UCLA Bruins Football - Uniforms

Uniforms

The UCLA athletic colors are "True Blue" and gold. The "True Blue" is a slightly darker shade than the previous powder blue worn by teams.

In the early days of the school, UCLA had the same colors as the California Golden Bears: Yale Blue and California Gold. Blue symbolized the ocean, while gold represented the state of California, known as the "Golden State".

When football coach Red Sanders came to UCLA for the 1949 season he redesigned the football uniforms. The Yale Blue was changed to a lighter shade of blue. Sanders figured that the baby blue would look better on the field and in film. He would dub the baby blue uniform "Powderkeg blue", powder blue with an explosive kick. For the 1954 season, Sanders added a the now familiar loop on the shoulders, the UCLA Stripe, to give an impression of motion. The away uniforms became white, with a navy blue and gold shoulder stripe and gold pants. The helmets became gold.

At times, beginning with the 1954 football season, the font for the numbers on the uniforms has been Clarendon typeface. Otherwise it has been block numerals. In the 1980s the uniform pants became yellow to look better in color publications, the jerseys a lighter blue, and the UCLA script was added to the helmets. In the 1990s, the uniform pants became gold again.

In 2003, the True Blue colors were adopted. The away uniforms got true blue shoulder stripes and numbers in 2006, but were replaced by navy blue again in 2010.

In 2009, the Bruins wore a 1967 throwback uniform against Washington and USC, though against USC the team's normal helmet was worn.