgear.


 1982-1989
 
JERSEY: For NU's intercollegiate football centennial celebration, the Wildcats decked out in a new uniform.  NU returned to using northwestern sleeve striping.  Now the stripes and numbers had a grey outline.  This uniform would continue to be used for eight seasons, with the following minor changes:
  • In 1982 only, the team wore a commemorative patch on their left shoulders, celebrating 100 years of NU football.
  • By the late eighties, the middle sleeve stripe narrowed, so that the three stripes were almost equal in width.

HELMET: The 1981 helmet did not undergo any major changes.  Early during this period, the white "Athletic N" logo had a thin grey outline.

PANTS: For 1982 through 1989, NU changed the pants for its uniform constantly, sometimes mid-season.  With the shift to grey accents on the new 1982 jersey, the 'Cats switched to grey pants for the first time in many years.  NU used the grey pants until 1985 when it started using white pants with a grey-purple-grey striping.  This look lasted a couple of seasons, then in 1987 NU began using white or grey pants practically on a game to game basis, with grey pants being worn usually on the road.  By 1989 the 'Cats were exclusively wearing grey pants with a white-purple-white striping.

  1990-1991
 
JERSEY: The 1990 Wildcats sported a new sleeve stripe style, with an elastic band at the end of the sleeve that featured small, equally sized grey and white stripes.  The grey outline around the jersey numbers now did not touch the white numbers, but had an outline from the purple jersey between it and the numerals. On November 16, 1991, NU hosted Iowa and wore purple jerseys in a game for the last time until 2003.

HELMET: The 1981 helmet, with one small change: in 1991 Peay dropped the white faceguard in favor of a dark one.

PANTS: NU kept with light grey pants with the white-purple-white stripes, with one exception.  For the 1991 Illinois game at Dyche Stadium, NU wore purple pants, along with their standard purple jerseys and helmets.
 
 
1992 - mid 1994


JERSEY: When Gary Barnett came to NU, he changed the Wildcat uniform, making it look more like Colorado's-- black jerseys and all.  However, Barnett claims in High Hopes that his son is responsible for the switch: "[Clay] complained about everything, even the way Northwestern's uniforms looked.  So to get him involved and thinking positively, I said, 'Give me a better idea.  How would you do the uniforms?'  He said, 'Dad, the two hottest colors are purple and black.'  He drew up the concept of the uniform with these colors, and I had some prototypes made up.

"...I took it to one administrator who had been here a long time, and he said, 'Absolutely not.'  When I took it to an administrator who hired me, he said, 'If you've got the guts to wear them, I'll back you.'  I actually was apprehensive about the design and figured we'd eventually go back to purple.  We kept the black a secret before the [1992] season and even had our team picture taken in white jerseys.  In fact, we warmed up in purple jerseys before the game.

"When we hit the field in black just before the game I think everybody over the age of 40 gasped and almost had heart attacks.  But everyone under the age of 40 loved them, and every recruit that's walked in here has, too." [High Hopes, p. 104]

The jersey that debuted in 1992 at Soldier Field marked the first time since the early forties that NU did not use a purple jersey during a season.  The '92 jersey did bring back the northwestern striping, with a twist: the middle stripe was now purple.  The jersey would be worn through the next season, and in the first two home games of the 1994 season (the white version of the '92 jersey-- purple numbers with a black outline-- was worn for all road games from 1992 through the end of 1994).  The only difference with the 1994 version was the addition of a patch on the left breast commemorating the 125th anniversary of college football.

HELMET: No major changes.  Barnett switched the faceguard to purple, then to black.  He also began awarding 'Cat-head decals on a game-by-game basis.

PANTS: In the 1992 debut, the 'Cats wore purple pants; however, there were several games in 1992 for which NU wore the grey pants (unlike the old grey pants of 1982-1991, the 1992 grey pants had no stripes and featured the N-Cat).  By 1993, the team wore purple pants exclusively.  They continued to wear the no-stripe purple pants for all games until 2000.


 
Late 1994 (Black)
 
JERSEY: After the '94 Stanford game, NU abandoned its 1992 jersey (and the 125th anniversary patch) and switched to the jersey above.  NU reversed the number colors (now white with purple piping) and switched the font slightly.  However, the change effected home jerseys only.  The white jersey remained the 1992 style.   The new black jersey lasted the remainder of the season, but was changed for 1995, making it one of the shortest-lived uniforms at NU.
 
1995-1996
 
JERSEY: With the 1995 jersey NU dropped sleeve or shoulder numbers, added the "N-Cat" logo to the shoulders, dropped the purple piping from the chest and back numbers, and--with the death of  Marcel Price-- added the "Big Six" memorial patch to the left breast.  The jersey was worn again in 1996 and is significant because NU won Big Ten titles each year the uniform was worn.

The only deviations from this uniform were the Rose and Citrus Bowl jerseys.  Both used the style that would become standard in 1997.  The Rose shirt featured a large Rose Bowl logo on the left breast and a large Big Ten / Pac Ten logo on the right.  The Citrus jersey had a smaller Citrus Bowl logo on the right breast.

When NU took the field in its last regular season game in 1996, against Purdue, it marked the last time ever that the Wildcats wore northwestern striping, the look that NU established in 1928 and was one of the Wildcats' greatest on-field traditions.
HELMET: No changes.  After NU claimed the 1995 Big Ten Championship, Wheaties released a box that featured the Northwestern helmet.

PANTS: NU continued to wear the same purple pants that were part of its uniform since 1992 (no stripes, "N-Cat" logo on the right side).  During the 1995 season, however, the 'Cats also wore a Big Ten Centennial patch on the left side of the pants.  They did not wear it for 1996.  Also in 1996 the "N-Cat" logo shifted to the left side of the pants, where it remained through the end of 2002.



 
1997
 
JERSEY: This uniform actually debuted at the 1996 Rose Bowl and was also used at the 1997 Citrus Bowl.  The "N-Cat" logos moved from the shoulders to the sleeves and the northwestern striping was dropped.  The "Big Six" patch remained in place.  The Reebok logo (not pictured) also featured prominently on the chest.

 
1998-2002(Black)

 
1998-1999(White) & 2000-2002(White)

JERSEY: With the move to Adidas in 1998, NU changed its jersey style, adding UCLA-style shoulder stripes (not coincidentally resembling the Adidas logo) and shrinking the "N-Cat" logo on the sleeve.  The purple piping returned to the white numerals, and the numeral font changed to a narrower style.

The "Big Six" patch remained on the jersey until the end of the 1998 season.  The jersey had no patches at all during the 1999 season.  NU wore a white Alamo Bowl patch on the right shoulder during the 2000 Alamo Bowl only.  During 2001, NU wore a memorial patch for Rashidi Wheeler (a white rectangle marked with the letters "RAW" in black) on the left breast.  They wore a U.S. flag on the right breast, starting with the September 22, 2001 Duke game.  For the 2002 Spring Game, the Wildcats had retired the "RAW" patch, but retained the flag.  For the 2002 season, NU removed the flag (a smaller flag image was instead placed on the back of NU's helmets) and had no patches on the jersey.

The numeral font changed again slightly in 2001, back to a wider style.  Strangely, not all players wore the wider font  (Damien Anderson's #20, for example, stayed narrow).  This mix of fonts remained in 2002.

The white jersey included the same striping pattern as the black jersey until 2000, when the white jersey striping switched to the pattern shown above.  

HELMET: No major changes to the 1981 helmet.  In addition to the 'Cat-head decals that Barnett started, Randy Walker began handing out an array of other helmet decals, including stars (for big plays) and paws (for special teams).  The purple paint also changed slightly, becoming darker and more metallic.

PANTS: In 2000 NU began using black pants for most road games, in addition to the purple pants still used for home games.


2003-2006

(2003 Font)
 
(2005-2006 Font)
JERSEY: Adidas and NU ended their relationship at the end of 2001, and the 'Cats used surplus Adidas uniforms during the 2002 season.  Adidas returned to sponsoring the Wildcats in 2003, and NU decided to change the uniform jersey and pants completely.  The uniforms are made for Adidas by Betlin Manufacturing.

For the first time in over a decade, the 'Cats wore purple jerseys.  They featured white USC-style shoulder sections, a black collar with an Athletic N logo shield, and black sleeve ends.   The jerseys retained the 1998-style N-Cat logo on the sleeves.

Since its inception in 2003, this uniform has become The Jersey of the Everchangin' Font.  The numeral font in 2003 was Celtic and, according to Keith Simpson, the '03 jerseys featured two-color Tackle Twill sewn-on numbers.  The white numerals had a black shadow.  In 2004 NU made the Celtic numeral font wider and eliminated the black numeral shadow (the 2003 font style is illustrated above).  For 2005-2006 NU used a modification of a Crillee font.  The black outline returned to the numerals. 

Uniform Fonts, 2003-2006


The only deviations from the standard jersey were the following chest patches.  For the 2003 Motor City Bowl the 'Cats wore a Motor City Bowl logo patch on their left breast.  For the 2005 Sun Bowl NU wore two patches: a Sun Bowl patch below the right shoulder and a Big Ten patch below the left shoulder.  For the 2006 season NU honored Coach Randy Walker with a memorial patch over the left breast of the uniform.  The patch is similar to the one the team wore for Rashidi Wheeler: a white rectangle with the word "WALK" in black:


And for the final game in 2006, the Wildcats celebrated the 100th meeting with Illinois by wearing this commemorative patch on their right shoulder:



HELMET: No major changes.  NU's classic helmet design enjoyed its twenty-fifth season.  For just the 2003 Motor City Bowl, players wore the word "OTTO" on the front of the helmet (in place of the Big Ten logo) to honor the late Otto Graham.  By 2005, the Big Ten logo on the front of the helmet had switched from white on a black background to white on a purple background. For just the 2006 season opener, players from both Northwestern and Miami (Ohio) wore a helmet decal displaying a red “41,” Walker’s uniform number at Miami, and “WALK” in purple lettering.  Also for 2006 the US flag returned to the back of the helmet; it had been absent for a couple of seasons.

PANTS: In 2003 the team dropped the N-Cat from the pants and added a stripe section at the bottom of the leg, similar to the curved section on the shoulders.  The purple home jerseys were worn with purple pants at home (the first all-purple look for the 'Cats since the '91 Illinois game), and for road games NU used all-white unis (jerseys and pants) that were the same style as the purple. 

There were, however, several exceptions to the purple at home / white on the road uniform pants:
  • 2003 vs. Minnesota: home game, NU wore white pants.
  • 2004 vs. Minnesota: road game, NU wore 2000-2002 style black pants.
  • 2005 vs. Iowa: home game, NU wore white pants.
  • 2006 vs. Ohio State: home game, NU wore 2000-2002 style black pants (this is believed to be the first time in Northwestern history that the team wore black pants at home).
  • 2006 vs. Illinois: home game, NU wore white pants.

2007-2008
JERSEY: In 2007 the team changed the jersey font yet again, but this time it dumped the Celtic / Crillee look altogether and used a more standard collegiate block font, with iron-on numbers.  Other than a very small change to the jersey collar, there was no other change to the 2003-style uniform.  There was no significant chagne in 2008 to this jersey, aside from making the numerals slightly larger.

HELMET: No change in 2007.  For 2008, it appears that Coach Fitzgerald has fundamentally changed the helmet sticker system.  Gone are the good play stars and other stickers that Coach Walker implemented.  The 'Cat heads remain, but are now apparently given to every player for a win.  So, every playing member of the team has the same number of 'Cat heads.

PANTS: As opposed to the 2003-06 uniform, which featured purple pants at home, the 'Cats now wear white pants both at home and on the road, dropping their all-purple at home look.  The one exception so far: the 2007 Duke game at NU, in which NU wore the 2000-2002 style black pants again (similar to the uni for the 2006 OSU game).
The Future:
A HailToPurple.com
Suggested Uniform


The uniform shown above is not an official design, it is simply a suggestion as to how a future NU jersey might appear.  For this design I used the current basic jersey, keeping the purple base color, the black collar, the "N" shield on the collar, the black sleeve ends, and the block numerals.  I removed the USC shoulder stripes and added northwestern striping, thus returning to the Wildcat uniform the symbol that was the team's biggest on-field symbol and tradition.  I also kept the shoulder area of the jersey free-- no shoulder numbers, no "N-Cat" logos, nothing.

The resulting jersey is a solid combination of modern with traditional.  It is simple, but also distinctive and unique, and it highlights the heritage of the program.

While only the purple jersey would be worn at home (no black or other jerseys), the pants could come in a wide variety: purple, white, black, or even a return to grey.

Finally, I'd suggest making absolutely no changes to the helmet.  The current helmet is a classic, and it would go well with the proposed new jersey.