Coinciding with the start of inter-league play in 1967, the Broncos introduced the longest running jersey style to date. Like the 2nd and 3rd generation jerseys that preceded this style, the colors orange (home) and white (road) were retained. Updating the 4th generation style shirt was accomplished using a two-color, sleeve striping pattern. With only minor variations, this style would remain mostly unchanged for nearly three decades.
The uniform’s pants were little changed and remained white with a two-color, 3-stripe pattern on the outseam of each leg. During some years (as early as 1968 and as late as 1979), orange pants were worn with road uniforms. The helmet design of this era went through some subtle and not so subtle changes. In 1967, the helmet color was changed from orange to royal blue, however no logo had been selected yet so the team played 1967 with blank helmets and a single white stripe down the center of the helmet. In 1968, a new logo was added which featured the front half of a white horse rearing from the center of an orange “D” and the single white stripe in the center of the helmet was replaced with a single orange stripe bordered by two white stripes. This helmet design remained unchanged until a subtle adjustment was made in 1993. In 1993, the accent lines were removed from the horses ‘snort’ coming from its nose.
Generally, jerseys of this style can be divided into three sub-categories as follows:
1967 – c1971 Durene – Characterized by a 3-color sleeve striping pattern, the earliest jerseys of the style were constructed of a nylon-cotton Durene material. From 1967 through 1988, the three sleeve stripes were separated with the underlying base material visible (shown in the 1972 photo below). The home, orange fabric itself also appeared lighter in color starting in 1967, more of a true orange as opposed to the somewhat “reddish” hue used for the 1965 and ’66 Rawlings jerseys.
The origins of the style took a bit of time to develop as the 1967 and ’68 versions appeared to be a bit crude from an aesthetics standpoint and share indistinguishable characteristics. Manufactured by Wilson, the first of the 4th generation style utilized a crew-neck collar with the seam separating the shoulder yoke from the jersey’s front intersecting well into the collar. Also in 1967, a shortening of the sleeves to a ½-length can be noted (Note: References to sleeve lengths are as follows: ¾-length-extends below elbow to mid forearm; ½-length-extends to “break” in elbow; ¼-length-extends to mid point between shoulder and elbow). Sleeve striping appears to be knit into the fabric as was done in 1962-’64. Also, as in the past, tackle twill numbering is used throughout, however, the style of the numbering is possibly the most distinguishing characteristic of the 1967-’68 era jerseys. Spacing within and between the serif-style numbers as well as the size of the numbers seems to exaggerate a more “open” appearance that is most noticeable on the sleeve numbering.
With the introduction of the 1969 uniforms came a much “cleaner” appearance. Like the first of the 4th generation jerseys, the 1969 jerseys were also constructed of Durene fabric. The screened on numbers from this year would prove to be unique in that they have a heavy, almost rubber, consistency unlike the painted on consistency of future screened on numbers. The somewhat tattered look that was common with the prior years’ tackle twill numbering was replaced with a screened application beginning in 1969. Attributable to this change in application process and/or a change in font styles, the numbing appears somewhat bolder than that used in 1967-’68. Again, this difference is most noticeable in the sleeve numbering. While these jerseys also appear to utilize a crew-style neck, the position of the yoke seam is shifted downward as compared to the previous style. Whereas this seam cuts through the neck of the 1967-’68 jerseys, in 1969, it appears to intersect at the front of the neck.
The jerseys for 1970 appear to share many similar characteristics with the ’69 issue. Constructed of Durene, the tops feature a crew-style neck and ½-length sleeves. With both the sleeve striping and uniform numbers screened, the most noticeable change for 1970 is the numbering style on the white, road jerseys. With a much heavier background feather, the font style appears much bolder. This is especially apparent on the sleeve numbers where the void spaces within the blue numbers are completely filled by the orange background.
For 1971, little change was apparent as Durene jerseys with ½-length sleeves continued to be utilized. Also continued was the heavier background feather which is again most noticeable on the sleeve numbers of the white, road jerseys. Differing from the previous year, the uniform numbers on the front of the jersey appear to be somewhat smaller than in 1970.
c1972 – 1988 Nylon – The next significant change in the 4th generation jerseys occurred about 1972 when a 100% nylon mesh material began to replace the Durene blend of fabric that was predominately used since the early 60s. It should be noted, however, that there is no definitive year separating the usage of the Durene and nylon-mesh jerseys. While the earliest known sample of the nylon mesh appears in a 1972 team photograph of safety Steve Preece, it is generally accepted that, in many cases, jersyes constructed of Durene fabric continued to be worn for cold weather games for several years. Some evidence suggests that they continued to be used possibly as late as 1974.
It is possible that the change in fabric type may have coincided with the change in manufacturers as well since, according to Larry Elliott, team equipment manager from 1965-’83, Russell Southern/Athletic took over as the team’s uniform supplier in the early 70s. While maybe only coincidental, it has also been noted that photos of jerseys from 1972 appear to be a much darker orange than in years either previous or subsequent. Other features of the new V-neck nylon jerseys include ½-length hemmed sleeves and a shoulder yoke design which would again suggest Russell Athletic as the jersey’s manufacturer-with the horizontal seam attaching the yoke to the front of the garment passed immediately below the opening of the collar. Uniform numbers were affixed with a screened application and the sleeve numbers again exhibited the heavier feather as in 1970-’71.
For 1973-’74, it appears that Sand-Knit may have supplied the teams’ home, orange jerseys as photos from this period depict a style consistent with Sand-Knit jerseys of the era—a horizontal seam attaching the body front to shoulder cowl which passes well below the front of the collar. This would seem to be supported by information provided by Larry Elliott who recalled that, “Sand-Knit may have been used for one or two years in the early ’70s.” It would appear that there are some minor distinctions that may differentiate between the two vintages as the sleeve lengths appeared to have shortened from one year to the next and it also appears that both “pro” and “collegiate” style sizing were utilized. The white road jerseys from these two years, however, are consistent with Russell/Southern Athletic styling where the cowl seam intersects the collar at the front of the neck. Both styles utilize a V-neck design with ½-length sleeves and screened numbers with the heavier orange feather again apparent on the sleeve numbers.
According to Elliott, it is not inconceivable that the team would have used home and road jerseys from different manufacturers. Though not recalling the specific reasoning behind this, Elliott suggested two possible scenarios. First, with a limited budget, the team often purchased a set of dark jerseys one year and white jerseys the next, alternating every other year. Secondly, different manufacturers may have been utilized intentionally as the team was seeking to evaluate multiple suppliers as an alternate to Wilson, who reportedly had been the teams’ uniform supplier prior to this period, according to Elliott.
In 1975, it would appear that Russell Athletic became the team’s jersey supplier as this has been confirmed for the orange home jerseys and the white road jerseys exhibit the typical Russell shoulder yoke design as well. For the last of what appears to be a six-year run, the numbers had a heavy background feather on the white road jerseys. This was not apparent on the 1976 road whites.
The emergence of a circa-1976 home jersey of Jim Kiick would seem to indicate that Sand-Knit also supplied the home jerseys for this year as well. While it cannot be proven without doubt that the sample was from 1976, it is presumed to be the case as the 1977 jerseys were made by Russell Athletic (Kiick played only two years in Denver—1976 & 1977).
Another hiccup in Russell’s two-decade reign came in 1978-’79. Research seems to indicate that Wilson was the predominate supplier for both 1978 and 1979. Exceptions have been noted as at least one example of a Russell jersey was observed in 1978 (Craig Morton at Oakland, Dec 3). Likewise, Wilson-style jerseys have been observed being worn in 1980 and later. It is suspected that these exceptions are due to players retaining jerseys issued in prior years. Affecting both home and road uniforms, the Wilson jerseys can be easily identified by the shoulder yoke design which, unlike Russell’s horizontal seam, attaches to the jerseys’ front with a diagonal seam See 1978-’79 detail page for image).
By 1981, it would appear that, for the most part, the team had reverted to utilizing Russell Athletic attire and continued to do so through 1988.
1989 – 1996 Three-stripe – Beginning in 1989, Wilson replaced Russell Athletic as the teams jersey supplier. The Broncos were wearing Russell Athletic jerseys with Wilson pants until the late 80s when the team switched exclusively to Wilson for both pants and jerseys (Elliott, 1998). With the change of manufacturers came a change in the sleeve striping pattern. From 1989 through 1996, a 2-color, 3-stripe pattern replaced the 3-color, 5-stripe pattern used from 1967 until 1988. Wilson remained the teams exclusive apparel supplier until 1995. For the 1996 season, Nike replaced Wilson as the teams’ uniform supplier. In spite of this change in manufacturers, the 1996 uniforms remained nearly identical to the ‘95 Wilson design.
