MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University unveiled a special 1965 throwback uniform on its social media platforms yesterday.
The design is similar to the uniform the Mountaineers wore 60 years ago when they were playing in the Southern Conference.
That was the team that defeated Pitt 63-48 in what is still the highest-scoring Backyard Brawl game in series history.
The Mountaineers won the Southern Conference that year with a 4-0 record, but Virginia Tech had exited the league, leaving West Virginia, William & Mary, East Carolina, VMI, George Washington, The Citadel, Davidson, Furman and Richmond as its remnants.
The real historical significance of that season is what was on the team’s helmet – a distinctive three-dimensional navy blue WVU logo outlined in gold. Set behind the logo was a light-blue state of West Virginia that really gave the old-gold helmet a modern, technicolor look for the mid-1960s.
Interestingly enough, some of the helmets had a single blue stripe going down the middle while split end Bob Dunlevy’s helmet, pictured here, didn’t. He guesses equipment manager Carl Roberts either ran out of blue tape or else he must have mistaken Dunlevy for a backup. The players used to say that Roberts was notorious for giving the backups and kickers used socks and second-hand equipment.
“Probably so,” Dunlevy laughed. “I kept my helmet because I needed it to play in the North-South game after the season. I’m sure Carl was probably after me to return it, but I kept it, and I still have it.”
Nevertheless, West Virginia University vice-president and director of athletics Wren Baker is somewhat of a uniform buff, and the first time he visited the Puskar Center’s Hall of Traditions, he immediately took notice of that helmet among the other ones on display.
“The inspiration really came shortly after Wren got here,” WVU deputy director of athletics Matt Wells said earlier today. “He was familiarizing himself with the history of Mountaineer football, and he saw the 1965 helmet on display over at the Hall of Traditions.
“That started a conversation of, ‘Hey, what can we do with that?’ As we looked more into what the ’65 team accomplished … Southern Conference champions and what I believe is still the highest-scoring Backyard Brawl game in series history and a big win over Pitt … plus, it’s also the 60th anniversary of that season, but really, it was an opportunity to do a true throwback, which we haven’t done.”
Prior to the 1965 season, numerals appeared on the side of West Virginia’s helmets in 1955, 1959 and the 1963 centennial season when each players’ helmet had numeral 100 on the side to celebrate the state’s 100-year anniversary.
WVU that year also petitioned the NCAA to have placekicker Chuck Kinder wear jersey No. 100, which it granted.
As for the helmet logo, it was removed when coach Jim Carlen took over the program in 1966 and the side of the helmet remained bare until a different iteration of the WVU football logo returned in 1970 when Bobby Bowden replaced Carlen.
A logo of some sort has been on Mountaineer football helmets ever since.
Special-themed uniforms have been designed in the past, but never a true throwback uniform, according to Wells.
“We’ve done the ‘Country Roads’ version uniform home and away, we’ve done a ‘Coal Rush,’ and we’ve brought back certain elements of past uniforms with our primary look,” Wells noted. “But we thought with the unique nature of that helmet, and the helmet logo with the baby blue, it was probably the most unique element of any of the past uniforms that we could potentially replicate.”
Wells indicated a home game has not yet been determined to unveil them.
“We’ll set our regular promotional schedule with Gold Rush, Stripe the Stadium, True Blue, Coal Rush and then which game we wear the throwbacks,” he said. “We will also have a merchandising line in stores, probably in late summer. The logo on the helmet will be part of the merchandising line with polo shirts, quarter-zip polos and a replica helmet.”
Kristin Coldsnow, the lead designer on West Virginia’s other themed football uniforms, was once again consulted on this design, although she no longer works for the athletics department.
“We didn’t challenge her as much on this one because it was just emulating an existing look,” Wells explained. “She was very detail-oriented to make sure we got the state outline right and the proper color of blue while working with Nike.
“Austin Blake, from our football equipment staff, was also instrumental on the helmet, matching the color and getting the right colors on the front and back bumpers,” Wells said. “There were some intricate details and Austin sort of took the lead on that.”
In addition to Coldsnow, Blake, Wells and Baker, department uniform connoisseur and executive senior associate athletic director Michael Fragale and senior sports publications director Joe Swan also provided their input during the design process.
Because of the unique old-gold color scheme, Wells said the helmet will be one-off because it doesn’t match the colors of West Virginia’s regular uniforms.
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