The letterman jacket. We’ve all seen them before somewhere – in old-school pictures, movies, or shows. It seems that everyone knows what they are but very few own one. It’s the big, bulky jacket the color of your school with sewn on patches of all the sports you were varsity on. It shows off the pride you have of all of your athletic achievements and the school that you come from. It’s something that varsity athletes should have, that identifies them and celebrates their dedication to sports because it takes commitment and consistency to achieve varsity.
In an age where pride of who you are and where you come from is greatly encouraged, you would expect to see more letterman jackets. However, that is not the case. Here at school, letterman jackets are scarce. So that begs the question, what happened to the letterman jacket?
A reason for the lack of the letterman jacket is the accessibility to get one. A letterman jacket costs hundreds of dollars. Plus with the embroidery to sew the patches on it, it could go upwards to a thousand. “I would buy one, but is it really worth it for the cost?” junior and three sport athlete Vincent Paredes said.
Adding to the struggle of people not buying letterman jackets, people must pay an additional $35 for an ASB sticker in order to obtain patches to put on letterman jackets (you can purchase the sticker in the finance office). Although this purchase may seem unnecessary to get letterman jacket patches, the purchase of the ASB sticker also gets you into sports games, dances and other school events for free. According to Athletic Director Jose Gil, athletes can pick up letters from him by showing they purchased the ASB sticker, and that they played a sport.
Also, making the letterman jacket a more difficult sell is that nobody wears them anymore. Things that have a desire to get bought, get bought. People have a strong enough need to get a $6 Starbucks drink so that’s why they get it. People currently don’t have a strong enough desire to have a letterman jacket. At the moment I only know of 1 person with a fully decked out letterman jacket. The other key function of the jacket, besides showing your patches off, is to be a part of a camaraderie. But if nobody wears them because they’re too expensive and tough to get ahold of, that aspect of camaraderie ceases to exist and the urge to get one also disappears.
I will be entering my third straight year on the wrestling team and if the letterman jacket was less expensive, more accessible and more people would wear one, I would get one along with some of my teammates. However, the opposite is true. Letterman jackets have fallen out of favor due to the cost, and athletes who’ve focused on one sport, rather than multiple sports. With fewer athletes wearing one, there’s no incentive to get one.
As aforementioned, a letterman jacket can cost upwards to $1,000 with all the different patches and embroidery. Luckily, Gil has made it an effort to achieve a more affordable letterman jacket. He sent a link to the “Class of” Google classrooms to a site that sells a more affordable letterman jacket. Instead of the monstrous $1000 for the fully patched letterman jacket, these unadorned letterman jackets are $250. “I’ve been trying to bring it back, but it’s been a struggle,” Gil said.
One thing that could help bring them back would be a fundraiser starting freshman year. This could incentivize and motivate them to get a letterman jacket as a sophomore or junior. This drive to obtain a letterman jacket would ignite the lettermen jacket tradition again. We already have a Princess Project for seniors to be able to get a dress for prom. Why don’t we have a Project Letterman? Worst case, if an athlete stops participating, the money raised could go toward senior expenses. Best case, more athletes have something that shows off their accomplishments, puts the letters and patches to good use, and brings back the pride of being a letterman.
As someone looking to bring back the letterman jacket, Gil is behind anything that would bring them back. “This is a great idea! I would support this in a heartbeat,” Gil said. “Thinking outside the box is pivotal and could bring awareness to this project. Keeping a tradition alive.”
