Remembering the Revival of Ole Miss Powder Blue in 2014

The Rebels brought back one of their classic colors in the 2014 football season, and it has now become a fabric of the university's culture.

It's hard to believe that the 2014 football season was nearly a decade ago, but that year brought back a familiar shade to the Ole Miss Rebels uniform arsenal.

Ole Miss Uniform Archives (@OleMissUnis on Twitter) recently relived the revival of powder blue as a staple color at Ole Miss, a trend that began on Sept. 27, 2014 in a football game against the Memphis Tigers. You can see his thread on the color below.

🧵: Thread

📅: September 27th, 2014
📍: Oxford, Mississippi
🆚: University of Memphis

On a crisp September night in Oxford, Ole Miss would warm up wearing navy helmets that featured the number 38 on the left side to honor Chucky Mullins.

The Rebs would come out for the game… pic.twitter.com/xDWQxGltUI

— Ole Miss Uniform Archives (@OleMissUnis) August 12, 2023

In short, Ole Miss was utilizing this game to honor the late Chucky Mullins, and it originally took the field for warmups in its traditional navy blue helmets with a white "38" on the side, reminiscent of a design worn shortly after Mullins' injury.

When the Rebels emerged from the tunnel for the game, however, they had changed their helmets to powder blue, the first time these lids had seen the light of day since the 1994 season. It was also the same helmet style that Mullins wore during his time in Oxford.

Now, powder blue has become a mainstay color at Ole Miss, infiltrating every major sport on campus as either an accent color or a primary color for some uniforms. It all began as a homage to previous Ole Miss teams in the Johnny Vaught era and again from 1983-94, but now, it has become a recognizable tradition that sets the Rebels apart from other schools in the country.

Although the age of alternate uniforms has blurred the lines between primary and secondary uniforms in college sports, some would even argue that the powder blue lid has reclaimed the primary title in Ole Miss football, and it got its start in the modern era against Memphis in 2014.

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You can follow John Macon on Twitter at @JMakeGillespie.

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