Uniform Oddity: 1972 Los Angeles Rams Blue Jerseys

LOOKING BACK

By John Turney

In 1972 the L.A. Rams switched to mesh jerseys for the first time. The maker of the uniforms, both blue and white (you couldn't call them home and road since Rams wore both blue and white at home in 1972) was Medalist Sand-Knit.

However, there was an oddity. A handful of players wore blue jerseys that were a slightly different hue of blue.

Look at the red arrows pointing to Larry Brooks (90), Phil Olsen (72), Harry Schuh (76) and Dick Gordon (5) all wore a jersey with different font for the numerals and a hue that was more of a process blue than the ever-so-slight purple hue of the rest of the team.

(Click to enlarge)

It was not only evident in the team photo, but also in the highlight films,especially those played in the Los Angeles Memorial Colesium where the late afternoon sun would bathe the uniforms in a light that would separate the color differences.

These are the jerseys worn by the vast majority of the team, in our view view is a bit to the purple side and the value (darkness) is lighter.

This is the Phil Olsen jersey, though harder to tell here, the color is slightly different that the three above. Also, the numerals are different here. Look at the team photo above and you can see both the "7" and the "2" are different than the same numerals on the other jerseys. (Additionally you can see the "5" on Dick Gordon's jersey is different than the other "5s" on the rest of the team

Here are a few examples in which you can see that the screencaps are consistent with the team photo: