1968 Falcons

Tonight's mission calls on the fans of the 'Dirty Birds.'

In 1968, the Falcons had 4 jersey sets - 2 black and 2 white. The difference being that 1 set of each had nice wide NW stripes while the other sets, presumably their 'warm-weather' sets, had shorter sleeves and very thin striping at sleeve's end.



This picture shows that, at least in this instance (Oct. 6 vs GB), both jerseys were worn within the same game.


While #61, #11, and #37 have the NW stripes, linemen #66 and #67 sport the shorter-sleeved variety.

A) Was this mix-n-match prevalent throughout the year or did they stop wearing the short sleeves at a point before season's end?
B) Conversely, was there a point where they ONLY wore the shorter sleeves?

Bill,
I have this photo from the Life-Google Collection.

The sleeve stripes are black-white-red-white-black...

Football Team - Baltimore Colts - '68
Photographer: Arthur Rickerby

Still looking for other photos
-Mako

Fixed, Mako.
Thanks.

Here's one from the 10/20 game at Los Angeles:

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/84093372/Getty-Images-Sport

and from the 10/27 game at Cleveland:

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/81277318/Getty-Images-Sport

Both are short sleeves

10/6 game vs. Green Bay--short sleeves:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KHdQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JhEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7351,1257298&dq=packers+falcons&hl=en (page 11 of 25)

10/13 game vs NYG--short sleeves (can't reproduce photo from 10/14 NY Times, p. 62)

11/3 game @ Pittsburgh: short sleeves:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TNhaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aWwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7053,544098&dq=falcons+steelers&hl=en

11/10 game vs. Los Angeles: short sleeves:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RF5JAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZgoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1039,2878153&dq=falcons+rams&hl=en

Bill Schaefer wrote:Fixed, Mako.
Thanks.

that was the only photo I have in which you can tell the sleeve stripes colors, but it could always be a SNAFU.

Supposedly from the same year (according to the White at Home in the NFL project the Falcons went white at home against the Colts in '68 and I'm not the one who can recognize a stadium looking at the stands... blue chairs seem to tell Baltimore, though)

It's definitely 1968, because Morrall can clearly be seen in the picture, and the only other time the Colts played in Atlanta during Morrall's years was the following year (10/5), when only Unitas played.

The empty seats would also indicate the game was in Atlanta, since Colts home games were almost always sold out and the sunny day for an October game seems more likely than one on December 1. My guess is, taking into account the "Go Colts" sign, that a few passionate fans made the trip to Fulton County Stadium

Mako Mameli wrote:

Bill Schaefer wrote:Fixed, Mako.
Thanks.

that was the only photo I have in which you can tell the sleeve stripes colors, but it could always be a SNAFU.

Supposedly from the same year (according to the White at Home in the NFL project the Falcons went white at home against the Colts in '68 and I'm not the one who can recognize a stadium looking at the stands... blue chairs seem to tell Baltimore, though)

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these are from the Falcons '69 home game vs the Cowboys. The blue seats are clearly visible.

The Colts game is definitely in Atlanta who went WAH for that game per Tim's research.

Its just hard to say without seeing video of each game whether they all went NW stripes, all went shortie with micro-stripes at the ends of the sleeves, or if they mixed.

You can catch brief glimpses of both Colts games at the following points--6:35, 7:00 and 9:30:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/151750/team-highlights-1968-baltimore-colts?team=indianapolis-colts&show=3824#x-4,vepisode,1,0