Wednesday WTF: Vintage basketball warmup jersey

I've mentioned it before, but sometimes I have a weakness for clothing items that would fall under the "kitsch" category before anything else. The item in this entry certainly does that, but it also falls under the small list of clothing items that I haven't even worn since buying them. In this case, that time frame is over 5 years, and yet I know I won't get rid of it.



There are many, many reasons that I keep it around, most of which might not make sense to someone who has any interest in traditional style. First off, I'm a sports buff (which surprises a lot of people, even after they've known me for awhile); Secondly, the colors on this vintage warmup jersey are still crisp and the team name is "The Crush," for gawds sake. Oh, and if that weren't enough, look at the name on the back...



So yeah, do I really need to explain the "neat" factor any further?

I've reached the point where I admit that I haven't been able to find any information about this particular jersey. I've searched the web over and over, looking through old ABA, pre-ABA, ABL, and other league names and teams and simply can't find anything.

The right breast area has the designation "1961CG," which I'm guessing corresponds to a date and some sort of league, but google delivers nothing. Various combinations of the team name, player name, and date also leave me scratching my head. I'm assuming it's from a very small regional team which dissolved and left hardly any records (none of which made it to the internet), but it still surprises me that I can't find even a small nibble of information.

What I'm left with is a nearly half-century old basketball warm-up jersey that will likely always take up at least one hanger in my closet. It would be a travesty to get rid of it before I found out at least a little about its history. Right?

Oh, and how about a close-up of that team logo?

As a former power forward, I approve