As Marist men’s basketball makes its final push for their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 38 years, they’ll do so in familiar threads. On Monday, they revealed throwback uniforms that will be worn in at least two games this season, named the “Marist 87’s” in honor of the Rik Smits-led 1987 squad that earned a 14-seed in the national tournament.
The men’s basketball program has never had a third jersey in its uniform rotation, until now. They debut them later today when they host Iona at 7 p.m.
In a magical year thus far that saw Marist win nine of their first 10 games of MAAC Conference play, McCann Arena has started to feel like 1987 all over again. For the Red Foxes, it’s the right time to honor their history, as they aim to make their own.
“Those jerseys were what Marist wore when we played really well,” said sophomore guard Josh Pascarelli. “So it’s great to finally have them back in the community and all that stuff so I feel like it’s perfect timing.”
For Pascarelli and many other players, this is the first time in their careers that they have an alternate uniform. Throughout high school and AAU ball, most teams only offer a home and road option. However, at the collegiate level, most schools have an alternate, or two.
A third jersey has been in the cards for Marist for over a year now, with the process intensifying over the summer. After weighing options between an alternate or a throwback, Marist decided on the “87’s”. The design process began in late July and into August, as a team within Marist Athletics dove into the archives, researching photos from Smits’ time at Marist.
Given that the uniforms were quite simplistic back then, they spent most of their time focusing on nailing the red font that curves across the chest of the white uniforms. Ordered in September, they did not arrive for a few months but are ready for Saturday’s matchup with Iona.
While the process of creating these throwbacks has taken place over the past year, a third jersey in the rotation is something Marist has looked forward to for a long time, but never saw it come to fruition.
“Looking back at old photos its always just been home and away,” said Associate Athletics Director & Director of External Affairs Harrison Baker. “We were always just red and white.”
The route of adding an alternate in the same style to the home and road sets was enticing – similar to Fairfield’s black alternate uniform – but Marist felt that honoring their history was a better place to start.
“We wanted to start somewhere that honored our tradition,” said Baker. “It only seemed right to kind of start backwards and then move forwards.”
The uniforms feature an extremely simple design, effectively paying tribute to the 1987 squad that went 20-10, and 15-1 in Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Metro play, and made the NCAA Tournament – the last time a Marist men’s team did so.
It is no secret: 1987 was a long time ago. No Marist players or students, or many Marist alumni were alive to see that special team in action; head coach John Dunne was still playing high school basketball at Archbishop Molloy High School.
With little connection to most of the Marist community, Baker worried that they might not be as well received as he originally thought.
“Just pulling them out of the box, they looked simple. I thought ‘Ah… I don’t know’,” said Baker.
However, once he saw the team’s excitement and appreciation for them, he knew that fans would have a similar reaction.
“My first thought was ‘those are nice’,” said Pascarelli.
Not long after, the entire team took part in a photoshoot in preparation for the reveal, posted on Feb. 3 across the team’s social media accounts.
Marist teased that something big was to come on Sunday evening, posting a 23-second clip featuring vintage television sets hinting at a potential throwback. Inside the televisions were old videos from Marist’s basketball past, including a close-up of its retired numbers, in the style of their uniforms in the late 1980s.
The brief video ended with a montage of many of Marist’s logos of the past, insinuating the tribute to come. At 10 a.m. on Monday, the uniform release video was posted on their Instagram and X accounts, showing off the new throwback threads.
The release comes at unexpectedly perfect timing. Last Wednesday, Marist celebrated “University Day”, officially changing from Marist College to Marist University – as announced on Dec. 11. The day marked a historic turning point for Marist, as all-day festivities took place in the Dyson Center and McCann Center. Additionally, the Mid-Hudson Bridge lit up in red and white to honor Marist.
Just two days later on Friday, Jan. 31, the Red Foxes hosted Siena for a nationally televised game on ESPNU. 3,200 fans poured into McCann Arena, good for Marist men’s basketball’s first sellout since 2008. Marist prevailed in a thrilling 72-67 victory, capping an exciting first full week return after winter break.
“Its just great to get us some more exposure”, said Pascarelli. “Not just for the program, but just athletics here in total and the school.”
“I think it’s pretty cool that, as we’re going to University status and we’re looking at the future, we can also look back and honor the past,” said Dunne.
The national recognition continued on Monday evening; ESPN published an article detailing Marist’s uniforms as well as their historic season thus far.
“You always gotta respect the past, so many people played before you,” said Pascarelli. “Without them, you don’t know if you’d get the same opportunity… it’s cool to represent them in a way.”
Seeing the positive reaction amongst the community has left the athletic department motivated to work on more alternative uniforms in the future for other teams. Times have changed in college sports; schools big and small across the country offer their teams multiple options of what threads to don in each game.
“A jersey set used to be very exorbitant, but now it’s not so much,” said Baker. “That makes it a little bit easier to create special jerseys for special occasions and hopefully build up your rolodex of jerseys and you have a bunch to choose from.”
The Red Foxes will hit the floor in the Marist 87’s tonight against Iona, then again on Feb. 21 against Canisius.
“I’m gonna go sleeveless, I know that for sure,” said Pascarelli. “Maybe short shorts too, but I’m super excited to wear those.”
Edited by Marley Pope
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore; Photo from Marist Athletics
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