1867-1939 | Michigan Football Uniform Timeline — MVictors.com

Scroll down for a timeline of Michigan football team uniforms changes through history.

October 1, 1938 | Ann Arbor, MI | vs. Michigan State

HELMET: In Fritz Crisler’s debut as head coach, he introduces the Michigan football “winged” helmet design. Crisler had introduced a similarly designed winged helmet, with 3 stripes running through the middle, at Princeton in 1935.

The winged design simply took advantage of features of a helmet the Spalding sporting goods company had advertised in the 1937 edition of the Official Intercollegiate Football Guide. Crisler’s 1938 innovation at Michigan was to paint the helmet maize and blue. The photo above of Wally Hook at the Michigan State game via the 1939 Michiganensian and the Bentley Historical Library.

1937 Season | Ann Arbor

HELMET: Team is issued a helmet painted with a single white stripe around the helmet, with 2 perpendicular stripes intersecting at the top. [via U-M Bentley Historical Library]:

1936 Season | Ann Arbor

HELMET: Team is issued a helmet stamped with “U of M” on the front/forehead of the helmet [via U-M Bentley Historical Library]:

1935 Season | Ann Arbor

HELMET: Team is issued a helmet stamped with “U M” on the front/forehead of the helmet [via U-M Bentley Historical Library]:

1931 Season | Ann Arbor

JERSEY: The 1931 jersey belonging to former player Norm Daniels (this showed up for sale on eBay in 2008):

1930 Season | Ann Arbor

JERSEY: This is the first season jersey numbers appear on the front of Michigan uniforms. This authentic jersey that belonged to 1930 left guard Francis Cornwell appeared for auction on eBay in 2008:

1929 Season | Ann Arbor

JERSEY: This is the final season without numbers on the front of jerseys:

November 10, 1928 | Baltimore, MD (Baltimore Stadium) | vs. Navy

JERSEY: Given Navy wore blue jerseys, the Michigan team made a color change to distinguish the team on the field. The November 8, 1928, Michigan Daily described them as “jerseys of a brilliant yellow hue with blue numerals.”

Here’s a look at the canaries via a shot from the game in the 1929 Michiganensian:

1927 (End of Season) | Ann Arbor, MI

JERSEY: Following the 1927 season, Michigan retires the #47 jersey belonging to Bennie Oosterbaan. (In 2012 Oosterbaan and the #47 officially entered the Michigan Football Legends program and returned to the field, before being re-retired on November 28, 2015, when the Legends program ended.) Below, a colorized version of Oosterbaan’s 1927 uniform:

November 12, 1927, | Ann Arbor, MI | vs. Navy

HELMET: To create contrast with the Navy uniform, Michigan paints its helmets “a bright maize color” for the game. Here’s a clip from the Michigan Daily prior to the game:

November 22, 1924 | Ann Arbor, MI | vs. Iowa

HELMET: According to the November 22, 1924 Michigan Daily, Michigan wears “white-washed headgears”.

1924 Season | Ann Arbor, MI

HELMET: Via the Bentley Historical Library, note this photo of All-American Edliff Slaughter, a rare instance where a Yost-era athlete poses with a helmet:

1919 Season | Ann Arbor, MI

UNIFORM: Presumably due to both WWI and the global pandemic, U-M faces an equipment shortage for this season impacting several pieces of gear. From the November 23, 1919, Michigan Daily, “the quality of the jerseys was not as good as it has been in the past.” Note the tattered uniform in this photo of 1919 reserve tackle Theodore Timchac:

October 20, 1917 | vs. Michigan Agricultural College (M.A.C.) | Ann Arbor, MI

JERSEY: Michigan issues a special jersey for the M.A.C. game. This is confirmed in multiple accounts in the Michigan Daily, first reported in the October 19, 1917 edition: “New, yellow striped jerseys will make their appearance on the Michigan footballers tomorrow…” Via the U-M Bentley Library, an impromptu 1917 team photo featuring what is believed to be the special uniforms:

1917 Season | Ann Arbor, MI

JERSEY: Michigan issues (previously considered unlucky) the #13 jersey for the first time to QB Clifford Sparks. According to the Michigan Daily, “Sparks chose No. 13 for his Varsity sweater in an effort to break the jinx [injuries] that has followed him since he because a regular footballer under Yost.”

October 30, 1915 | Ann Arbor, MI | vs. Syracuse

JERSEY: Numbers are added to the back of jerseys for the first time in history. From the October 27, 1915 Michigan Daily, the numbers sewed on, white in color and “six inches in height.” The numbers issued are 2-32, but excluded 13 which is considered unlucky.

Via the U-M Bentley Library, an action shot from the Syracuse game featuring the new jersey numbers:

1912(?) Season | Ann Arbor, MI

JERSEY/HELMET/SHOES: Put up for auction in 2010, what appears to be an authentic full uniform from the (approximately) the early 1910s (perhaps 1912 or 1913) Michigan football team:

October 11, 1910 | Michigan Daily

JERSEY: The Michigan Daily posts a series of quotes on whether Michigan should put numbers on their football jerseys. The idea is generally supported except for the most important guy:

“I do not like the idea,” said Coach [Fielding] Yost, “because it brings the individuals into too much prominence.”

1901 Season | All Games

Via John Kryk and the U-M Bentley Historical Library – from a colorized version of the 1901 team photo. (It’s unclear when this was done and whether the color tones are accurate but worthy of posting here nonetheless).

November 23, 1887 | South Bend, IN | vs. Notre Dame

On a trip to Chicago, Michigan visits Notre Dame and teaches a group of men the game of football.

JERSEY: Via the U-M Bentley Historical Library team photo, the majority of the squad wears white jerseys with laces that run all the way up the front. Lightly colored lettering ‘U of M’ letters are sewn on the front:

1885 Season

JERSEY: From the team photo, it appears most of the team donned dark sweaters with ‘U of M’ brushed or painted onto the front. Several of the players all wear a short beanie cap:

May 30, 1879 | Chicago, IL (White Stocking Park) | vs. Racine

JERSEY & SHOE/SOCKS: According to Champions of the West, the uniforms for the first game in history consisted of “white, close-fitting canvas with blue stockings and a belt.” Based on the team photo available at the U-M Bentley Library, the team also donned striped hats:

February 12, 1867 | Ann Arbor, MI

MISC: Michigan officially adopts maize and blue as its school colors (more here):

Our college colors were chosen at a meeting of the literary department held in the chapel on Saturday, February 12, 1867, when Milton Jackson, ’67, Albert H. Pattengill, ’68, and J. Eugene Jackson, ’69, the committee appointed for the purpose, reported a resolution in favor of “azure-blue and maize”, which was adopted. In about ten years the colors came to be styled, as they are now styled, yellow and blue. The original blue was neither light nor very dark, and the yellow was decidedly golden. Never has there been any warrant for the sickly yellow and the faded blue furnished by some of the tradesmen of Detroit and Ann Arbor.

For additional periods of Michigan Uniform history, click below: