Football teams today wear different jerseys for home and away games -many wear alternate jerseys as well- and we think nothing of the expense associated with these frequent changes.

Back in the day, even big-time football programs pinched pennies, often replacing a dozen or twenty jerseys yearly, so it took a few years to get every team member wearing the latest style.

The slow jersey turnover became apparent when Purdue’s 1935 team took the field with three jersey styles. Four players still wear friction strip jerseys, twenty-nine have plain fronts, and thirty-eight have numbered jerseys.

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