Colgate University football players will be exhibiting new uniforms that will be an adaptation on vintage uniforms work by players in the 1930s, pictured Aug. 9, 2018, in Hamilton.
Mark DiOrio/Colgate University

Throwback uniforms two years in making

Hunt, Hazlet worked tirelessly to put perfect touches on once-in-200-years project

“I wanted to do something different.”

Six simple words and Broc Hazlet was off and running on the coolest project of his career.

Colgate’s Assistant Director of Equipment Services processes everything football for the Raiders, and that includes uniforms, helmets, pads, shoelaces – you name it, Hazlet handles it.

But talk of the upcoming Colgate University Bicentennial piqued his interest and handed him a golden opportunity. He and head coach Dan Hunt wanted to design a throwback uniform for Homecoming, and Colgate’s famous 1932 “Undefeated, Untied, Unscored Upon … and Uninvited” team was their inspiration.

“It’s a famous team, and there are pictures of the 1932 team all around here,” Hazlet said. “I started brainstorming from that idea.”

The moment Coach Hunt joined the project, Hazlet knew right away he had a partner in design.

“When I became head coach, I started doing the math a little bit and was hoping to be here for the bicentennial year,” Hunt said. “We knew this would be the game if we were ever going to do anything like that.

“It’s not 200 years of Colgate Football, but what we wanted to do was use the throwback theme to honor the team that defines Colgate Football. When you talk about Colgate Football, it’s the 1932 team. So what better uniform to throw back to and to tie into.”

These Projects Take Time

Hazlet began researching and preparing for Saturday’s unveiling two years ago. It takes that long to get things done when it comes to football uniforms and helmets.

And his skill set in the design department is like most of ours – limited. So he scratched something together using Microsoft Paint and then took a stock white jersey to a Syracuse apparel print shop to see if he could get the design on an actual uniform.

“I wanted Coach Hunt to see what it would look like in real life and not just on a computer screen,” Hazlet said.

Hunt liked the initial design but had three requirements as the process unfolded: Be accurate, make sense and be functional. He didn’t want the players wearing throwbacks that were uncomfortable or that changed the way they played the game.

So the replica ended up being the same exact jersey the team wears every other Saturday, only with a different look.

“Broc did an unbelievable job – just really a neat thing,” Hunt said. “It’s a throwback look but in some ways it looks kind of modern.

Rules Are Rules!

Hunt and Hazlet also worked around another obstacle: The football playing rules are different now than they were in 1932. Today’s game officials like to see a number on both sides of the jersey.

“If you look at the 1932 version, they didn’t have a front number,” Hunt said. “They just had the stripes, so we had to work with that.”

Hazlet settled on 8-inch front numbers, silver with a black outline so they wouldn’t blend in with the maroon stripes and white jersey. The back numbers include a burlap base, just like in the 1930s, with the numbers stitched on.

Hazlet wanted to spray-paint them but the NCAA said no to that as well, probably because of what might happen if it rained and the numbers washed off.

“We found patio material at a Syracuse crafts store,” Hazlet said. “It’s waterproof and it is the material used to make your own patio furniture.”

He cut those into 11 x 6½-inch rectangles and then ordered 10-inch press maroon numbers. Hazlet then heat-pressed the numbers on and got them approved by the NCAA.

Next, a company in Syracuse that does twill for hockey jerseys agreed to cut and twill the numbers for the front and twill the numbers for the back. The back numbers have a double-sided fabric tape underneath in addition to the twilling so the rectangular patches can’t be pulled off.

That Leathery Look

For the helmet, Hazlet took a stock white one and started drawing seams on it to mimic the look of the old leather models. Colgate’s helmet partner, Riddell, hydro-dipped the helmets to give them a leathery look. He used decals to make the helmet ear-holes circular like in the olden days, and he reverted to white facemasks.

The back bumper to the helmet features what mimics stitching that reads, “13 Founders with 13 Dollars & 13 Prayers & 13 Articles.”

Hunt and Hazlet both said it was a process that took a lot of turns but eventually ended up in what they hope will be a special place in Colgate history, and a fun part of the Bicentennial Kickoff Weekend.

“We’re just happy we can do our part to join in on the whole feel and celebration of what is going on this weekend,” Hunt said. “Our relationship with Dan Arment (Class of ’84) at Riddell really helped and it was just a great time to try some sort of throwback.

“The auction we’re going to have of the game-worn uniforms and helmets is a way to get your piece of this history and also help the program along the way.”

Hazlet was nervous about the player reaction, but those worries were for naught.

“This uniform was so ugly for so long but it just kept getting better and better with the changes we made,” he said. “When we showed Thomas Ives and Ben Hunt IV the uniforms and had them model for us, they thought they were the coolest things ever.”

Hazlet’s “something different” has become something memorable.

By martha

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