May 28, 1981—Blue officially adopted as the primary uniform color in place of black after a Board of Regents mandate at its January meet ing. Originally suggested to be “the deep blue Colorado of Colorado’s sky at 9,000 feet” by then-Regent Jack Anderson, jerseys were official ly an “Air Force Blue” though different than the blue the Air Force Academy’s sports teams wore. Numerals were silver or yellow-gold, depending on the sport, and outlined in white. The football pant remained gold, but with a blue stripe, for both home and road. Football helmets remained gold but with blue logos. Other programs switched to blue, ranging from road basketball jerseys to golf bags. CU’s trademark south end zone is painted blue, the first color change since it was created after the track was removed in 1966.
1984—The colors are altered slightly, as the blue is enhanced to a darker hue; football goes with gold, borderless numbers and com plaints rain in from many, as players can’t be identified from stands. Black and white photos and game films appear as if players wore no numbers at all. Bill McCartney had the football team twice wear black jerseys (against Oklahoma and Nebraska) in a similar way that Notre Dame broke out its green jersey for big games.
April 24, 1985—“Black is Back” read the release announcing that ath letic director Bill Marolt would allow head coaches of all CU sports teams (then 14 in number) the option of returning to black as the pri mary jersey color. McCartney’s throwback efforts the previous season were the impetus for the change; the football jersey had a blue stripe on the arm for the 1985, 1986 and 1987 seasons before it was dropped altogether in 1988.
December 30, 1985—A standard in basketball, the football jersey has COLORADO emblazoned across the front for the first time for the Freedom Bowl versus Washington. November 28, 1987—Football wears all black for the first time in a 24 7 loss to Nebraska.
1988—Football switches to the black pant for road games. It remains standard for well over a decade, until the 2000 team wears white for a road game at Southern California.