Supe’s On: Kansas City Chiefs Uniform History

By Phil Hecken, with Timmy Brulia
Follow @PhilHecken

It’s Supe Sunday, and as I’ve done for the past half-decade-plus, I’m joined by Timmy Brulia, one of the head honchos over at the incredible Gridiron Uniform Database, and who will be bringing us the uniform histories of the two combatants in SB LIV (Supe 54). There’s a LOT to cover today, so let’s just delve right in, shall we? With the Kansas City Chiefs the designated “home” team, we’ll finish with their uni history today (if you missed yesterday’s piece on the 49ers, click here). And don’t forget — the KC Chiefs didn’t begin their life in either Kansas City nor with the name Chiefs! (Tim writes the history, but I supply the links — so if there’s anything amiss with those, blame me, not him!) Here’s Timmy:

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Kansas City Chiefs Uniform History
By Timmy Brulia

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1960: The Dallas Texans take the field as one of the eight original American Football League teams. The helmets are red with a white map of the state of Texas on the sides. with a very thin black outline and a yellow star where Dallas is located. The Texans sport white jerseys with red numbers trimmed in yellow on the front and back and tv numbers in the same fashion on the sleeves. The home jerseys are red with white numbers edged in yellow on front and back, with TV numbers in white on yellow on the sleeves. The pants are white with a very thin red/yellow/red stripe pattern on the sides. Socks are white with red/yellow/red stripes (worn with white jerseys) and red with white/yellow/white stripes (worn with red jerseys). Starting with the 11/18 game at Boston, the Texans add names on the backs (NOB) of their jerseys. Red names on the white jerseys and white NOBs on the red jerseys.

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1962: The Texans wear the red socks with both sets of uniforms.

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1963: With dismal attendance in Dallas, the Texans relocate to Kansas City and are renamed the Kansas City Chiefs. Out of necessity the Chiefs revise their helmets, keeping the same red color but changing the emblem from the Texas state outline to a white arrowhead, with the point facing forward and a red “KC” inside the arrowhead. The arrowhead and KC have thin black outlines. The rest of the uniform remains as is, with the pant stripes thickening ever so slightly.

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1966: The NOBs are now serifed. The sock stripes are separated by a razor thin strip of red.

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1967: NOBs return to the sans-serif format.

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1968: For the first tine, stripes are added to the sleeves. The white jerseys have a red/yellow/red combo on the sleeve edge, while the red jerseys feature a white/yellow/white pattern. Red pants are introduced to the mix with side stripes of white/very thin red/yellow/very thin red/white. White socks are reintroduced for the first time since 1961 to be worn with the white jersey/red and pants set and have the same red/yellow/red stripes as worn in ’61.

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1969: The thin red separation of stripes on the red socks are deleted. The Chiefs wear special red jerseys for Super Bowl IV. NOBs are serifed and a special 10th season AFL patch is worn on the left shoulder for the game.

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1971: The Chiefs join in on the anti-black cleat craze. The team wears white cleats with the white jerseys and red cleats with the red jerseys.

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1972: White socks are worn with both sets of uniforms.

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1973: The red socks return and are worn with the red jersey.

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1974: The helmet logo is reduced in size a tad and the face masks are changed from gray to white.

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1976: Red cleats are worn exclusively.

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1977: Socks stripe patterns are changed. For the white socks, stripes are thin red/yellow/thin red/yellow/thin red. On the red socks the stripes are thin yellow/white/thin yellow/white/thin yellow. White cleats are worn full-time.

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1978: The socks revert back to the three stripe pattern, with the inner yellow stripe being a lot thicker than before on both sets.

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1983: A memorial patch for deceased running back Joe Delaney was worn on the right breast of both jerseys for the season. The helmet logo shrinks a little more.

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1984: A patch celebrating the Chiefs’ silver anniversary was worn on the left breast of both jerseys for the season.

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1989: The red pants are ditched and the white pants are worn with both jerseys.

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1992: A memorial patch for Director of Player Personnel Whitey Dovell is worn on the left breast of both jerseys.

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1994: Two commemorative patches are worn on the jerseys. The league wide NFL 75th season patch is worn on the left breast and the Chiefs’ 35th season patch is worn on the right breast. As with all other NFL teams, the Chiefs wear throwback jerseys for a few games. These throwbacks are based on the 1963-1967 seasons, with stripeless sleeves and the old style red socks worn with both sets.

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1999: The Chiefs’ 40th season is commemorated with a patch on the right breast of both jerseys.

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2000: To the delight of many, the red pants are revived, with the same stripe pattern as worn before, with the inner yellow stripe slimmed down.

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2002: The Chiefs wear a commemorative 45th season patch for just one game, 10/27 at home against the Raiders.

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2006: KC wears three uni combos this season, the normal red over white, and wearing white over red and white over white.

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2007: After the passing of AFL founder and team founder Lamar Hunt late in 2006, the Chiefs wearing a permanent patch honoring Hunt. The patch is basically the old AFL insignia with LH on the football in the football in the logo. The all white combo worn for several games in 2006 is dropped.

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2008: The league wide Gene Upshaw memorial patch worn for Week 1 is worn on the right breast of the red jersey.

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2009: The Chiefs wear a 50th season patch on the right breast of both regular jerseys. The all white combination is worn for the last two weeks of the season. As part of the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the American Football League, the Chiefs break out togs worn by the Chiefs when they were the 1962 Dallas Texans, with a special AFL Anniversary patch for three games. The highlight was when the “Texans” in red at home played the Dallas Cowboys, who wore 1962 blue throwbacks of their own on 10/11.

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2010: The red/white, white/red and white/white combos are again worn.

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2011: A 9.11.01 ribbon patch is worn on the right breast of the red jersey for the 9/11 game.

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2012: The jersey see a change – a subtle change – on the jerseys. The TV numbers bump up from the sleeves to the shoulders and the sleeve stripes, previously on the sleeve edge, are now off-set from the edge. A league-wide patch for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 50th Anniversary is worn on the right breast of the white jersey for Weeks 14 and 15. The same three uni combos are worn.

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2013: The usual three combos are worn…PLUS the combo that almost no one thought would never be worn, the red over red! The all red look (with white striped socks) was worn for the first time on Week 2 against the Cowboys.

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2014: The all whites take a breather. White/red, red/white and the all reds (with red striped socks) make another showing, this time for Week 4 at home vs. the Patriots.

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2015: KC wears four combos this season: white/white/red socks, white/red/white, red/white/red and red/red/red.

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2016: The Chiefs, noted for their rather conservative taste as other teams fell prey to the mix and match era of the 2010s, go full throttle with six uniform combinations this season. White jerseys are worn with white pants and white socks, white pants and red socks, red pants and white socks. Red jerseys are worn with white pants and red socks, red pants and red socks and for the Thursday night Color Rush against the Raiders for Week 14, red pants and red socks without the usual white sanitary socks.

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2017: Four uni combos take the field: white/red/white, red/white/red, red/red/red (with white sannies), red/red/red (without sannies).

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2018: These were the four combos worn: white/red/white, white/white/red, red/white/red and red/red/red.

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2019: Three combos were worn: white/red/white, red/white/red and red/red/red. For Week 9 the Chiefs switched out their white face masks for gray.

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And to close out, The rather simple history of the Chiefs wearing their white jerseys at home:

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Thanks so much, Timmy! Fantastic job as always. Readers, if you haven’t already, please give Tim a tremendous round of applause for his research prowess and dogged determination to get all the details right for the 49ers (yesterday) and Chiefs (today).

I myself have no rooting interest (we all know who Paul is pulling for though), but this will without question be one of the best looking Supe’s in decades. Let’s hope the play is as good as the unis.

Guess The Game…

from the scoreboard

Today’s scoreboard comes from Delilah Jones. Like yesterday, this one is pretty simple — but it’s ya know, in the spirit of the day.

The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).

Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date & location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):

Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.

BEST OF Kreindler’s Korner

Last year, I ran the following edition of Kreindler’s Korner. Because the paintings are Supe-related I wanted to run them again today.

More important than the paintings, though, or even the subject matter, is the game itself — at least to me. I have some fond (and bittersweet) memories of this Supe, which I’ll share following this section. I hope you’ll indulge me.

But first, here’s Graig …

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Title: “The Great Escape”, “The Throw”, & “Catch-42”
Subject: Eli Manning & David Tyree, 2008
Medium: Oil on linen
Size: All 30″ x 24″

The play itself is, at this point, legendary. The most memorable moment of that night. One that propelled the New York Giants to a come-from-behind touchdown to win Super Bowl XLII, pulling off one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Their opponents that evening, the New England Patroits, who were looking for ascension to immortal status as the only team to have a perfect season since the Dolphins in 1972. As the shirts would go on to say, “18 wins and one Giant loss.”

My client, like most of us, watched this whole thing unfold on national television. And in his mind, if he were to get a painting of this World Champion team, it had to be about that play. Thankfully, he was willing to trust that it would be best to depict it in a series of same-sized canvases, rather than a larger composite of sort on a single one. Even more thankfully, he chose me to do these paintings.

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When Eli made his scramble, New York was down 14-10 with only 1:16 left on the clock. In the painting, it was important to work from an image that gave an idea of what kind of madness he attempted to escape, so the photograph I opted to work from was one that included as many players as possible, while still being close to the action so the viewer didn’t feel that removed from it. I also really happened to like the visual arrow created by the back of Eli’s jersey being tugged on.

The Great Escape

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The painting depicting the throw needed to have a different perspective. In a way, that one was more about suggesting the distance the ball had to travel, and less about the action of Manning’s desperate pass. So, with the cluster of Patriots on the left, there’s another visual arrow to the New York quarterback – I wanted the viewer’s eye to follow the painting from left to right and onto Eli. It also helps that he appears separated from the pack and surrounded by a halo of green turf, of which makes it more obvious that he’s the focal point.

The Throw

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The final piece, which would highlight Tyree’s outstanding catch, had to be about his athleticism. Clearly, the most important part of the painting would be David’s hand on the ball, but just as important were the bodies of the receiver, as well as Rodney Harrison’s – both seemingly mangled in mid-air. I also loved the juxtaposition of them undulating in space against a flat backdrop with the Super Bowl logo. There are barely any shadows on the ground, so it almost reads as a flat vertical background, which added to the uniqueness of the image. In other words, like the actual play, this last canvas had to defy normality.

Catch 42

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In the end, my client was ecstatic for his three new paintings, as well as the Super Bowl Champion moniker. Me? I was thrilled to successfully tackle my first football paintings and plant the seeds that would lead to more.

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Thanks, Graig! Incredible set of paintings there.

Super Memories

Your assignment today: ONE SB memory…

In case you weren’t aware, the Supe is today. Although I’ve been alive for all 53 of the previous ones, my earliest memories are probably from about Supe VII (definitely VIII). I’ve watched every game since, and some have certainly been more memorable than others. But the one I’ll both treasure and never forget was SB 42, which — if taken just from a *game* standpoint was amazing enough — will always be near and dear to my heart.

The game itself, with the 18-0 Patriots taking on the sixth seed, Wild Card Giants, was your classic David vs. Goliath matchup, and featured nothing really uni-notable, and we all know the Giants pulled off the greatest upset this side of Joe Willie Namath. But that’s not why I’ll never forget the game.

The reason I’ll never forget it is that I watched the game with my dad, at his house. Just the two of us. I’m not even sure he had snacks. But we watched the whole thing in his den, living and dying with each moment. When it was over, we hugged (after high-fiving throughout the game). Neither of us was ever a “hugger” (I don’t think we ever hugged throughout any of my adult years; not after I graduated from high school or college, when I got married, never). And it was also the last time we ever hugged, as it turned out.

Without taking up too much time here, I was very close to my dad growing up, but after college, when I moved out and got married, we kinda drifted apart. After 10+ years of marriage (and a divorce), we eventually began to get close again, and he was a great help to me post-divorce and through a bad bout of personal excess. But in 2007, after I’d turned my life around, we reconnected. We spent that summer doing a lot of things together, playing a lot of golf. The Giants had a pretty good season (nothing to get too excited about, but enough to make the playoffs). Then they went on an incredible run, winning three games (all on the road) en route to a matchup with the undefeated Pats. I watched every playoff game with him that winter (we were both HUGE Giants fans), and we were excited about the Super Bowl — so much so that when the big day arrived, we were nervous and excited beyond belief. I don’t recall whether he called me, or I called him, but the weather was warm (relatively) for a mid-winter day, and we met at the public golf course that morning to play a quick nine. We had lunch and quickly parted, and I told him I’d be by to his place well in time for the game. The game (one of the greatest games, honestly, in Supe history) happened, the hug happened. I left. It had been a great day. It might have been the best day I ever spent with my pop.

A few months after that game, my dad, who had already (but unbeknownst to me) contracted something called MDS, then was hit with the West Nile Virus. The combination caused him to fall into a coma for several months. Although he did eventually recover, he was never the same, and spent a large chunk of the next two-plus years in hospitals and rehabs. He passed away in 2011.

Every SB Sunday, I look back on that day in 2008 when I had a last best day with him, and I smile. Any time I see a clip (or a painting) of “Catch42” or any reference to that game, I smile. That game brought us closer than we’d ever been, and it was one of those “if I could freeze time” moments.

Four years later, the Giants would again face the Patriots in Supe 46 (same result too), but this time he wasn’t there to share it with me. I’d lost my dad six months before the game was played. But I’ll never forget Supe 46 either. Why?

Because Paul Lukas (who you may remember had lost his own dad a couple years prior, but after Supe 42) invited me to UW HQ to watch that game. When the Giants (again) won, we toasted “to our dads” who we knew were certainly watching down from on high as Paul & I shared another special SB moment. I think that’s my second favorite Supe.

I may have no rooting interest in today’s game, but I’ll be pulling for the 49ers, since they’re Paul’s team. So…GO NINERS.

I miss my pop more with each passing day (and now that my mom has taken ill, it’s an even stronger feeling of loss). But every Super Sunday I always think back to that wonderful day in 2008 I shared watching the game with my dad, and I’m happy. I’ll have a smile on my face today for sure.

What about you guys? Do you have a SB memory you want to share? Feel free in the comments — I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for “listening.”

Click to enlarge

And now a few words from Paul

Hi there. A few things to remember this weekend:

• We’re continuing to take orders for the first-ever Uni Watch hockey jerseys. You can place your order here up through Feb. 10, and there’s more info here.

• If you haven’t yet checked out the annual Uni Watch Super Bowl Preview, it’s available over at InsideHook, and I don’t mind saying it’s a doozy. Enjoy!

• Teespring is running one of its periodic 10%-off sales. From now through the end of Sunday, you can get a 10% discount on anything in the Uni Watch shop or the Naming Wrongs shop by using the checkout code SNOWFLAK3. So if you’ve been on the fence about the January Pin Club pin (or any of our other products), here’s a chance to save a little coin.

• I’m matching this 10% discount on our Uni Watch hats. From now through Sunday, they are priced at $35.99, instead of our usual $39.99.

Okay — back to Phil!

Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: Tweeter Eli Ganias writes, “I found this clip of 69 WS introductions. The managers start at the base and players line up toward home. Was that normal then? When did it change to starting at home?” … Very cool display at the Placer County (CA) Courthouse & Museum commemorating Auburn’s 1959 Little League team that made it all the way to the LL World Series. Submitter Damon Hirschensohn adds “I’ve heard it was a season to remember.” … Here’s a look at the (awful) Astros 2020 BP caps (from Ignacio Salazar). … The Dodgers appear to be keeping both of their road jerseys and it looks like they will have a blue swoosh (from Jakob Fox). … Gus The Mets Fan writes, “really don’t care about the Nike logo being on jerseys this season, but the new throwback jerseys that mlb is selling are the worst!! Straw didn’t have a gold old-school Nike logo on the front of his uniform in ‘86!” … AJenkins notes, “looks like the Indians are using a Blue swoosh on the home whites…Some players still wearing Majestic.” … “I was watching a video of the CBS NFL studio show from October of 1979. Pete Rose was in the studio subbing for Jimmy the Greek, who, according to Brent Musberger, had been injured in a motorbike accident,” writes Fernando Cesarano. “Musberger presented a segment on baseball in which he engaged Rose in a discussion about the American and National League playoffs, as well as the pitching matchups for the upcoming World Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles. One of the playoff clips they showed had Pirates pitcher John Candelaria standing in the dugout wearing an Orioles cap with his Pirates uniform.”

NFL News: If you haven’t already gotten enough of the Chiefs unis and logos from Timmy & Paul already, our pal Chris Creamer has taken a serious look at the Chiefs logo history. … Everyone knows about the legendary ’85 Bears, but the less-celebrated ’84 Bears also made quite a splash claiming to have created the now ubiquitous Gatorade bath is now one of the most beloved traditions in sports (from Omar Sofradzija). … Cross posted in both the NFL and NHL Sections: Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel thinks the NFL could take some cues on trophy presentations from how the NHL awards the Stanley Cup (from Kary Klismet). … Here’s an “Article posted about the 49ers and Chiefs names being racist and the need for them to be changed,” says Jason Gutierrez). … Related to that, Kary Klismet notes this: “Just in time for the Chiefs’ appearance in the Super Bowl: the Native Trailblazers podcast’s latest episode discusses issues surrounding sports teams’ use of Native American mascots and imagery.” … Whoa — check out this sourdough bread shaped like a football (from Brinke). … Remember when Tom Brady has his jersey stolen? Well, apparently someone has made a documentary about it. … Andrew Shehorn has finished his annual tradition of making a backyard Supe field. … The great Blaise D’Sylva has released his NFC West helmet history. … At today’s Supe, San Francisco’s Emmanuel Sanders will wear Kobe tribute cleats (from Brinke). … Check out this XFL 2020 Pocket Pro Set custom helmet set, made by pocketprohelmets. … The NFL will honor four 100-year old WWII veterans for the coin toss during the Supe, marking 100 years of NFL football (from Timmy Donahue). … “I believe the Chiefs are currently the only NFL team to use Helmet logos on both sides of their helmet that are neither the same logo nor mirror images of each other,” observes Mark Guttag. “The only other team I can think of that had a helmet like this was the 1970-1971 ‘skins with the yellow helmet and R inside a circle with the feather on the back.” … Good observation by Griffin Smith who notes that during last night’s SNL skit about football, looks like part of the skit was filmed in the Mets ballpark.

College Football News: Even though the NCAA Football season ended a few weeks ago, there’s still uni news to report: “FSU still putting recruits in 2014 uniforms. Note the massive collar, outdated ACC patch and wrinkled/haggard pants,” says Broc. He adds, “Unacceptable…”

Hockey News: Northview hockey did a Pink in the Rink thing Friday night. … Speaking of such, it was Pink in the Rink night for the Niagara IceDogs on Friday (from Wade Heidt). … The Nanaimo Clippers wore some retro jerseys for Alumni Night on Friday. The jerseys featuring their classic old logo (again from Wade Heidt). … Also from Wade, “We had some colour vs. colour in the BCHL Friday night. Rare but seems to be happening a bit more in the league this year compared to what I remember. The Prince George Spruce Kings were in their alternate red uniforms. The Vernon Vipers wore their navy uniforms.” … Still more from Wade: In keeping with it being Super Bowl weekend, The Gatineau Olympiques wore special grey jerseys on Friday night inspired by football uniforms. Here is an English article from their website. More thorough looks from their Twitter account (in French). Here they are in action. … Cross posted in both the NFL and NHL Sections: Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel thinks the NFL could take some cues on trophy presentations from how the NHL awards the Stanley Cup (from Kary Klismet). … More from Wade Heidt: The Chicoutimi Sagueneens hosted the Saint John Sea Dogs last night. They started the game wearing their grey alternate uniforms. They came out for the second period wearing their white jersey, but still had the grey socks on. The decision must have been made to change as there was not enough contrast compared the blue Sea Dogs uniform. … Here are the different uniform versions 3 WHL teams have selected to wear for their WHL Suits Up program games. These games from Friday night. Moose Jaw Warriors; Prince George Cougars; Red Deer Rebels (from Wade). … Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson paid his respects to the lives lost with a new helmet featuring Kobe’s famous Nos. 8 and 24. … Another Kobe tribute: Jaycob Megna of the Chicago Wolves wore a #24 sweater during warmups (from Steve Johnston).

NBA News: We’ve had plenty of tributes and memorials to Kobe this past week, but do you know why he changed from #8 to #24? … Speaking of Kobe, his stolen Lower Merion High School jersey was returned and unveiled at a tribute to the man (from Mike Chamernik).

College Hoops News: color vs color in StarkVegas between Tennessee and Mississippi State (from Josh Hinton). I’m not generally a fan of basketball color v. color games, but I like that one! … Timmy Donahue says, “With Louisville in GFGS and NC State in white, why wouldn’t you go with the all red score bug?” … Louisville went GFGS at NC State (from Josh Hinton). … So, when ‘cuse wears a “striped” uni, they ask fans to Stripe The Dome (from James Gilbert). … Last night, the San Diego State University Aztecs retired Kawhi Leonard’s jersey. … More scorebug observations from Timmy Donahue: “With Arkansas in their road unis & Alabama in their home whites the Cardinal v. Crimson score bug is not doing any favors. I want to just blame @espn but even @Twitter is going with the Cardinal & Crimson.” … Chris Mycoskie had this color vs. color matchup: “Color vs. color for my ESPN+ broadcast again today. RED OUT in Ruston. And, yes, I did talk about my uni obsession.” … Man, when did score bug complaints become a thing? (from artofscorebug). … I mean, really (from Timmy Donahue). There’s a solution to this people: WEAR YOUR SCHOOL COLORS. … OK, here’s one I approve of: The Stony Brook Seawolves court has an image of Long Island from baseline to baseline (from Timmy Donahue). In that same game, the University of Maryland Baltimore County went with the large Retriever logo.

Soccer News: “The 2020-21 #USMNT and #USWNT home and away kits have leaked (top left/right); both of which are downgrades from the 2018-19 set (bottom left/right) IMO.” At least that’s the opinion of Josh Hinton. … The tweet & reply (scroll down) give a look at the leaked FC Cincinnati jersey (from useroftweets).

Grab Bag: Starr County, TX Special Crimes Unit unveiled its new seal. The seal was once used by the U.S. Army’s 12th Cavalry, which was stationed at nearby Ft. Ringgold (from Timmy Donahue). … Also from Timmy, Super Bowl badges for the Miami Beach PD. … Still more from Timmy: To mark the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims landing, the Plymouth, MA Police Dept are wearing “commemorative badges designed to reflect the town’s long and rich history.” Also, new badges for the Rogers, Arkansas Police Dept.