Tom Rafferty (Cowboys) - Jersey numerals/lettering post-1982

For years I've had this vague memory of Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Tom Rafferty wearing the team's old-school serif numerals and sans-serif NOB lettering during the mid-1980s, while the rest of the team was wearing the more modern numerals and serif lettering that the team adopted in 1982. No one else seemed to remember, not even at Uni Watch. Well, I've finally found proof.

I found this game video from 1984 where you can clearly tell that Rafferty (#64) is the only Cowboys player wearing the old-style numerals and NOB. There are pretty clear shots of it at 1:07:12, 1:09:21, and 1:37:09.



Also, this picture from 1985 (note the facemasks), where you can clearly see the serifed "6" on Rafferty's jersey front.



So, mystery solved, although the question remains <i>why</i> Rafferty, and Rafferty alone, continued to wear the old style numerals and lettering after 1982.

As a Dallas fan, I've known about this anomaly for years. I guess the jersey had great sentimental value or something. Lord knows how many repairs it underwent over the years (assuming there was just one jersey). Bums me out that Dallas dropped those distinctive serif numbers.

1985:

Tom must be/must have been a very superstitious Irish lad.

The color photo of Rafferty and White is from '87, not '85.

There's another one at this link from the same game, where you can clearly see the sans-serif NOB.

Rafferty played until 1989; we have visual evidence that he wore the old-style numerals/NOB in '84, '85 and '87 (and thus, presumably, '82, '83 and '86). The search continues for evidence he wore them in '88 and/or '89.

He wore the same jersey as everyone else during team photos, but not on game day.

When I first looked into this years ago all I could find was the team pictures. Since Rafferty's #64 looks the same as everyone else's numbers in all the team pictures of that era, I thought my memory might have been mistaken. It just occurred to me the other day to start looking again.