The Guy Who Shot The Catch

Click to slightly enlarge

By Phil Hecken

You know the photo above (or at least you should). It depicts a play known simply as The Catch. The photo itself is iconic. Paul even uses it during football season as his avatar for the “Catch of the Day.” It’s a damn near perfect photo. Hell, it was even the subject of a feature on Uni Watch several years ago.

But do you know the photographer who took the picture? I’m sure many of you do — but for those who don’t, it’s Walter Iooss, Jr. (pronounced ˈyose’). He’s a fairly famous photographer, having first worked for Sports Illustrated and then a number of other outlets. He’s a award-winning artist, and we’ve probably seen many of his photographs right here on Uni Watch.

The lifeblood of any visual blog — such as Uni Watch — is imagery and photographs. And Walter Iooss has taken some of the most famous photographs (and many not-so-famous) of sports and sports figures in the past half century. He’s still at it too!

Yesterday, a guy I follow on Twitter, UniformCritic (who also goes by “Stirrups Now!”), posted a series of Iooss photos — and I hadn’t even realized a couple of them were his:

1971: John Wooden & Bill Walton…Iooss photo pic.twitter.com/LAnc8BknuX

— Stirrups Now! (@uniformcritic) February 28, 2015

The great Jacques Plante of the Canadians. Iooss photo pic.twitter.com/K8Dk4QJwSJ

— Stirrups Now! (@uniformcritic) February 28, 2015

1971: Gordie Howe tries to score past Sabres goalie Joe Daley. Iooss photo pic.twitter.com/2YCDfNaUX4

— Stirrups Now! (@uniformcritic) February 28, 2015

Truly stunning work. Not just for the action he captures, and the exquisite play of color and light — but for the framing, detail and pure quality.

So I thought I’d post a few other wonderful Iooss photos, some of which are likely familiar to you, others are just incredible shots. In each one, he captures so much. You can click to enlarge Enjoy:

It wasn’t just the action shots that capture his tremendous ability. Sometimes the best shots are those that tell a story with almost action at all:

Iooss didn’t just photograph the pros either. Some of his best shots are of everyday folks just doing what they love:

Of course, professional sports photography is Iooss’ bread and butter, and we as viewers cannot under-appreciate his genius. Just wonderful stuff. If you’re not familiar with his work (you’ve probably seen it though), you cannot go wrong by checking it out.

Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

Back today with our good friend and long-time colorization expert, George Chilvers, who has a pair of colo(u)rizations today, including one that’s NOT soccer football!

Here’s George (click to enlarge):

. . .

Hi Phil

From the excellent Boston Public Library Flickr account is this picture dated as 1949/1950 (approx) of New York Yankees coach Jim Turner and manager Casey Stengel at Fenway Park.

I thought I’d give you a break from ‘soccer’. Well, for one picture. More to come. :)

George

. . .

But George wasn’t done with his colorizations. Here’s the second:

Phil,

Well – you had a few minutes when I hadn’t sent you a football picture :)

This is proof that you can colourise a black and white kit – it’s Hughie Gallagher of Newcastle United (“The Magpies”) leading his team out at Highbury (Arsenal’s stadium) on 2 October 1926.

I quote from various sites:

“A pocket sized footballing phenomenon of natural skill and boundless determination, in 624 senior games, Hughie Gallacher scored 463 times in a goal drenched career of terrorising opposing defences.
He is the Scotland national football team’s most prolific goal scorer averaging more than a goal per game, 23 goals from his 20 internationals. Gallacher was one of the Wembley Wizards who beat England 5-1 at Wembley Stadium in 1928. He was the last man to captain Newcastle United to be champions of England.”

George

. . . . .

Thanks George — stupendous work as always!

Uni Tweaks Concepts

We have another new set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.

So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.

Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.

Like the colorizations, I’m going to run these as inline pics — click on each one to enlarge.

And so, lets begin:

~~~

First up today is Thomas Juettner, with a whole set for the ChiSox:

Phil:

I’ve tried to go for something clean and modern by going for monochrome elements. Any trim present on any uniform (cuffs, pants, collar, squatchee) is thick, solid red not the the thin piping we normally see. All uniform numbers or scripts are solid black or solid white and large enough to stand out. The sleeve patch is similarly uncluttered, no shield or roundel. The numbers are in a retro block style, broad and elegant not clunky. The cream on the home uniform should be fresh and subtle. If you look at photos of flannel uniforms the fabric appears bright not brown. Modern reproductions of this often mistakenly reproduce the look of a jersey that was sitting in a case for 50 years. This cream is just soft enough to stand apart from the bright white of the socks. The socks are a tweaked version of the 59 uniform. For spring training the team wears the familiar black hose, earning the white socks in April.

Thomas Juettner

. . .

And we close today with Matthews Todd who has tweaked the Titans:

Hey,

Always thought the Tennessee Titans had an awful home look and even worse helmet logo. I came up with this home uni: Logo is a little grainy but you get the idea. It kind of pays homage to the old Houston Oilers while keeping some elements of the Titans.

. . .

And that’s it for today. Back with more next time.

EPL Tracker

Each Saturday or Sunday, Alex Gerwitz will be tracking the kit combinations (shirt/shorts/socks) of the teams in the English Premier League from the previous weekend and the current weekend.

Here is the EPL tracker for Weeks 26 & 27:

Uni Watch News Ticker:

Baseball News: There is an awesome mural inside the St. Paul Saints new ballpark. Submitter Matt Larsen points out it was not painted by Michelangelo. … Some potentially troubling news here: remember Paul’s story on historic Hinchliffe Stadium? It seems the site is now being used as a snow dump (nice find by Dave Rakowski). … There is, of course, nothing better than stirrups with a uni. Except when they’re two-in-ones (from Northeastern). At least this version looks better than the “old” 2-in-1s (h/t Josh Carson). … Another gem from Bruce Menard: 1936 Cardinals Sluggers Get Their Bats Ready For Spring Training (2/29/36 – Leap Year!) … Yesterday the Orioles were wearing @LUNGevity shirts in honor of Monica Pence Barlow who passed away one year ago yesterday (from David Raglin). … In this video from Friday’s media day, White Sox slugger Jose Abreu is wearing the David Reinsdorf patch from last season (good spot by Ryan Lindemann. … Hoover baseball broke out the “vintage whites” yesterday (h/t Alan Skinner). … Check out the Boston Red Sox custom bat knob decals, with special designs for Pedroia (Sasquatch), Victorino (Flyin’Hawaiian) & Ortiz/Ramirez (DR) (thanks Paul). Also from Paul, A-Rod didn’t have the proper mitt for drills at first base. Guess he still thinks the third sacker spot is his to lose. Here’s more on that from an actual newspaper. … What’s almost as bad as stealth numbers? Stealth letters. … Here’s our first look at the Mets new white pinstripes (via DJ Short). … And if the Minnesota Twins must have a colored alternate top, they should wear these caps and tops (just fix the side panels to make the BP an alt). That reminded CJ Fogler of this red alt, which he still has. Those particular jerseys didn’t go over well. … Auburn baseball went with a brand new vest yesterday (thanks to Clint Richardson). … MLB photo day provided an opportunity to see the Mariners new home uniform — still wondering how these will look from distance. … Check out this video of Pete Rose pimping Encyclopedia Britannica (from Douglas Ford), who adds, “In a SWEET Phillies jacket circa 1981.” … Check out the two different jersey makers marks at Cleveland ST. According to Kevin J. Chmura, Rawlings is a minor league player. … New Canada Day jerseys for the Blue Jays (via Allen HJ Kim). … WOW! Check out Spring Training 1965, where Jesse Owens (then 51) demonstrates his technique with Yogi Berra & Mets GM George Weiss (great shot via High Heat Stats). … Didn’t realize this, but Tulane has a very similar uniform as the St. Louis Cardinals (good spot by Ron Peterson). … Cardinals hitting coach David Bell will be the first Cardinal player or coach to wear No. 25 since Mark McGwire did (thanks to Matt Larsen). … Very cool patch on Princeton’s unis yesterday (via Pod Katt). … “Odd color-on-color matches going on in Alabama,” writes Dustin Semore. “Black and gold on black and gold! The only difference from the back is the fielding team, Phil Campbell (Ala.) High School Bobcats have solid gold numerals. At the plate are the Vernon (Ala.) High School Bulldogs have black numerals with gold outline.” … Did you guys know Harmon Killebrew suited up with the KC Royals as a player? It’s true. Not a bad final season either (pic via High Heat Stats). … There are Houston Astros Tequila Sunrise wannabees, and then there are these (thanks to Jim McCue). … Funny-guy reliever Craig Kimbrel of the Braves has taken it upon himself to design some clever t-shirts for the ‘new look’ team (thanks, Brinke).

NFL News: Hmmm. Browns ‘plagiariam’?: “The stripes above the ‘Dawg’s snout are suspiciously similar to the stripes on the Bengals helmet,” says Allan Chandler. “So not only was the beginning of the rebrand a flop, but potentially a bit of plagiarism. The Bengals used the Browns uniform as a template for their first design back in 1968. Is this a bit of retribution, or were the marketing whizzes at Browns central just a bit slow on the uptake?” Interesting. Personally, I think sometimes a logo is just a logo. … Shawn Kloetzer found this Steelers fashion cap in what appears to be the new Browns orange. … Here’s a photo of Fred Biletnikoff when he played for the Toronto Argos Montreal Alouttes in 1980. “Notice the Argos Alouettes patch on the arm of the jersey,” says Peter Fredrickson. “You can see where the sleeve numbers were removed and new numbers moved to the shoulder. Kind of funny see how much of the old numbers were still attached to sleeve after they were ripped off.”

College Football News: Here is a look at the new Stanford football uniforms for the 2015 season. Still with the BFBS, but I have to say I do like the new “Stanford Tree” S (via Steve Frost). Notice also that there are some big changes to the black uniform. … Speaking of Stanford, are these full length pants? (nice spot by Spencer Trygg). … Because we probably haven’t seen every NCAA football helmet design out there yet, check out these concepts from Empire Graphics (h/t Pro Line Designs). … Do we possibly have a hint at the new Miami uniforms? (h/t Adam Apatoff). … Feast your eyes on this beautiful 1962 Cotton Bowl Classic ticket stub: Texas vs Ole Miss. Longhorns won, 12-7 (from The Press Room).

Hockey News: “Jonas Gustavsson is very clearly wearing a Warrior Ritual ‘Euro’ setup,” says Mike Engle. “It’s called ‘Euro’ because Warrior moved all the logos to the sides to accommodate pad ads in Europe. Ironically, Warrior isn’t even advertising themselves. Clearly, they don’t pay the NHL to have their brand there anymore. They used to and they pay to have visible ads on goal sticks and players’ equipment, but since Gustavsson is the only goalie with a Warrior setup, I guess it isn’t cost-effective anymore.” … Check out newly acquired Carolina Hurricane Jack Hillen’s locker room name tag at Nassau Coliseum (via Mets Bro). … Oops — NFL tag on a Blackhawks jacket (via Michael Bochum). … Looks like the Sharks aren’t letting the Stadium Series uniforms go to waste (h/t Nicholas Moe and Mike Vamosi). … “As a Habs fan I can’t imagine rooting for the Toronto Make Me Laughs,” writes Matt Larsen. “But apparently these people can.” … There was a colorful matchup last night in South Bend (via Andrew Muccigrosso). … Last night, the Spokane Chiefs (WHL) paired capes with their breast cancer jerseys to help fight cancer (from Brandon Rose).

Soccer News: I honestly don’t know who these Batman and Robin guys are but thanks to Mark Coale. OK, it turns out they’re these guys (forwards for Borussia Dortmnund) who “are like brothers”. Here’s a bit more on yesterday’s B&R action, sent in by Laurence Holland. … Real Salt Lake was forced to wear gold training tops last night, as both teams only had primaries handy (from Carson Campbell).

College Hoops News: Yesterday, the ladies of the D3 went color vs. color. Here’s the USA South WBB Championship Game: Greensboro (NC) vs. Maryville (TN) (from USA South). … Villanova is playing who now? (good spot by Douggie Keklak). … Interesting University of Utah Delon Wright soda display at a local grocery store (sent in by Jordan Fischer). … North Carolina Central wore Every Life Matters shirts before yesterday’s game (h/t James Gilbert). … Central Arkansas did the pink thing yesterday. … Mizzou and UGA went a little color vs. color yesterday (via Wes Jackson). … Here’s a closeup look at the Gators new pants (via Austin Josiah). … The Illini wore gray unis yesterday (via Illini Hoops). That resulted in a color vs. color game. … Auburn hoops will be wearing black ribbons in honor of teammate Antoine Mason’s father, Anthony Mason (thanks to Tucker Carden). … There are good color vs. color matchups, and then there are awful color vs. color matchups. That’s CMU and NIU on that awful Northern Illinois court (h/t Uniform Snob). … Did I mention there are really really bad color vs. color games? (That’s Utah & Arizona). H/T to Sideline Starters). Here’s a better look (via Sports Center). … But there was also some good Southland Conference color on color action yesterday. That’s Nicholls at McNeese State in Lake Charles, Louisiana (big thanks to Chris Mycoskie for those great shots). … And, then there is some color vs. color that’s just…well, LaSalle vs. Rhode Islandish (h/t John Livewell). … Sometimes color vs. color is confusing, as last night Irvine was wearing blue, scoreboard highlights them yellow. UCSB wass wearing yellow, scoreboard says blue (h/t Bill Kenney).

Grab Bag: Kelsey Lawrence, from Austin Texas, instructed her boyfriend Luke Winkie to dress her in what he found her most attractive in. It was fairly uninspired until the last day, when he put her in a Chargers jersey (from Chris Flinn). Also from Chris, Cake Boss made a Giants helmet and Yankees hat cake. … “Has anyone brought up the invasion of matte gray helmets in college lacrosse?” asks Travis Holland. “Teams with no business wearing gray, like my alma mater, Goucher College are going with the matte gray helmet. (Duke, Mercer, Air Force, High Point are just some of the others) It reminds me of a 90s movie that takes place in the future and everyone is wearing gray.” … Apropos of yesterday’s main article, check out this awesome beer can design from Rhinegeist brewery out of Cincinnati (via MC). … And also, John Sheehan has created “NFL stripe” themed home brew bottle labels, much like R. Scott. … Boy basketball trophies have changed. Chris Flinn notes, “My friend’s son got this today. Reminds me of a California raisin!” … I’m not really sure what’s going on here, but it involves J. Crew, men’s suits, and guys wearing those suits on hockey ice. … Take a look at this weird/cool stabilizer being used by Reid Carruthers of Manitoba. Don’t think I’ve ever seen one of them before. … Everybody’s favorite breakfast cereal (OK, not really) is throwing back. How do we know? Because they actually say “Throwback” right on the box (thanks, Brinke). … Scotland debuted their alternate red kit Saturday in the Six Nations against Italy. Scotland’s regular kit is navy blue, but with Italy wearing its light blue kit, they went with the alternate (which has historically been white); thanks to Eric Bangeman.

And so, we’ve made it to March. Damn, for a short month, February sure seemed to take forever. Big thanks to George, Alex and the concepters, plus all of you who tweeted/sent in submissions. Great stuff. Everyone have a great rest of the weekend, and a good week, and I’ll catch you next Weekend.

For anyone who may have missed it: I had my first piece published on the Sporting News this past week (on the best American League uniforms for each team in their histories). The National League version should run this week, probably tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed it (the gig is a story or slide-show about once a week). I think you guys will very much enjoy the National League edition.

Oh. One last thing: The dress is gold and white.

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace!

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“The Sorting News ”“ the favorite publication of knollers everywhere!”

— Jerg