Illinois Unveils Throwback Uniforms for Rededication Game vs. Michigan on Oct. 19

Illinois will rewind all the way back to the early days of Fighting Illini football when it takes the field against Michigan on Oct. 19, 100 years and one day after Red Grange’s historic six-touchdown performance against the Wolverines during the Memorial Stadium Dedication Game in 1924. 

The Illini will don 1920s-themed uniforms to commemorate the 100th anniversary of that game, with the helmets, jerseys, and pants all designed to mirror the attire worn by Grange and the Fighting Illini football teams that represented the university during the early years of the program’s existence. 

“The program has done some throwbacks in the past, but it was really important to be more accurate to the time the stadium opened,” said Jake Rosch, director of football equipment operations. “We kicked around some ideas, but we ultimately settled on recreating Red Grange's uniform from 1924."

The jerseys feature a blue base with tannish-gold stripes that form a pyramid shape and run from the bottom of the shirt to the top of the numbers. White numbers with blue outlines complete the jersey, with the only orange features coming in the Memorial Stadium 100th Anniversary patch that will be worn on all of the Illini’s uniforms throughout the season. 

 The tannish-gold hue seen in the stripes will be reflected in the color of the custom pants, and will be paired with blue socks to complete the classic look.   

“The jerseys are pretty simplistic,” Rosch said. “It was designed 100 years ago, so they were limited in their manufacturing capabilities at that time. We were able to match the jersey design, which is really cool because we wanted to be as historically accurate from 100 years ago as we could possibly make it.” 

While the jersey design process was rather simple and straightforward, recreating the helmets required a lot more time and attention. After floating around ideas about using decals or different shell colors, the Illini knew they needed something extra special to complete the look. 

Always stuck on the idea of modeling the appearance of a leather helmet, the Illini reached out to their vendors to find a solution, which came via Armando Villarreal, the owner of an airbrushing company in southern Nebraska, who will hand-paint each individual helmet. Villarreal is one of only two artists in the nation who specialize in airbrushing football helmets.

The process is quite complex. The helmets are first sanded down before being sprayed with a sealer. Villarreal then adds a base coat before letting the helmets dry and scuffing them up a bit to add some texture. 

The helmets are next sprayed dark brown, and Villarreal uses a stencil to give the exterior a more authentic leather look. Once the helmets dry, Villarreal airbrushes the straps, stitching, and holes, all of which help replicate the look of the helmets worn by Grange and the Illini in 1924. 

Villarreal completes the helmets by adding a clear coat to create a matte finish. Each of the leather-brown helmets – which are a slightly different shade from the tan color of the jersey due to the kind of leather that was used during the 1920s – takes one to two hours to complete, but Rosch knew he needed that level of attention to detail to achieve the team’s desired look. 

“100 years ago, the jerseys all had very similar designs, so we knew what would set us apart in that overall aesthetic was a leather helmet and to create that textured look,” Rosch said. “On the helmet, there are straps that go over the top and form a sun pattern, but the only way to accomplish that was for it to be hand-painted. For each individual piece of leather that was on a leather helmet, we wanted it to be reflected on the shell of the helmet so it looked like you were wearing that helmet. 

“Armando has done a really great job and been a really good partner in this whole process.” 

The entire uniform design process started nearly two years ago. After spending roughly six to eight months developing the concepts and creating the initial designs, the Illini worked heavily with Nike to settle on the final look. Once the team received conference approval, the ball really got rolling. 

Director of Athletics Josh Whitman played a key role in the entire process, and his experience as both an administrator and an alum of the football program shaped the way the team went about creating the final design. 

“He has a little extra tie to the project as a whole because it represents something really personal to him,” Rosch said. “We tweaked a lot of small things to make sure everything fell in line with his vision and how we think we can tie that together.”

Illinois will sell the game-worn hand-painted helmets, along with game-worn helmets in five other styles – Block I, Four Stars, Arched Illini, Underlined Illinois, and Military Appreciation – that the team will be wearing during the Memorial Stadium 100th Anniversary season.  

Following exclusive sales periods for I FUND members and Varsity I football members, the general public will have the opportunity to purchase helmets beginning on Monday, Aug. 26, if supplies remain. I FUND members will be notified of their sales period in the coming weeks based on their giving level.