Spirit's back in black, white and red

Archie and the gang had them in the ‘40s. Emilio Estevez had one in The Breakfast Club. The kids in American Graffiti wore them to the sock hop. For past generations of sporty, status-seeking teenagers, letter jackets embodied the spirit of all things high school. But then—at least, in the spirit-starved halls of Blair—they virtually disappeared.

However, Blair's halls have begun to teem once again with athletes in red, white and black leather. James Short, manager of Blair's school store, says letter jacket sales have gone up almost 40 percent this year. This rise in spirited style has drawn attention from staff and students alike, and some speculate that the new trend can be attributed to an overall rise in school spirit.

Precious memories

Short, who also coaches the varsity football and track teams, describes this year's jacket sales as "off the hook." He says that the school store has sold 45 jackets since September. "Even people out of the school are calling up and asking about jackets," he says.

Buyers lured by this recent surge of interest shelled out a pretty penny for their jackets (available at a starting price of $155) for a variety of reasons. Senior Ashley Moorefield says she wanted a keepsake to memorialize her high school days. "My dad thought it was important to have to show my accomplishments," says Moorefield, who has lettered in both track and basketball. "He said I'd regret it later in life if I didn't get it."

Like Moorefield's father, Short extols the sentimental purposes of the letterman's jacket. "It never leaves you," he says. "It's an important four years of your life."

Over the past few decades, Athletic Director Dale Miller has seen the popularity of the Blair letter jacket fluctuate. "It used to be that everyone had one. That changed for some reason—it wasn't as important to the athletes to show their letter," says Miller. "But I think that's changing back."

According to junior Felix Ruiz, a football letterman, this new swell of spending can be attributed to Blair's sports teams' newfound success on the field. "Blair has started to appreciate its athletes more," he says. "When my sister was here in the early ‘90s, Blair sucked at everything. Now, all of a sudden, we're winning."

Blair sports teams have indeed begun to creep up the ladder of success in recent years.

This year, boys' basketball (19-3) was ranked 19th in the region by The Washington Post, while boys' soccer (8-4) was briefly ranked seventh. Last year's baseball team went 15-3, clinching Blair's first Division I title since the ‘60s. To top it off, this year's football team (5-4) surpassed most Blazers' grim expectations by capturing its first winning season in seven years.

The other side of pride

According to Miller, the main purpose of letter jackets is to encourage Blair pride and promote the athletic program. "If an athlete is running around in a letter jacket," Miller says, "it makes other people want to be recognized in a similar fashion."
While Miller sees letter jackets' distinction as a positive means of recognition, others, like senior Sam Horne, find the concept unjust. "Letter jackets exemplify the whole idea that athletes should be treated better," he says. "I don't think that's fair, because there are other groups who are doing things for Blair who don't have a symbol like that."

Like Horne, many Blazers feel that brains are just as important as brawn and should be recognized accordingly. Peter Engelmann, math teacher and coach of Blair's award-winning It's Academic! team, thinks Blair's competitive academic community would benefit from the creation of a letter-like award. "The school conceivably could have two letters," he says. "Maybe for academic teams, we could have a cursive letter."

Although the letter jacket may create divisions between Blair's active and less physically active students, Short feels the jacket unites more Blazers than it divides. "From a cultural standpoint, I've sold jackets to every nationality that goes here," he says. "It's one thing everyone sees the same."

Whatever the results of the letter jacket's resurgent popularity, Susan Madden, library technician and Blair's "Spirit Lady," is sure the trend symbolizes more than just a new fashion development. "It says we're proud to say that we go to Blair," she says. "It says we're finally coming into our own."