For kids growing up in the 1970's and early 1980's, your sources for sports licensed products were a bit limited. At that time, there were no fan shops at the mall and the industry was still in its infancy before exploding later in the 1980's. We certainly didn't have the internet to use to find our favorite team's jersey. If you were a fan of your local NFL team, your only real source for merchandise was at your team's stadium concession stand or at an obscure sporting goods store tucked into a small corner of your metropolitan area.
The one place kids knew that they could find all of their favorite sports team gear was the Sears catalog. Each year I would wait with ridiculous anticipation for the Sears Christmas catalog to arrive at our door. The Sears catalog could always be counted on to contain the greatest collection of sports licensed products that a kid could desire. Sears would always have the perfect replica jersey, jacket, beanie hat or pajamas to satisfy your need to support your team.
You could even find items like push-pins, pennant collections and even Electronic Football player sets. The Sears catalog was like a gift from sports heaven. I blame the Sears catalog for feeding my sports logo obsession as a child, but I couldn't wait to see what was new each year and add it to my list of must-have items. I'm sure many of you had a pair of those classic NFL pajamas!
Oh man, I recall like it was yesterday begging my dad to buy me one of the Sears Raiders' "jerseys" that said "RAIDERS" above the number 21 (Cliff Branch, of course). i LOVED that shirt! I believe I had that Rams raglan shirt on the cover with the blue sleeves, too. And back in sixth grade, I had that Cowboys jacket on the bottom right! Wow! Great stuff, there.
Posted by: marc | September 16, 2009 at 02:48 PM
Great post Jim, Sears used to be a great place to shop....what happened!!! We actually have a bunch of those helmet sweatshirts in stock, they are kids sizes but fit girls great!
Posted by: Kirk | September 17, 2009 at 01:38 AM
Man, that brings back some memories!!
I lived for the Sears and Penney's Christmas catalog!!
I had a lot of that stuff, especially the toboggans and jerseys.
Posted by: Scotty J | September 22, 2009 at 01:41 PM
I still have my old Chicago Bears knit cap!! Those were the days.
Posted by: Matt | September 24, 2009 at 04:35 PM
Man, I have TONS of my old Sears stuff. I loved that catalog and all the gear. Wish they would make some of those jackets and hats for our generation these days.
Posted by: Josephus | November 03, 2009 at 01:39 PM