72-73 Wilson Cross-Collar, Rounded Shoulder, Single Color Number and intro of the Two Color numbers
72-73 Single color Phil Russell (#5), 73 tagged Two color Cliff Koroll (#20) and Dennis Hull (#10) game worn jerseys - note the damage to the Hull from recycling.
Brand: Wilson
Material: Dureen
Hem: Nothing
Set Tagging: None in regular season. 73 tag in playoff set.
Patches: None
Sets: Believed to be one per color in both reg season and PO's.
Material: Dureen
Hem: Nothing
Set Tagging: None in regular season. 73 tag in playoff set.
Patches: None
Sets: Believed to be one per color in both reg season and PO's.
- The 72-73 season featured a transition from single color numbers, used in the regular season, to two-color numbers, introduced in the playoffs.
- The squared shoulder style jersey was replaced with a traditional rounded shoulder style.
- The 72-73 regular season is the only season-long combination of the cross-collar, rounded shoulders and single color numbers with the exception of Bobby Hull wearing it the previous season, and a set of red jerseys worn occasionally in 73-74 with nameplates attached for TV games. It is likely that the set used in 73-74 was the 72-73 regular season set.
- Nameplates were introduced and worn periodically for TV games/NBC game of the week during the 72-73 season and taken off after the games. Examples are seen with the plates sewn very high on the back, basically to the neckline. Occasional use of nameplates continues through the 70's until the league mandates their usage in 77-78. The Hawks do use them extensively in the 75-76 season as well.
- Fight straps appear standard in Hawks jerseys beginning this season.
- Wilson neck tagging includes the size for the first time. Gunzo's River Forrest tags are also present.
- In the playoffs, set tagging is introduced in the new sets of jerseys used for their run to the finals. A chain stitched patch reading '73' was sewn into the inner hem. These year patches were used for the remaining seasons of Wilson-made jerseys, up to 78-79.
- Of note, the 73 playoff jerseys were worn into the next regular season, so the 73 playoff jerseys were the 73-74 regular season set.
- When the playoff jerseys were issued, another more visible change occurred: two color numbers were used for the first time, and continue to appear today. These were positioned lower on the back of the jersey to better accommodate potential use of nameplates. The two-color numbers came in two different sizes. It seems the majority of players wore numbers which were a little smaller that the single color numbers (see the Koroll example above). As can be seen in the Hull example, a larger sized number was also used. There are examples in the mid-70's of both fonts being used on the same jersey. Examples will be shown in the 73-75 page.
- Jerseys of this era were often recycled to minor league teams in Dallas and Portland. Some of these jerseys surface in the hobby with extreme wear from games and washing, to the point of heavy damage to the crests and discoloring of the numbers and shoulder tommies. Thus, it is possible wear is added to jerseys after the Hawks wore them.
- Additionally, sometimes the team replaced the chain stitched crests with embroidered crests, and changed numbers on the jerseys for training camps. Jerseys were also used as practice jerseys in years following their original usage.
Chain-stitched 73 tagging from the playoff set
Playoff jersey tagging
73 playoff fight strap
Mikita with the one color number, cross-collar and normal shoulder yoke combo.
Nameplates with the 1 color numbers, cross-collar and rounded shoulders. 72-73 and use in 73-74 for TV games would be the only occurances of this combo.
Game 1 vs St Louis from the 73 playoffs, Magnuson vs Durbano. Believed to be the first time the 2 color numbers are used (see Bordeleau #23).
'73 Game 1 vs the Rangers.
1973 Finals Game 1