Navy Football Players Will Be Sporting NASA Logos This Year. Here’s Why.
If you look at the uniforms being worn by Navy football players this year you’ll see the old NASA “meatball” logo on their shoulders, and the NASA “worm” logo on their helmets.
According to a statement sent to us by NASA: “U.S. Naval Academy Athletics requested working with us for its proposed space-themed look for the annual Army-Navy game this year. While we supported this use of the NASA insignia, as you know, because there is a merchandise aspect to this, legally we had to be mindful how we worked and highlight it. I hope this answers your question about why Navy football players are wearing NASA logos.”
Here’s the Navy’s explanation for the requested use of NASA insignias: “Navy Athletics and Under Armour Unveils 2022 Army-Navy Football Game Uniform“, issued by navysports.com:
Navy Athletics and Under Armour have unveiled an astronaut-themed uniform the Navy football team will wear for the Dec. 10 game against Army at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The 123rd playing of the Army-Navy Game presented by USAA will air nationally on CBS at 3:00 PM EST.
Fifty-four United States Naval Academy graduates have gone on to become astronauts, the most of any institution. The first Naval Academy graduate to become an astronaut was Alan Shepard (’45), who was the first American in space (May 5, 1961) and was one of NASA’s first seven astronauts. Shepard’s second space flight was on Feb. 5, 1971, when Apollo 14 landed on the moon and he went on two moonwalks.
In 1985, Naval Academy graduate Bruce McCandless II (’58) took the first untethered spacewalk, venturing further away from the confines and safety of a ship than any previous astronaut.
The Naval Academy Athletic Association and Under Armour partnered with NASA to use the official “meatball” logo to accurately recreate the spacewalk suit.
The white uniform with red stripes and the American flag mimic markings on the NASA spacewalk suit. The Helvetica font was used for the numbers and wordmark. This typeface has been used by NASA extensively for decades, from the space shuttle to signage and printouts. It is one of the most ubiquitous typefaces in the world.
The gloves are white and red with the astronaut pin on the palms.
The pants’ side-panels feature the NASA astronaut pin which was adopted in 1963. It was first given to Mercury 7 astronauts. The silver pin is awarded to astronauts after completing basic training and the gold pin is awarded after completion of a spaceflight mission.
The helmet features individually hand-crafted paintings of the iconic photo of McCandless untethered with the Earth in the background. The other side of the helmet features the classic NASA logo with the Moon behind it.
The astronaut pin is also depicted on the stripe of the helmet from front to back.
The cleats are all white to mimic the astronaut moon boots with shiny dots to represent stars. The socks are royal blue with a red navy word mark inside of the iconic NASA “worm” logo patch.
Uniform Exposure Site: https://www.gonavysports.com/dffcba210a393fb20ef9afa8f3cfe565
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xyzrYI_GV8
Special Gear: https://tinyurl.com/ktfptmsp
Big Game Football: https://tinyurl.com/yuepu26e
Naval Academy Astronauts (Complete bios here: https://www.usna.edu/Notables/astronauts/index.php)
Alan B. Shepard Jr. ’45
Walter M. Schirra ’46
James Irwin ’51
Donn F. Eisele ’52
Edward G. Givens ’52
Jim A. Lovell ’52
Thomas P. Stafford ’52
Theodore C. Freeman ’53
William A. Anders ’55
Charles M. Duke Jr. ’57
Bruce McCandless II ’58
S. David Griggs ’62
Robert C. Springer ’64
John O. Creighton ’66
David M. Walker ’66
James F. Buchli ’67
Michael J. Smith ’67
Charles F. Bolden Jr. ’68
Michael L. Coats ’68
Bryan D. O’Connor ’68
John M. Lounge ’69
Robert D. Cabana ’71
Frank L. Culbertson Jr. ’71
David C. Leestma ’71
William M. Shepherd ’71
John L. Phillips ’72
Stephen S. Oswald ’73
Kenneth S. Reightler Jr. ’73
William F. Readdy ’74
Stephen D. Thorne ’75
Jerry M. Linenger ’77
Pierre J. Thuot ’77
Ken Bowersox ’78
Daniel Bursch ’79
Michael J. Foreman ’79
Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie ’79
Joe F. Edwards Jr. ’80
Michael E. Lopez-Alegria ’80
Kathryn P. Hire ’81
Brent W. Jett Jr. ’81
Wendy B. Lawrence ’81
Christopher J. Loria ’83
William C. McCool ’83
Robert L. Curbeam Jr. ’84
Charles O. Hobaugh ’84
George D. Zamka ’84
Lisa Nowak ’85
Stephen G. Bowen ’86
Stephen N. Frick ’86
Kenneth T. Ham ’87
Sunita L. Williams ’87
Christopher J. Cassidy ’93
Nicole Aunapu Mann ’99
Kayla Barron ’10
