The Auburn Uniform Database is dedicated to documenting all Auburn athletic uniforms. This entry is part five of a series detailing the history of Auburn’s football uniforms. Be sure to check the previous entries, starting from the beginning or checking last week’s article.

1970

Auburn started the new decade sporting the same better-cooling mesh-body jerseys from the previous season. Few changes were made to the uniforms in the early portions of this decade.

1971

Shug Jordan and Pat Sullivan plan for the rest of the game.

Auburn made no changes to the uniforms for Pat Sullivan’s Heisman Trophy campaign.

For the Georgia game, however, Terry Beasley was photographed wearing a Burn the Bulldogs decal on the back of his helmet.

1972

With Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley gone from the Plains, Auburn stuck with the mesh uniforms once again.

1973

Modern facemasks began to appear on helmets. Helmet manufacturers struggled to make them in any other color in grey, so a majority of teams, if not all, wore the same color masks.

No changes were made to the uniforms.

At some point during the early 1970s, two Auburn defensive players were spotted wearing makeshift visors, more similar to a cap than a modern facemask visor. Mike Fuller was partially photographed with the visor, complete with his uniform number, while a Plainsman cartoon mentioned David Langner of Punt Bama Punt fame also wearing the visor attachment. The beginning of this video shows the visor falling off after a tackle attempt. More information is available from The War Eagle Reader.

1974

1974 marked the sixth and final season for the mesh jerseys.

Although the uniforms didn’t seem to change across the board, there might have been minor tweaks made. I haven’t been able to find any written proof about this, but word is that Shug Jordan wanted the white numbers to pop more on the blue tops. Auburn added a thin orange outline to help do just that. Great color photos are difficult to find of this era, but I was able to find a few.

In October, Auburn hosted Georgia Tech. Tech’s yearbook, the Blueprint, printed some great photos that prove the orange outlines existed. Auburn’s own yearbook also had a photo from the Georgia game in November, with a hint of the outlines being visible. Andy Carpenter once shared a few photos on Twitter of his father’s jerseys from this time. The orange was present on the mesh blue top. An undated photo of Lee Carpenter in uniform on the field fails to showcase any outline.

Ultimately it’s a minor detail, but every detail matters for the Auburn Uniform Database. For now, though, without enough proof at this point, I am going to leave this mystery as an element that was prototyped and failed to be utilized throughout the entire team.

1975

(image via Birmingham News)

In Shug Jordan’s final season at Auburn, the jerseys received an upgrade which no longer featured the mesh body. Older mesh-based jerseys would be worn in times, but the prominent style was a much better, more solid build.

1976

With Coach Jordan now retired, Doug Barfield took over as head coach. Barfield immediately added merit stickers to the back of the helmet, referred to as “weagle” decals. The design was rather similar to a USPS logo but in orange and blue. For the most part, few weagle decals were worn this season. They would appear more and more in the subsequent seasons.

1977

Doug Barfield, as you will see, was apparently a big fan of the color orange. Auburn’s transition to more orange began in 1977 as the second year coach added orange belts to the uniform. Weagle decals were more abundant.

1978

In 1978, Doug Barfield made a decision that would ultimately leave his largest mark on the program – orange jerseys. Auburn broke out the orange jerseys for the first time in the modern era, the first time since 1955, in the final home game against #8 Georgia. The two teams played to a 22-22 tie.

1979

The orange-additions continue, as Auburn adds orange facemasks to the helmets. Auburn would also wear nameplates for the first time.

Auburn would sport the orange jerseys for the Mississippi State game in November, resulting in the alternate tops’ first victory.

If you like orange, then the 1970s were great for you. Auburn saw some highs – Pat Sullivan’s Heisman – and some lows – Doug Barfield’s not-so-great tenure following the greatest coach in program history.

Barfield, while not earning the best record as a coach, was able to tweak Auburn’s aesthetic without drastically changing a lot. The orange jerseys are incredibly controversial today with Auburn fans, but mainly because the poor recollection of the history. Auburn would finish the 1970s with a 1-0-1 record in orange jerseys, and carry them in to the 1980s.

Check back next week as we ride along to the new decade, as Barfield ends his tenure, Pat Dye begins his, and Auburn’s uniforms transition to a very traditional style.

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