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September 2, 2010

HERTZEL COLUMN: WVU uniform honors fallen miners

By Bob Hertzel For the Times West Virginian

MORGANTOWN — I am not from outer space, as some have suggested, but I am from another century and, as such, I am basically a conservative voice at a time when things are becoming far more daring.

Normally, I view change with much disdain. The best example I can give is that I believe the New York Yankees baseball uniforms, the simple white with pinstripes and an interlocked NY on the cap, remain baseball’s best, if for no other reason than for the respect it gives to a great tradition.

That is why, when it was announced that Nike was designing a new uniform to be worn in one game by 10 teams this year, I gnashed my teeth and cringed.

Early Wednesday the uniform was unveiled by no less a “Fashionista” than the Mountaineers’ own Bob Huggins, dressed in his trademark pullover and sweatpants. The word was that Huggins, the basketball coach and not the football coach and a man who has always had a passion for the color black, a color he has worn all too often under and around an eye or two, was involved in the design.

Considering Huggins’ past fashion record, complete with his gold suit worn once on the sideline, the worst was expected.

But, it turned out, the uniform was not only a step up in protection for the player, but good to look at and, best of all, is something which an entire state can accept with great pride.

This, you see, is a uniform with a heart, a uniform inspired by West Virginia’s coal mining industry and dedicated to 29 brave men who gave their lives mining it at the Upper Big Branch Mine.

Listen, if you will, to the introduction Huggins gave it in New York, where he and athletic director Oliver Luck traveled for the gala fashion show.

“The tie between the state and its university is a strong one, none stronger than in West Virginia. In West Virginia we’re proud of where we come from and proud of the hard-working people who support us,” Huggins began.

“Many of these hard-working people are members of the coal mining community. Just as they have supported us, we support them. We are inspired by their work ethic. We pray for their safety, and when tragedy strikes, we grieve their loss.

“Last April, 29 miners were lost in a devastating explosion in West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch. This uniform was designed in their honor.”

Huggins then went into the way they came up with a white uniform with black trim, a black helmet with a yellow stripe from front to back, black socks and canary yellow shoes.

“Nike started with a clean white uniform, then envisioned what it might look like if it were to emerge from a coal mine,” Huggins explained as the uniform was modeled on stage. “The result is the smudged black coal dust pattern you see on the helmet, base layer, numbers and down both pant legs.

“The helmet also features the thin yellow line going from the front to the back that represents the beam of light emitted from a miner’s head lamp,” Huggins continued. “A graphic with the number 29 honors the perished miners in the Upper Big Branch.

“The uniform’s additional yellow accents the yellow cleats that reference the canaries used long ago to judge the toxicity in coal mines.”

Even the date chosen for unveiling the uniforms is important, for it will be worn on …

Let’s let Huggins tell you, as he does it in his own inimitable way.

“These uniforms we will be worn against an opponent we faced 102 times at a school just 75 miles up the road in the Backyard Brawl against Pitt on Nov. 26,” he said, pausing and then adding, “Go Mountaineers. Beat the hell out of Pitt.”

Pitt, too, by the way, will be decked out in special Nike uniforms of their own.

While West Virginia’s traditional school colors of old gold and blue are relegated to the logo on the helmet and uniform shoulders, which would normally raise a lot of eyebrows, it doesn’t seem to be much of a problem. In the past, the Mountaineers have worn virtually all white and all gold uniforms, or some mix thereof, and the basketball team was decked out in black on occasion.

The only drawback is that, as happens here all too frequently in the 21st century, much of the good is offset by the gross profit grab that will come through sales of the uniform shirt, the canary yellow shoes and “Leave No Doubt” T-shirts and gear.

If a portion of the profits could be channeled toward the families of the survivors or toward educational funds for their children or simply for use in future mining disasters, this would be the perfect introduction of a new product.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.

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