Pittsburgh Hornets, 1961-67; Four Jerseys

[LouMarcon]

I got the above red Pittsburgh Hornets jersey today. Made by David Frost (100% polyester) of South Carolina, it’s a replica of what Captain Ted Hampson wore in 1964-65. And, it completes my American Hockey League Pittsburgh Hornets (Era II, 1961-67) collection of four jerseys.

The white No. 10 (polyester) below, also made by Frost, was worn by Captain Ab McDonald during the Hornets final season, 1966-67. The Hornets won the Calder Cup (8-1 playoff record), disbanded and were replaced by the Penguins for the 1967-68 season. I'd say both jerseys are about 95% accurate with the original sweaters.

Pictured below is the light blue jersey (100% acrylic) was the Hornets road uniform in 1961-63; and the red sweater (100% wool) with six stars on each sleeve was the Wasps's home uniform in 1961-64. Both, very unique for this era of minor league hockey, were custom orders made by Ebbets Field Flannels.

EFF owner Jerry Cohen liked my custom red sweater with the stars so much that he almost immediately began offering it to the general public (for about 65% less than what I paid for the initial custom order, I should note).

The blue sweater is a custom version of a jersey that EFF had been offering the public for several years. I paid about 65% more than the public offering to get the gold yoke squared at the top of the sleeves. That was an extremely tedious process. I tried two different vendors before EFF finally got it right (mostly) in the end.

Despite being custom orders, both jerseys still had some cosmetic issues that I had to fix before they conformed to the original sweaters. I knew that going into both orders and lay no blame on EFF. EFF only does felt crests and letters. Many hockey jerseys of the era of the EFF hockey jerseys had felt numbers, crests, etc. However, the Pittsburgh blue (1961-63) and the red (1961-64) had an embroidered crest and twill numbers. And, I wanted both replicas to be as accurate as possible.

On both the blue and red jerseys, I replaced the circular felt crest provided by EFF with a larger, fully embroidered crest made by Butler Patches of Pasadena, Calif. I then stripped and replaced the felt numbers and stars with twill; and on the blue jersey I changed the color of the numbers from white to gold, and added a No. 5 on each sleeve.

After my customization, I'd say both the blue and red jerseys are 95% accurate. The crests are off slightly, but since they cost about what I paid for the red EFF custom jersey, I can live with what I have.

And, finally, the No. 2 (first picture below) is a 30% wool/70% acrylic blend made by Stall & Dean. It's a replica of what the Hornets wore for home games at the long gone Duquesne Gardens in 1948-52.

I still need to have this one stripped and the felt number, stars on the sleeves and Hornets logo on each arm replaced with twill.



Finally, here is the No. 2 after it was stripped and the felt logo, number and stars replaced with twill. With the two-layer white No. 2 on the front and back, this one is pretty much 100% accurate.

The wool gold and black No. 29 (made by EFF) was the Hornets' home sweater during the 1952-53 season. No. 29 was worn by AHL HOFer Willie Marshall. The Cleveland Barons defeated the Wasps for the 52-53 Calder Cup with a 1-0, game seven, overtime victory.

Edited May 20, 2015 by LouMarcon