Isaac Curtis sleeve numbers

[Tapes]

Did Isaac Curtis ever wear numbers on his sleeve before the 1980 season?

[Dewey2007]

From a quick check of pics of Curtis on Getty, Wireimage and Checkoutmycards.com it appears that the Bengals didn't wear sleeve numbers before 1980.

Hopefully others on the forum can confirm this as well since I don't think all of the pics covered every year between 1973-79. Good luck!

[Eric]

Are you referring to this jersey?

http://www.mearsonline.com/forsale/item/?id=2782

[Dewey2007]

If that is the jersey he is referring to here go pics from 1973-75

[Tapes]

Are you referring to this jersey?

http://www.mearsonline.com/forsale/item/?id=2782

Yep that's the one. Ive seen some pics on getty with Bengals numbers on the sleeves but none on Curtis. I'm assuming the jersey is no good then.

[Tapes]

Is there any other NFL jerseys that are fake/questionable from Mears?

[Eric]

Here's an undated 70s Bengals pic with sleeve numbers

[Eric]

does this 1981 card suggest the bengals wore sleeve numbers in 1980?

[Eric]

Here's the team photo from 1980

[John in KY]

I grew up watching the Bengals in the 1970s - they were essentially the local team for us in KY at the time (before the Colts and Oilers/Titans moved).

The only year they ever wore sleeve numbers with the original uniform style was 1980. It was tough to tell with TV and photo technology of the day but the sleeve numbers appeared to be tackle-twill while the front/back numbers were screened on (or heat press or whatever Sand-Knit was using on mesh jerseys in 1978-1980).

When the first version of the tiger stripe uniforms came out in 1981 they had sleeve numbers, which moved to the shoulders when that style was updated in 1997.