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Throwback Uniforms: Bills (1965) and Oilers (1960)

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On August 9th, 2009, the annual Hall of Fame game took place at Canton, Ohio -- the location of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This year's competitors were the Buffalo Bills and the Tennessee Titans, two teams who originally started out in the American Football League. In commemoration of the AFL's 50th anniversary, both clubs donned jerseys from their earliest seasons and, if I may say so, they looked damn good doing it.

So let's take a look back at how these AFL jerseys looked in real-time photo stills. This is the first edition of what I plan to be a reoccurring segment, where I revisit how these old-timey jerseys look on modern athletes. The good, the bad, the horrendously ugly, it should be interesting.

Anyway, continue after the jump to see some more of these sweet AFL throwbacks.

Star-divide

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The Tennessee Titans wore their old uniforms from back when they were the Houston Oilers. They moved to Tennessee in 1997 and kept the original name for one season before becoming the Titans. This was the first time since they changed their name that they wore the old duds, which I'm sure made a few Oilers fans a little uncomfortable.

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Besides the oil derrick and the single stripe, the Titans helmets also featured a No. 9 decal, in honor of former quarterback Steve McNair. McNair, 36, was found dead inside an apartment on the Fourth of July. He had played with the team as recently as 2005.

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Bills owner Ralph Wilson, one of the few remaining owners from the AFL's inception in 1959, was there to watch his team play. The AFL and NFL merged in 1970. Every AFL team joined the newly formed AFC conference, while most of the NFL teams played in the NFC. A few NFL teams, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, jumped to the AFC to balance out the conferences.

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This was Terrell Owens' first game in a Bills uniform since signing with them in the offseason. If you look closely, you can almost see him plotting to throw quarterback Trent Edwards under the bus.

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You have to hand it to the people who designed these jerseys. There aren't many outfits from 1960 that would look good almost 50 years later, in 2009. They both look better than a majority of the current NFL uniforms and -- in my opinion -- are vastly superior to the current Bills and Titans jerseys.

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The referees even sported the old uniforms from the AFL days. I'm sure you recoiled a little when you saw a ref in a white- and orange-striped outfit. Bill Leavy, pictured above, sort of looked like he just got back from a state fair. But when you take a few more looks at it, even the old referee outfits grow on you... sort of.

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In-game photo? Or the most impressive push-up of all time...

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In the end, the Titans beat the Bills by the score of 21-18. Of course, this was a preseason game, so no one really cared what the outcome was. By the way, the 2008 Detroit Lions -- who went 0-16 -- won all four of their preseason games that year. So the next time someone tries to prognosticate how good a team will be based on their preseason record, you might want to shoot them down.

Overall:

Both the Bills and the Titans had pretty sweet jerseys, and I'm happy to note that both teams will be wearing these garments throughout the 2009 season. Kudos American Football League; not only were you successful enough to force a merger with the NFL, you had a pretty good eye for fashion too.

Final Grades:

Classic Bills away uniform: A

Classic Oilers home uniform: A

Photos taken by Joe Robbins, Getty Images

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The Bills modern jersey

is so bad they would be better off with these throwbacks, particularly those weird road white jerseys. The buffalo is one shade of blue, then the helmet stripe is another shade of blue, and then there’s some odd shoulder color block matching the helmet stripe, but then the numbers are the lighter shade again. What?! Oh, and we’re gonna put red and white stripes in there too.

by rzor on Oct 9, 2009 10:06 AM EDT reply actions  

Great site!

And sorry I am late in welcoming you to the SBNation family. Looking forward to more stuff like this.

The new Bills jerseys are awful. I like their throwbacks, but I prefer the white helmets they wore in the 70’s and early 80’s

Love those old Houston OIler jerseys. The Titans current uniforms are ok, the helmet is better than the uniform.

Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers

Big Blue View: Unofficial New York Giants blog

by Jim Schmiedeberg on Oct 9, 2009 2:16 PM EDT reply actions  

Awesome uniforms!

Ray Rice is so agile. He's a whole new breed for agile you need a new word to describe his agility... UBER-AGILITY!

by BaltimoreSportsFan on Oct 9, 2009 3:45 PM EDT reply actions  

I actually prefer the majority of the throwback uniforms. I’m glad the 49ers went back to their old colors.

FIRE BRUCE BOCHY NOW!!!!!!
AND TAKE BRIAN SABEAN WITH HIM!!!!!

by 49er16 on Oct 9, 2009 8:43 PM EDT reply actions  

it's incredible how such a simple change

like removing the black from the uniforms can make them look so much drastically better. I love the Niners new/old look this year

"[The Giants] beat us down. We were beat by a grown-man team, a team we want to be like one day. They came in here and took it to us. Out-manned us, out-gunned us. ... It wasn't even close." - Raheem Morris, 9/27/09

by cjmulrain on Oct 12, 2009 2:44 AM EDT up reply actions  

IMHO

Two of the best jerseys in sports history. I love the Oilers blue color and they Bills one is so nice. Bring back the Oilers colors for the Titans and get rid of the hideous current jerseys.

"Brett Favre was a man who thought he was retired, but he knew it wouldn't last."

by Colts Homer on Oct 9, 2009 11:41 PM EDT reply actions  

There's a miniseries airing on Showtime about the AFL

The first episode was pretty interesting showing some different ugly uniforms that were tried before the AFL teams settled on what they wanted.

You know me Al.

by TheJay on Oct 10, 2009 11:10 AM EDT reply actions  

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