Yes, Auburn Football Actually Wore Green Jerseys

Roses are red, violets are blue, my alma mater wore green, and so should you.

Nearly eighty years ago, that’s exactly what happened with the Auburn Football program.

Jack Meagher (pronounced “Mahr,” not “Meeg-er”) grew up in Chicago, Illinois, and attended the University of Notre Dame. Meagher would play football under the tutelage of assistant coach Knute Rockne, the man that would rise to legend status and bring home three national titles for the Irish.

Meagher began coaching himself after his playing days. He was hired as the head football coach by Auburn in 1934. Meagher would take the Auburn Football program to their first bowl game in the 1937 Bacardi Bowl in Havanna, Cuba. The following season, Meagher’s Tigers would grab their first bowl victory over Michigan State in the Orange Bowl.

Jack made an impact on Auburn and Auburn Football. His most unique mark came in 1938 when the Tigers kicked off the season against Birmingham-Southern in Montgomery.

Auburn took to the field wearing green jerseys.

Yes, green.

Yep, that’s Auburn in green versus Tennessee’s orange. (image via 1939 Resolver, University of Tennessee yearbook)

Remember that Meagher was a Notre Dame graduate?

Notre Dame was at the top of college football. Anyone associated with Notre Dame, especially those coming from Rockne’s coaching tree, was highly sought after by other schools to lead their program. The brotherhood of Irish-alum coaches would often schedule each other at their new schools.

Auburn was often seen as a lesser program and, despite having a solid on-campus stadium, struggled to bring name-brand schools to town. The Tigers often played home games in Birmingham, Montgomery, and even Columbus, Georgia. In fact, Auburn only played eight games in Auburn during Meagher’s nine seasons as head coach. Those games included Florida and Clemson (three games), who were bad teams then, and Louisiana Tech, Loyola (Louisiana), and Oglethorpe (twice).

The 1938 green jerseys had orange sleeve stripes. The 1939 edition did not. (image via 1939 Glomerata, colorized by David Bivin)

Meagher’s Tigers traveled across the country to play teams: Boston, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and even a multi-day train trip to San Francisco.

Always fighting an uphill battle to earn respect for his team, Meagher decided to do something completely different. To one-up his fellow alumni in showing how much he loved Notre Dame, Meagher purchased green jerseys for the orange-and-blue-clad Tigers.

The 1938 green jerseys matched the design worn since 1934, featuring orange numerals and three orange stripes on the sleeves. The Tigers would wear these green tops in at least seven games this season, with the orange jerseys being worn just twice (maybe three times, can’t decipher jersey color in one game). Auburn would win the season opener against Birmingham-Southern en route to a 4-4 overall record in the green jerseys.

For 1939, Auburn made a tweak to the green threads. While the orange numerals remained, the triple sleeve stripes were removed. The new green tops were used in at least five games (no photographs have been discovered for the season opener against Birmingham-Southern) to a 2-3 record.

Auburn defeated Mississippi State and Georgia twice in the green era while falling to rivals Tennessee and Georgia Tech twice.

Meagher would coach three more seasons at Auburn without the green jerseys making another appearance. Did Meagher get his fill of them? Nope. His team despised them.

Legendary receiver Babe McGehee spoke to The Plainsman in 1986 about his playing days in the 1930s. The key passage stated: “At one time, Meagher brought out green uniforms with orange stripes and numbers. ‘We didn’t wear those too much,’ McGehee said, ‘The team objected.’”

(via the 10/9/1986 edition of The Plainsman)

It’s unclear what McGehee meant by “didn’t wear those too much,” as we know that they were worn for 12 games in two years, easily becoming the primary during the time.

And then there’s Boots Stratford, possibly the first to ever track Auburn uniforms in some fashion. The Plainsman writer published multiple articles about the team’s aesthetics, even calling the orange jerseys cursed at one point. Boots declared the Irish green tops “lucky” in 1939.

(via the 9/22/1939 edition of The Plainsman)

Note the last line of that last clipping. Boots, the precursor to the Auburn Uniform Database, stated he wasn’t a fan of the green uniforms. And not just once, but twice! Clearly, the players weren’t the only ones to reject the alternate uniforms.

(via the 11/4/1938 edition of The Plainsman)

A 7-0 defeat to #2 Tennessee would be the final appearance of the short-lived green uniforms. But what if, for some reason, they had stuck around? Or if Auburn decided to wear throwback uniforms to this lost era? It might look a little something like this:

Yes, Auburn really wore green jerseys. And no, the orange jerseys were not winless under Barfield. Auburn’s uniform history is more interesting than you probably thought.

Special thanks to The War Eagle Reader for laying the foundation and researching this topic years ago.

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