Illinois Football Uniforms

#53      
Ander1345
mattcoldagelli said:
Different and interesting - big caveat of seeing how they actually look on a football field, but this is a cool, thoughtful execution (the Grey Ghost unis were....not that)
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I get thst people feel this way but they'll always be special to me because we wore them when we beat Wisconsin in 2019. Next best win in them is.... Beckman era Minnesota when we won on a freak fumble recovery for a TD???
 
#54      
GrayGhost77
#56      
chiefini
The Galloping Ghost said:
The Grey Ghost uniforms never quite hit with me. They didn't have that historical feel, didn't look particularly good, and weren't recognizable as Illinois. These are the antithesis of those. They hit every note.

I've always wondered what a modern uniform would look like with the front stripes from the Grange era. This is about as good of a blend as you can possibly have. It invokes the past while still saying Illinois and looking pretty darn good considering. And then those helmets. 99 out of 100 times they would have been half-a$$ed, either flat brown or some weird decal. Getting them hand-painted makes all the difference in the world.

The competence of our current DIA continues to impress.
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Username checks out!
 
#58      
Thor_1974
I’m completely psyched to see these tribute uniforms on October 19th. A few years ago, I put together this full-sized shadow box in my basement man cave to honor the Galloping Ghost.
 

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#61      
Thor_1974
GrayGhost77 said:
Very cool. Where'd you get the jersey replica? By the way, I have the same flooring in my basement.
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I bought the a white practice jersey that was advertised to be a replica the 1920’s - from past time sports website about 20 years ago, and figured out how to dye it navy blue. The girl that I was dating at the time was very good at sewing so I asked her if she would sew on the stripes and 77 on the back. I bought the replica full-sized helmet from that same website a couple of years before that. The canvas pants and leather shoulder pads, I bought on eBay. They are both actually the same style that Grange wore. For Halloween one year, I went to a party all decked out as Red Grange.

Funny story to share about the jersey - there was a casting call for the movie ‘Leatherheads’ at a local expo center here in Greenville, SC. They were looking for extras for the football scenes/teams in the movie. I had an idea to wear my Grange jersey and leather helmet to the casting call event. Long story short, the assistant director saw me and took me aside. He asked me where I got the uniform and the helmet. After we talked for 30 -45 minutes, he told me that he wanted me to be on one of the football teams in the movie. On the day that I showed up for filming the scene that I would be in, I saw a guy wearing an Illinois baseball cap on the film crew. Turned out that he was also an alum - and he explained that 2 of the characters in the movie were VERY loosely based on Red Grange and George Halas. The set where we did the filming was supposed to represent a football field in Decatur, IL, though the scene was filmed here in Greenville. Being an Illinois boy through and through, I thought to myself that this opportunity had to be a sign! lol.
 
#62      
GrapplingIllini
Thor_1974 said:
Funny story to share about the jersey - there was a casting call for the movie ‘Leatherheads’ at a local expo center here in Greenville, SC. They were looking for extras for the football scenes/teams in the movie. I had an idea to wear my Grange jersey and leather helmet to the casting call event. Long story short, the assistant director saw me and took me aside. He asked me where I got the uniform and the helmet. After we talked for 30 -45 minutes, he told me that he wanted me to be on one of the football teams in the movie. On the day that I showed up for filming the scene that I would be in, I saw a guy wearing an Illinois baseball cap on the film crew. Turned out that he was also an alum - and he explained that 2 of the characters in the movie were VERY loosely based on Red Grange and George Halas. The set where we did the filming was supposed to represent a football field in Decatur, IL, though the scene was filmed here in Greenville. Being an Illinois boy through and through, I thought to myself that this opportunity had to be a sign! lol.
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Lol great story, thanks for sharing. There’s a nod to Illinois/Red Grange in this scene from Leathernecks where Renee Zellweger’s character introduced herself as from Champaign.
 
#67      
lstewart53x3
redwingillini11 said:
NGL, pretty disappointed with the schedule. Underlined only for Kansas and arched only for Central? Those are our two best helmets. Hopefully they show up a few times on the road as well.
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I’m just excited because my personal favorites are the stars and the leather and those are the two games I get to attend this year. Can’t wait
 
#70      
Battle89
redwingillini11 said:
NGL, pretty disappointed with the schedule. Underlined only for Kansas and arched only for Central? Those are our two best helmets. Hopefully they show up a few times on the road as well.
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My preferences for football head protection:

1. Painted leather
2. Numbers & stars
3. Arch
4. Block I
5. Block I military (nothing wrong with supporting the troops, just don't love the flag I)
6. Real leather
7. Orange bicycle helmet
8. Bubble wrap
9. Orange spray paint
10. Underlined "Giants" Illinois

Will expect a loss to KU now, to further cement my intense dislike of that branding.
 
#71      
illiniwil
i'm the minority i know but the metallic orange helmet with the blue block
I, no outline is the best we've ever wore, second is the new leather look and
third the Butkus 4 star. im also definitely ok with the current block I
 
#72      
Fighter of the Nightman
redwingillini11 said:
NGL, pretty disappointed with the schedule. Underlined only for Kansas and arched only for Central? Those are our two best helmets. Hopefully they show up a few times on the road as well.
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Oof, I agree that the arched one is easily the best ... but I will never sign off on the ILLINOIS helmet. I'll admit it is gaining nostalgia points with time, but that font reminds me so much of the RG Era and looked so cheap. JMO.

Are we to assume we will always just wear the regular helmet on the road? They only showed home games there, after all. Given that video and assuming that is true, this is my guess for the overall uniforms worn this year:

vs. Eastern Illinois: Regular helmet & O/B/O
vs. Kansas: Slant ILLINOIS helmet & O/O/O (confirmed "Orange Out" game)
vs. Central Michigan: Arched ILLINI helmet & O/B/O ("classic" combo for Homecoming)
at Nebraska: Regular helmet & O/W/W (we are for some reason obsessed with this annoying combo, and I imagine even more so under the lights, haha...)
at Penn State: Regular helmet & O/W/O (we determine white pants on the road are bac luck after Nebraska and wear the same combo that got us our last shocking victory in Happy Valley!)
vs. Purdue: 1960s numbers helmet & O/B/W (we bust out the white pants at home, as we often wore them back then)
vs. Michigan: Grange Era throwbacks
at Oregon: Regular helmet & O/W/B (we FINALLY get #BPOTR, but unfortunately we get smoked and never see the combo again, haha...)
vs. Minnesota: Military appreciation helmet & O/B/O
vs. Michigan State: Regular helmet & O/B/O
at Rutgers: Regular helmet & O/W/O
vs. Northwestern (Wrigley): Regular helmet & O/O/O (NU wears some black gothic-themed jersey, and we bust out the all orange to proudly create a stark contrast ... not sure if this would work, but a lot of rivalry games let each team wear their home jerseys, ala USC and UCLA or Utah and BYU)

Probably a very big dose of wishful thinking in there, and we will most likely just wear O/B/O (which I'm fine with) and O/W/W (which I hate) almost every game but one or two.
 
#73      
Toews
Obviously my one nitpick is the four star helmet was not actually a four star helmet (those were pride stickers many players would have one two or no stars). Still while my favorite throwback helmet is the Butkus one, I think the slant one will look the best with these 90s inspired uniforms. In fact, I would have put the slant helmet with the blue uniform, and then used the 70's arched helmet with the orange uniforms to better match the era helmets with the era (since we wore orange more in the 70s than basically anytime else besides like Beckman).
 
#74      
Ander1345
I just wish we would use the throwback uniforms as our default. We played some really good football back then, lol
.
 
#75      
TheFlyingIllini1317
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Oof, I agree that the arched one is easily the best ... but I will never sign off on the ILLINOIS helmet. I'll admit it is gaining nostalgia points with time, but that font reminds me so much of the RG Era and looked so cheap. JMO.

Are we to assume we will always just wear the regular helmet on the road? They only showed home games there, after all. Given that video and assuming that is true, this is my guess for the overall uniforms worn this year:

vs. Eastern Illinois: Regular helmet & O/B/O
vs. Kansas: Slant ILLINOIS helmet & O/O/O (confirmed "Orange Out" game)
vs. Central Michigan: Arched ILLINI helmet & O/B/O ("classic" combo for Homecoming)
at Nebraska: Regular helmet & O/W/W (we are for some reason obsessed with this annoying combo, and I imagine even more so under the lights, haha...)
at Penn State: Regular helmet & O/W/O (we determine white pants on the road are bac luck after Nebraska and wear the same combo that got us our last shocking victory in Happy Valley!)
vs. Purdue: 1960s numbers helmet & O/B/W (we bust out the white pants at home, as we often wore them back then)
vs. Michigan: Grange Era throwbacks
at Oregon: Regular helmet & O/W/B (we FINALLY get #BPOTR, but unfortunately we get smoked and never see the combo again, haha...)
vs. Minnesota: Military appreciation helmet & O/B/O
vs. Michigan State: Regular helmet & O/B/O
at Rutgers: Regular helmet & O/W/O
vs. Northwestern (Wrigley): Regular helmet & O/O/O (NU wears some black gothic-themed jersey, and we bust out the all orange to proudly create a stark contrast ... not sure if this would work, but a lot of rivalry games let each team wear their home jerseys, ala USC and UCLA or Utah and BYU)

Probably a very big dose of wishful thinking in there, and we will most likely just wear O/B/O (which I'm fine with) and O/W/W (which I hate) almost every game but one or two.
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#TEAMBPOTR
 
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