By Ken Ables
Contributing writier
On New Year’s Day 1952, the Aztecs defeated Hawaii 34-14 in the Pineapple Bowl to finish 10-0-1 in the first undefeated season in program history.
After World War II, like a few programs out there, the SDSU football program restarted. Since then, the Aztecs had worn red jerseys.
That was until 1952 when the red jerseys gave way to black—first with white pants, then silver, and then settling on black pants (and red helmets), which they wore for every home game from 1963 to 1979.
After finishing the 1979 season at home with a 63-14 loss to BYU on national TV, Aztec coach Claude Gilbert decided it was time for a uniform change. The traditional black jerseys, black pants and red helmets that had brought so much success at home would be replaced by red jerseys, white pants and black helmets.
The change was not welcomed by Aztec fans back then.
Despite the ending to the previous season (in which the Aztecs finished 8-3, by the way), the Aztecs had been 96-14-2 at home in all black with red helmets. The Pasadena Bowl win in 1969 made it 97-14-2 (an .866 win percentage!) and all in the uniform set that Don Coryell introduced in 1963.
The Aztecs started 1980 by splitting two WAC road games (thanks a lot, WAC schedule-maker) before debuting the red jerseys at home in a 31-7 loss to Missouri.
After another loss at Wisconsin, the Aztecs returned to San Diego for two home games: a 28-17 loss to UNLV and a 26-7 loss to Colorado State. An 0-3 start to the red jersey/black helmet era.
After a loss at Hawaii, the fans’ displeasure was much too loud to ignore.
The Aztecs switched back half of the uniform and wore all-black—but with black helmets—in a home loss to Oklahoma State. Two weeks later the Aztecs beat New Mexico 24-22 in their all-black uniforms and helmets, but it was too late for Claude to keep his job.
The players voted to wear Claude’s red jerseys as a tribute to him in his final game, and the Aztecs came through with a 21-20 win to send Claude and the red jerseys out winners.
Back in the ‘80s, alternate helmets were unheard of, so the Aztecs wore those black helmets in all 12 games, winning four and losing eight.
The Aztecs returned to the traditional black jerseys/black pants/red helmets and wore that combination – with a few exceptions – in every home game through September 5, 2026.
It has been reported this week leading up to the ‘Jaguar Era’ uniform buzz, that the all-red with black helmets were the Aztecs’ first alternate jerseys. That’s simply just not true.
The Aztecs wore red jerseys with black shoulders for two games in 2005, and won them both, beating BYU 31-10 and Wyoming 34-21. In the four home games in black jerseys, they were 1-3. They wore the same red helmet and black pants for all six home games.
So the real question is, are the Aztecs red jerseys cursed? Maybe.
But their not an abject failure. The Aztecs are 3-4 in red at home over the past 75 seasons. Not great, but better than their record in black helmets: a less-than-stellar 4-9. Worse than that: 0-1 in red pants.
Unlike many of my generation (I was there for the debut of the black pants and red helmets in 1963), I was enthusiastic about the all-red uniforms the Aztecs wore vs. James Madison on Saturday. I was not as enthusiastic about the helmets however.
I’m not a fan of logo on one side and number on the other, but that’s my personal taste. And, of course, we are the Aztecs, not the Jaguars. I would have preferred they wore the Piedra del Sol helmets – the Aztec calendar – the best helmets in football.
It was a noble effort to embrace alternates however. The players loved them, and they looked good. But let’s hope that’s exactly what they were: alternates.
The Aztecs should be back in black (and red helmets) when they return to Snapdragon October 3 to face Texas State in the first-ever Aztec Pac-12 conference game. See you at Snapdragon!
GO AZTECS
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