Friday, September 2, 2011

High 5 from 1979

With the Packers taking on Kansas City in the final preseason game of 2011, the Green Bay Press-Gazette is currently running a photo gallery featuring a preseason Packers/Chiefs matchup from 1979. I saw something in that gallery which piqued my interest.

In this photo, guard Derrel Gofourth (57), linebacker Rich Wingo (50) and center/future color commentator Larry McCarren (54) take the field:

Press-Gazette archives

Check out the right angle on those 5s, and contrast with the modern hooked numbers:

The Packers' hooked 5 goes all the way back to the Lombardi era:

Perhaps this straightened digit indicates a "house font" from their uniform supplier at the time. This was far more common in the 1960s, but doesn't seem all that unlikely in 1979.

1 comment:

CaffeineAddict said...

The high 5 left in the 70s when they went to 'screened on' #'s. The High 5 did not return until the 1995 season, when starter decided to start using 'sewn on' #'s instead of the screened. As you can see in 94 the 5 was still flat:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3KPUU4nh6WA/TI9h5xX6n2I/AAAAAAAAAF8/_e7CEOuRSqM/s320/paup-bryce-1-gbp.jpg

Ken Reuttgers in 1995: http://img.fanbase.com/media.fanbase.com/8/21098/155942138c284d748f9e0aedded3e5b069937b8c.jpg?x=198&y=275&sig=2a69ca3ea454d67475e21ed226a8debe

Hopefully that helps.