"HARVARDS" CREATE GREAT SENSATION AT 1875 DEBUT

Musty records of old University sports show that the first Harvard football "H" was worn by the Crimson, then really the Magenta, in a game played against Tufts on June 4, 1875.

The Harvard "ten" which played McGEI University on Jarvis Field in 1874, the first team to represent the University in football, did not wear the letter. Their uniform consisted of ordinary civilian long trousers, white undershirts, and they also wore Magenta handkerchiefs bound around their heads.

The next step in the evolution of Harvard football sweater took place the following fall when Harvard, through the enterprise of Morton Prince '75, substituted magenta and white striped jerseys for the undershirts.

Harvards Create Sensation

The folowing spring, in 1875, the letter "H" first appeared on a Harvard sweeter when the eleven lined up against Tufts on June 4. The game was played at Jarvis Field, and the "Harvards," as the University eleven was at the time referred to by the press, created a sensation by being clothed in white sweaters with a magenta "H," "white pants," and "crimson hose."

The "fifteen" which in November, 1875, first played against Yale, wore the crimson jersey with the white "H," are the distinctive feature of the University uniform today.

For some 25 years, beginning with 1879, canvas jackets were won over the jersey. Some of these jackets had the "H," others did not. Until 1892, the gridiron sweater, like that of the crew, was white with the "H," in crimson. In two, years, 1892 and 1893, the football sweater was crimson with the "H" in black, and thereafter the background was black and the "H' crimson as is now the case. In 1896, this last combination was confirmed by the Athletic Committee of the University.