Committee Standardizes Sports Letter Sweaters

The question of what the well-dressed Harvard athlete will wear was finally answered last week, when the Faculty Committee on Athletic Sports adopted a recommendation of the Undergraduate Athletic Council and voted unanimously to standardize the letter-sweater for all major sports. The new sweater will be black with a crimson letter surrounded by a white border.

Previously, each major sport had a unique sweater, but the growing number of major sports--now ten--had exhausted all possible permutations and combinations of color in sweater, letter, and border.

With the possibility of still more major sports to come, it was felt that the simplest and best course was to standardize the sweater, making distinctions only between major and minor letters by varying the size of the letter. The major letter is 7 1/2 inches high, compared to the 4 3/4 inch minor letter. About 200 letters in major sports are presented every year.

The first use of a color to distinguish Harvard athletes took place at a boatrace held on June 19, 1858. At the time, it was customary for crews to race in any handy costume, every man for himself.

To distinguish the crews at a distance, Harvard's president, Charles W. Eliot, bought a half-dozen magenta handkerchiefs which the rowers wore on their heads. In 1875, after considerable dispute, the official Harvard color was changed to crimson,