This page was last updated on July
5, 2003.
School Colors: Red and White (also, Navy
Blue)
School Website: http://www.stjohnsdhs.org
One of the earliest uniform designs for the St. John the Baptist football program consisted of a solid white helmet with a small charging cougar logo on each side; a red home jersey with plain block numbers on the front and back and three white stripes around each sleeve in which the middle stripe is twice as wide as the flanking outer stripes; and red pants with one inch-wide white striping down each outseam. The white road jerseys had identical graphics in reverse colors. Early SJB football uniforms were supplied by Rawlings.
This year the Cougars wore a white helmet with a small charging cougar logo on each side; a red home jersey with a pair of one inch-wide white stripes around each shoulder and plain block numerals on the front (approximately eight inches), back, and upper sleeves (approximately two inches high); and red pants with one inch-wide white striping down each outseam. In 1974, this same uniform was worn, but with a solid red helmet.
Helmet: Red helmet has a small white growling cougar head profile. There are no stripes
Jersey: White jersey has red block numerals and no sleeve striping. The words “ST. JOHN’S” appear on the front above the numbers
Pants: Red with one inch-wide white striping down each outseam
This 1975 road uniform may have been worn by the varsity as late as 1979.
Helmet: Either solid red or red with a single one-inch white stripe. There was no logo decal.
Home Jersey: Red short-sleeved jersey had white modified block numerals on the front, back, and upper sleeves and the words "ST. JOHN'S" in three-inch-high white full block letters above the front numbers. This jersey was usually worn with white pants.
Away Uniforms: The white jerseys introduced in 1975 were worn through 1977, but they were now sometimes worn with white pants. In 1978, the Cougars’ white road jersey featured “St. John” in underlined red script letters above the numbers and the words “THE BAPTIST” in small white letters inside the underlining tail. This jersey was worn with red pants similar to what had been worn throughout the 1970s. The 1979 road jersey had just the player number on the front, back and upper sleeves. SJB’s 1977-early 1990s uniforms were all supplied by Champion.
1980 marked the beginning of the most successful period in the history of the St. John the Baptist football program. The Cougars had an undefeated season and won the first of their three consecutive Metro Bowl championships
Helmet: Red helmet has a white Clemson-style paw logo on each side, a single one-inch white stripe down the center from front to back, and a gray facemask.
Jersey: Red micromesh style jersey has white modified-block numerals in the style used by the Giants and Jets back in 1980 (i.e. a curved stem for the "7" and a straight diagonal connector in the "2"). The numerals were about eight-inches high on the front, ten-inches high on the back, and four-inches high on the upper sleeves. Clemson-style paw logos were screen-printed on each shoulder in the style of Clemson's football uniforms.
Pants were white with three red stripes-- two half-inch stripes flanking one one-inch stripe with half-inch spacing on either side--down each outseam.
The away jerseys presumably had graphics similar to the home jerseys, but in reverse colors. White pants were worn with both the home and away jerseys.
NOTE: Champion supplied all SJB’s football uniforms, from at least the late-1970s through the late-1980s.
The Cougars won their second straight Metro Bowl title this year behind the brilliant quarterbacking of Hansen Award winner Joe Gagliardi.
Red Helmets again featured a white Clemson-style paw logo on each side. However, the regular season helmets had no center stripe and the Metro Bowl helmets had two 3/4" white stripes, one inch apart, down the center from front to back.
Pants were the same as 1980.
The 1981 jerseys, which were made by Champion, were mostly of a porthole mesh fabric except for the double-ply stretch micromesh yoke. The red home jerseys had modified serif-block numbers in the same style and size as 1980 on the front and back. Four inch-high numbers replaced the paw logo atop the shoulders, and three one-inch white stripes were wrapped only halfway around each sleeve. White away jerseys had similar graphics, but in reverse colors.
This year the Cougars won their third straight Metro Bowl title.
Helmet: The red helmet is identical to the 1981 Metro Bowl helmet.
Jersey: For home games, the Cougars wore a porthole mesh shimmel length jersey with white screen-printed numbers on the front (10"), back (10 to 12 inches), and shoulders (4") and a pair of one-inch white stripes, a half-inch apart, wrapped all the way around each sleeve. For 1983, add white paw print logo above the sleeve striping.
Pants are now light silver-gray with two one-inch-wide red stripes bordering a one-inch white stripe down each outseam.
The helmets and pants from the home uniforms were also worn with the away jerseys, which had red numbers on the front, back and shoulders. Also, on each sleeve was a red Clemson-style paw superimposed over a stripe sequence of three one-inch red stripes alternating with two 3/4-inch gray stripes.
Helmet: A new helmet was introduced this season. It was red with the word’s “St. John’s” in white underlined brushstroke script letters on each side and navy-white-navy striping down the middle from front to back.
The red home jerseys this year had white block numerals with a separated silver-gray outline on the front, back and shoulders. The pants were the same as in 1982 and 1983.
The helmet and pants were the same as in 1984, however, the look of the home jersey changed again. The red home jerseys now had silver numbers edged in white and the front and back and a trio of one-inch stripes, approximately ľ-inches apart, around each sleeve in a silver-white-silver sequence.
For at least this one season, St. John’s home football jerseys were black instead of the traditional red. The helmets, however, were unchanged from the 1984 through 1986 seasons.
The black home jerseys, which were supplied by Champion, had red block numbers with white borders on the front, back, and shoulder tops; red-white-red striping on the overlapping v-neck collar and on the sleeve-end rib-knit cuff; and an interlocking S-J logo on each sleeve with the S in red with white outlining and the J in white. These jerseys could be worn with either silver-gray pants with a black-white-red-white-black side stripe sequence or red pants with a black-white-silver-white-black side stripe sequence
By 1988, SJB’s football uniform was totally overhauled. The look for this season was a cross between the classic styles of the University of Alabama and the University of Texas.
Helmets: The helmet was now red with a single white one-inch stripe down the center and a three-inch high block style player’s number on each side.
The home jerseys were red with red block numbers on the front, back and shoulders and a pair of narrow white stripes near the hem of the sleeves. Superimposed over the sleeve striping was a screen-printed profile of a growling cougar’s head. The away jerseys had similar graphics in reverse colors. White pants with a pair of narrow red stripes down each outseam were worn with both the home and away jerseys.
By 1993, St. John the Baptist went to solid white helmets with white facemasks. In 1993, the helmet had “St. John’s” in red script letters with a navy outline on each side; however, in 1995, the white helmets were plain. Red home jerseys had white full-block numbers edged in navy blue on the front, back, and upper sleeves; UCLA shoulder-loop style striping in a navy (1/4”)-thin white (1/8”)-wide red (1”)-thin white (1/8”)-navy (3/4”) sequence; and striped rib knit sleeve end cuffs in a navy-white-red-white-navy sequence. White road jerseys had identical trimmings, but with red numbers. White pants were worn with both home and away jerseys and had the exact same striping sequence and width as the UCLA shoulder loops on the jersey. Also, from the early-1990s on, all SJB football uniforms were supplied by Russell Athletic.
The late-1990s uniform was a slightly toned down continuation of the early-to-mid-1990s design with a bit of a nod to 1980. The UCLA shoulder loops stripes were gone, as was the navy trim on the numbers. Small white Clemson-style cougar paws rode atop the shoulders of the red home jerseys and red paws on the white road shirts. There was also a pair of narrow stripe on the rib knit V-neck and sleeve ends (white on the home reds and red on the visiting whites). The same white pants from earlier in the decade were worn with these jerseys. The helmets were still white, but a red Clemson-style paw logo now appeared on each side.
SJB’s 2000 uniform featured a navy blue helmet with a red Clemson-style paw logo on each side; a red jersey with contrasting white rib-knit trim on the V-neck and sleeve-end cuffs and white full block numerals with navy blue drop shadowing on the front, back and shoulder tops; and red pants with navy (3/4”)-white (1/4”)-red (1”)-white (1/4”)-navy (3/4”) side striping. A white web belt is worn with the red pants.
If 2000 really was the only season for the navy blue helmet at SJB, it isn’t hard to figure out why: the red paw logo is difficult to make out against the navy background of the helmet.
The look of the 2001 uniform was somewhat reminiscent of the 1980 championship season. There was a red helmet with a white Clemson-style paw logo on each side and a white facemask. The red home jersey had white full block numerals with thin navy drop shadowing on the front and back and a shoulder-top logo consisting of SJB in arched block letters superimposed over some sort of symbol, possibly the school shield. White away jerseys had similar graphics in reverse colors. White pants with a pair of one-inch wide stripes down each side were worn with both the home and away jerseys.
|
Years |
Decal |
Shell |
Mask |
Striping |
|
?-1973 |
Red racing/leaping cougar (similar to Washington State late-1960s) |
white |
Gray |
none |
|
1974; |
x-None |
Red |
Gray |
none |
|
1975 |
White roaring cougar head profile |
Red |
Gray |
none |
|
?-1979 |
x-None |
Red |
Gray |
White (one-inch) |
|
?-1980 |
Clemson-style white paw |
Red |
Gray |
White (one-inch) |
|
1981 |
Clemson-style white paw |
Red |
Gray |
none |
|
1981 playoffs; |
Clemson-style white paw |
Red |
Gray |
White (1”)-red (1”)-white (1”) |
|
?-1984-1987 |
“St. John’s” in white brush style script |
Red |
White |
Navy (3/4”)-white (1”)-navy (3/4”) |
|
1988-? |
Player’s number in white |
Red |
White |
White (one-inch) |
|
|
|
Red |
White |
|
|
Early 1990s |
“St. John’s” in red script with navy outline |
White |
White |
None |
|
Mid-1990s |
None |
White |
White |
None |
|
Late 1990s |
Red Clemson-style paw |
White |
White |
none |
|
?-2000 |
Red Clemson-style paw |
Navy Blue |
White |
none |
|
2001- |
White Clemson-style paw |
Red |
White |
none |
NOTES:
x-I have seen SJB game photos from the late-1970s depicting the wearing of both
the plain red helmet with a stripe and the plain red helmet without a
stripe. Perhaps the appearance of a
stripe on the late-1970s SJB helmets may have been part of an award system
instituted by coach Byrne Gamble. I’m
hoping someone will e-mail me
with more information about this.
This page is very much under construction as I continue to gather and organize new information. Please visit often. Thank you.
