Iowa Hawkeyes Football - Uniforms

Uniforms

Iowa's home jersey black with white numerals, with gold and white stripes on the sleeves. The away jersey is white with black numerals, and gold stripes on the sleeves. Player's names are located above the numerals on the back of the jersey. Gold pants with a black stripe are worn with both the home and away jersey. Iowa's helmets are black with a black facemask. They also have a gold stripe and the gold Iowa Hawkeye's logo included on both sides of the helmet.

In 1979, Hayden Fry helped to create the Tiger hawk, the logo seen on Iowa's football helmets. Since both teams shared the colors of black and gold, Fry gained permission from the Pittsburgh Steelers, the dominant NFL program of the 1970s, to overhaul Iowa’s uniforms in the Steelers’ image. Fry's idea was that if the team were going to act like winners, they first needed to dress like winners. Fry had originally asked Steelers Defensive Tackle "Mean" Joe Greene for a replica helmet and home jersey; Greene was able to send Fry to one of the team owners, and three days later, the owners sent Fry reproduction copies of the home and away uniform of Steeler Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, making Iowa one of only a few schools to use the uniform scheme of an NFL team. Although the uniforms appear the same, there are subtle differences, mainly in the scheme of the white away jerseys, the Steeler jerseys have the players names in yellow, while the Hawkeyes use black.

The Hawkeyes have removed the Tiger hawks three times, and the single gold stripe from their game helmets as a symbolic gesture of mourning. The first instance was on November 2, 1991, in recognition of the six victims of a fatal campus shooting. The second occasion was for a December 29, 1996, appearance in the Alamo Bowl. It served to commemorate the family of linebacker Mark Mitchell, who were involved in a fatal vehicle accident while en route to the game. The accident resulted in the death of Mitchell's mother and severe injuries to his father and two brothers. Third, the most recent being on Veterans' Day 2011 when they used a red, white, and blue tiger hawk on one side and left the other side blank in honor of our fallen heroes against Michigan. All three games resulted in Iowa victories.

The Iowa Athletic Director has okayed only four stickers on the helmets over the last thirty years, the first, in 1984, when a gold disk appeared, with the black letters "ANF," Which stands for America Needs Farmers, this sticker has remained in place since it was first placed onto the helmet. The second was a small black sticker on the back of the helmet, with white letters that spelled out "EVY," the nickname of legendary Iowa head coach, and Athletic Director, Forest Evasheski, to commemorate his passing in 2009. The third was in memory of Iowa high school football coaching legend Ed Thomas, who was tragically killed in his team's weight room by a former player. A small gold sticker with the black letters "FFF" placed near the crown of the helmet represents Faith, Family, Football, a motto Coach Thomas preached to his players to represent what his players priorities should be not only through the season, but throughout life. And the fourth, and most recent being a small green sticker, with the number 30 on it to honor former Hawkeye Safety Brett Greenwood, who, at that time, had fallen into a coma while lifting weights at Pleasant Valley High School.