Closer inspection of the 1957 Michigan-Georgia game has yielded a few interesting plots and subplots, and here’s another. On this trip to Michigan Stadium 64 years ago the Bulldogs wore dark, or in modern terms, “home” jerseys:
Why? I couldn’t find a specific timeline of the NCAA rules around uniform mandates, and there was no callout in any game report. Clearly, this wasn’t viewed as a major deal back then as it would today (see the UCLA vs. USC fanfare where each team wears its home jersey). For the record, we know that U-M first donned a road (white) jersey in 1949 for the Northwestern game. And at this point (1957), pretty much every Michigan game film/photo I can find had the home team wearing dark, the road team white.
I dug deeper and found this note in the Michigan Daily that notes Michigan was expecting Georgia to wear white uniforms. Not only that, they went to lengths to incorporate this notion into game prep:
The reserves wore white jerseys with black numerals similar to those which visiting Georgia will wear this Saturday. The numbers on these jerseys were corresponding to those which each Bulldog wears. The coaching staff feels that it will give the players an advantage if they can get used to the uniform color and number they will be opposing.
Michigan Daily, October 2, 1957 p.3
Imagine the surprise of the U-M coaching staff (and chagrin of the equipment managers!) when the Bulldogs trotted out of the tunnel in the reds?
One guess is that the home/road thing was a rule or custom in the Big Ten but southern teams like Georgia just didn’t adhere to it. Or perhaps UGA had heard Michigan actually practiced against white uniforms/numbers and wanted to toss a wrench into coach Oosterbaan’s plans. Hmm.
Before waving the white flag, I pinged Greg Kinney at the amazing Bentley Historical Library. He was kind enough to pass along my arcade question to Jason Hasty, an archivist from UGA. Hasty straightened things out in a jiffy:
We [Georgia] very rarely wore white jerseys during the ‘50s. I’ve never run across a definitive explanation to say that it was a policy of ours or if it was just a preference on the part of the coaching staff, but the only times we wore white jerseys was when the opposing team wore red or crimson jerseys. The only times during the 1950s that I can say that we wore white jerseys were in games against Alabama, Maryland, and N.C. State. Otherwise, we stuck to the Georgia red jerseys, plain silver helmets, and silver britches.
Jason Hasty, University of Georgia archivist
So there you go. And it looks like Georgia’s preference for the red jerseys continued into the 1960s, at least against your beloved Wolverines. From the last time we met, October 2, 1965, again, at Michigan Stadium:
So as far as the Orange Bowl on December 31st? You can expect the Bulldogs to be finally wearing whites as #2 Michigan is designated as the home team.
More stories from this game:
- Michigan wrestles with Playing Segregated Georgia (1957)
- 1957 Game-Used Jersey Revealed, and a Pick-Six! (1957)
Or check out the latest episode of the MVictors History Show:
