Stahls 39; Varsity 2000-medium Font
Pamala
Ok question here. I have been a big fan of the old school Sand-Knit NFL jerseys since I was a kid. For those not aware, before the Reebok and Nike of the world took over sports merchandising, it was much harder to get a real jersey. You had to find certain stores that might carry them. And they weren't cheap either--I can remember my #81 Cardinals (St Louis) road that I got in 1985 was $50. These jerseys had no names attached. The 'authentic' quality was questionable at times--my Cardinals jersey was pretty darn close, but I also had a Bears #34 home where the number font was off (you can see these on ebay) and a #21 Rams white that also did not use the correct number font--I think for that one they went with a standard varsity.
At any rate, a few months ago I found the jersey I'd been holding out for--a rare Eagles #31. Eagles Sand-Knits are somewhat hard to come by, but they do show up on ebay from time to time. It's a great jersey--once again like the Cardinals jersey it's pretty close to accurate looking at a 1980 program.
But now I'm after the holy grail--a WHITE sand knit Eagles jersey vintage late 70s-early 80s. My question is--has anyone seen such a thing? I've not found one on ebay after a good year or more of digging, and thought I'd tap into the resources on the board.
I know what you're saying about "authentic" jerseys being much harder to find back "in the day" than now... I remember that Gold Medal Sports in Philadelphia was the only place to get "authentic" Eagles jerseys in the late '80s. I got #59 because Seth Joyner was my favorite player. Of course, they came sans name, so I had to send it out to get lettered, which is when it got butchered - the NOB came back on a tackle twill nameplate with stitched letters (the Eagles used a custom font that was heat pressed on a mesh nameplate.)
We sold Sand-Knit at the sporting goods store I worked for in Rochester, NY. A note about the Rams jersey. The first year the Rams switched to the "Rams horn" style was 1973, I think. I know for a fact that the first year jerseys were lettered directly by Sand-Knit at their factory in Berlin (pronounced Berl-in, not Ber-lin), Wisc. In subsequent years the Rams used heat-sealed numbers purchased from Dalco Athletic Lettering in Texas. http.//www.dalcoathletic.com is Dalco's web site.
Dalco's stock font looks very close to Stahls Varsity Block font but there are differences. For example Dalco's 4" and 6" digit "2" have no serifs on the bottom horizontal bars. But 8", 10" and 12" digit "2s" from Dalco have serifs. Also the Dalco number "1" has the top point on an angle while Stahls is rounded out. Take a look at Stahls font and then compare Dalco's. You'll notice the difference right away.
We sold Sand-Knit uniforms for just about every sport- basketball, football, baseball, softball, soccer, girls sports and lacrosse. We even had sample hockey jerseys made for the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League but Sand-Knit wasn't very good with hockey in 1974. The Amerks ended up going with Stall & Dean ProMesh. Stall & Dean was still independent in those days and made the baseball uniforms for the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics under private label for Tim McAuliffe Sporting Goods.
Sand-Knit had great quality, were great innovators but had really poor delivery. They bit off more than they could handle. Their demise came about when they were sold to the MacGregor consortium-an underfunded company that had purchased the MacGregor name, except the golf division. MacGregor/Sand-Knit eventually went out of business and the factory, machinery and patterns were purchased by Hank Derleth, an old Sand-Knit employee and now operates proudly as Ripon Athletic in the old Sand plant at 290 Junction St. in Berlin, Wisc. http.//www.riponathletic.com Check it out. Everything on there in uniforms says "Sand-Knit"- styles, lettering- it's all there.
When I started, the only NBA jerseys around in the UK were the Champion replicas, and those were limited - you'd see maybe a Bulls jersey, the occasional Lakers one... Then when Shaq & LJ came into the league, Hornets & Magic jerseys became more common. But there was nowhere to get Sand Knit stuff. I was lucky enough to find a couple of jerseys in a second-hand shop, and recieved a Hornets Kelly Tripucka jersey for my birthday, and that's what kicked me off. Then, when eBay was in its infancy I bought a cheap job lot of 14 jerseys, which had some great stuff - half-a-dozen game issue jerseys, a couple of Cavs, a Sixers, some blank Hawks and a Nets. I was able to snag some more cheap stuff over the next few years.
The thing I prefer about the Sand Knit stuff is that it just seems better than modern stuff - I've got 25 year old jerseys & warm-ups that have been worn consistently, and they're in better shape than my more recent Champion & Adidas authentics.
I ended up selling the majority of my collection some time ago - the craze for throwback jerseys was at its peak, and I needed the money as I was going back to university. I still regret it, although I've managed to reaquire almost all of my favourites. Now, if I can just find an '82-'86 Milwaukee Bucks home jersey, then my collection will be complete...
I was VERY lucky to me a custom made NY Knicks home and road jerseys. Later I the the shorts...the SHORT shorts. I made a new thred and post what I have for NBA uniforms. My favorite are the 1979-80 thru 1982-83 NY Knicks. LOVE THAT STYLE!!!!
Oh yes, I remember how tough it was to find any kind of authentic jersey. I couldn't even buy a Saints jersey in New Orleans although I ended up with one (see below). I ordered a Chargers jersey from a mail-order firm because I always liked the design and I already had a Saints jersey. Because availability was limited - to say the least - you had to name like a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choice. I was a marginal Cardinals fan in the mid-70's when they were in St. Louis, so my 4th choice was a Cardinals road but what I ended up with was a Cardinals home Terry Metcalf jersey with NNOB and a note saying sorry, this was the closest we had to what you wanted.
But my best authentic jersey story - and to the best of my recall it was a Sand-Knit - was around 1973 when the Saints gift shop - a tiny space in their main offices on Lee Circle in New Orleans with a few team-logoed items - ran a special. Sitting down? They offered a free game-worn jersey with a $25 purchase!!
They had so little that it was actually tough to find $25 worth of stuff to buy. You didn't get any choice on number or whatever, these were basically throwaways from guys they'd cut. I ended up with Creston Whitaker's #49 away jersey. He was a WR/PR that was with the team for one season and apparently wore 49 in the pre-season before going to a number in the 80s when the season started. I say this because he's not listed as #49 in the team's all-time roster. It was pretty cool, had the NOB and everything and was this style:
As for New Berlin, I've heard "WWII", I've heard "WWI", I've heard "that's just the pronunciation that stuck", I've heard lots of explanations for the first-syallable emphasis, but I've never seen anything definitive. Anybody know?
Love my Sand Knit Laker's and Nugget's (rainbow) complete warm sets. Finding authentic stuff back in the 80's was like hunting for treasure. Manny's Baseball Land was a a good source for Sand knit baseball jerseys. A STL Cardinal's authentic was $125 back in the day. I made many a drive from Oklahoma to Brad Sham's shop in a North Dallas strip mall and be in awe of the authentic jerseys he stocked. This was way before Internet shopping!!!The good ole days!
I saved up my pennies one summer to buy a Sand-Knit blue Dan Fouts jersey. It was beautiful, but six months later I hit my growth spurt. I ended up cutting the seams out on the sides so that I could still wear it. At the time I was having trouble deciding between Fouts and Steve Largent and part of me always wished I'd gone the other way. A few years ago I picked up a Sand-Knit Largent jersey on eBay. It's porthole mesh with the Seahawk logo on the sleves and absolutely screams mid-'80s, but in a good way, I think.
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