MJ
Charlie Hustle
Condo
Bob Swerski
Which Came First, Buffalo Or Kentucky?
Posted by MJ on November 20, 2007
I happened to be sifting through some photographs from this season and came across this piece (I went to high school with Ball State’s #21, Chris Allen):
I didn’t know Wesley Woodyard was white…
And after a quick glance I had to do a double take: “When the hell did Kentucky ever play Ball State?“
They didn’t, of course, but the uncanny resemblance of the jerseys of the University of Buffalo Fighting Hot Wings to those of the Kentucky Wildcats cannot be denied — at least from a distance, plus I can’t read so don’t give me that ‘read the name on the jersey’ crap.
But nonetheless I decided to look up a few more pictures of Buffalo – which it is good that I decided on just a few because that’s about all that is in existence – and here is what I was able to dig up:
Now compare the above ictures of the University of Buffalo with:
and 
And now you can see what I am talking about. Now I guess you could say that Buffalo’s jerseys has a bit more of a “silk sheet look” to them, but then again you’d expect anything from upstate New York to bit a bit more flamboyant than something from good ol’ Kentucky.
That being said, this whole recently-unearthed scandal of jersey plagiarism has me wondering which came first, Buffalo or Kentucky?
The University of Kentucky first introduced football in the Southeastern Conference in 1881 with a history that includes Paul “Bear” Bryant. As for the University of Buffalo, I dialed up Wikipedia.org to help me answer this question, because we all know you’re getting the best information from user-edited content, and I was able to find out that they won some “Lambert Cup” in 1958 — but “Lambert Cup” doesn’t even have it’s own Wikipedia entry anymore so we all know that makes it completely irrelevant.
I did not put in much more effort in to my research than that because my personal biases tell me Kentucky came first regardless of what facts say; however, what say you? Feel free to chime in on this hot topic for debate as this jersey heist ranks right up there with some drunken Georgia Tech fan stealing the jerseys of the visiting Virginia Tech Hokies earlier this season.
Which is James Starks and which is Keenan Burton? You decide.
Update:
It is tough to tell in the above photographs of the University of Buffalo team but their helmet design/logo is also eerily similar to that of the Widlcats:
Of course this wouldn’t be the first time a college has ripped of Kentucky’s logo…GO HOUSTON!
Steven said
Good find.
They do look very similar.
Condo said
Gonna have to say that UK’s jerseys came first.
Considering I worked in Bowling Green’s ticket office and we played Buffalo at home last year. They didn’t even have Nike jerseys, I’m pretty sure they were Russell Athletic or something generic like that.
SO….
Buffalo stole UK’s jerseys, much like Oklahoma University stole Yale’s fight song.
Sad really.
Matt said
BOOMER SOONER, BABY!
Steven said
Lot’s of schools use either a song some other chool uses, their colors, or whatever.
In Clemson and in LSU you have “Death Valley.”
That isn’t what gets me so much….. what I think is really “sad” is the fact that there are so many teams out there and so few unique names for teams mascots, etc….
How many more programs can call themselves the Tigers or the Bulldogs????
Matt said
Unfortunately, Wildcats is another big one…I think I have counted at least 7 D I-A basketball Wildcats… :-/
Doc Hancock said
I think a couple of years back, I remembered seeing Buffalo in action and I can tell you also those jerseys were not in stock.
Condo said
Oh I realize that Steven, lots of schools copy lots of things from other schools. But any chance to take a verbal jab at the Sooners is a jab I MUST take :)
Working at Oklahoma State, if nothing else, has made me develop an even stronger dislike for Oklahoma than what I already had. I respect their program, but doesn’t mean I like it :D
Nike’s Football Department is Lazy said
[...] Not so with Buffalo and Kentucky — something I’m a year late getting to, obviously. [...]
Former UK wildcat said
I played football for Kentucky and earlier in the season Buffalo was on Sports Center. I had to rewind my Tivo two or three time to see if they got the wrong video footage. Chris Berman said Buffalo but I saw Kentucky. I had to do a slow motion and pause to tell the difference. UK went to that Jersey style in 2004 and the logo went from the K to the UK back in the 90’s I think. Shenanigans on Buffalo.
Baller said
Yeah Buffalo used to have a horn on either side of their helmet.