MAC Memorabilia Gems: All Good in the (Brother)hood

Hey everyone, welcome back to MAC Gems, the only column on the internet* that scours the web to bring you some certifiably cool MAC-themed gear available for purchase!

(* that we know of, anyway.)

Today’s theme is All Good in the (Brother)hood, a nod to Miami’s hockey motto and to the university at large. As usual, we’ve gathered five RedHawk-related items and have placed them here for you to peruse, though this time, we’ve put some variety in the sports selected, as opposed to sticking to one like we have over the past few. If you missed out on last week’s, we brought out a bunch of Toledo Rockets football memorabilia.

Without further ado, here are the gems!

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Game-worn and used Miami RedHawks women’s basketball jersey

eBay

Our first gem is one you don’t see terribly often, and that’s a game-worn women’s basketball jersey.

This look appears to be from the 1990’s, and is manufactured by Speedline Athletic Wear, which primarily makes high school jerseys now. It has a lovely sublimated diamond pattern with two differing shades of red in a diagonal pattern, with a distinctly old, yet affable, number and letter font which makes the whole get-up very pleasing aesthetically. (At least, that’s the opinion of this extremely biased author.)

It’s a conversation starter, for sure, and it’s also the only item like it that I can find on the internet. The seller i asking for $33.99 after shipping, but I’m sure you can get that down into the $15-20 range pre-shipping using the best offer button.

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Miami RedHawks basketball shorts

eBay

The next item on our list is something which is near and dear to my heart from a design standpoint: the adidas Energy (climalite) look. It was a look adidas experimented with for a few select basketball programs, including Kansas, Louisville and UCLA, for the 2013 NCAA Tournament, and later adjusted it, turning it from a full-shorts look into more of a “cumberbund” appearance.

The mid-2010’s was a time where Miami really played around with trying to modernize their appearance in all sports, especially in football. (Anyone remember the dreaded shoulder wordmark?) Though the RedHawks never sported the cumberbund on their own basketball jersey, it’s still a look that matured and adjusted well to current fashion trends.

These shorts can be yours for $18.99 with free shipping, which is at least $12 cheaper than I’ve seen in most marketplaces. You can also pair it with an adidas Energy shooting shirt for nearly half-off with free shipping on Fan’s Edge.

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Miami-themed cycling jacket (large)

eBay

This is a fun entry, I think. Growing up, my dad was a cycler, so my family would follow him as he competed in races. The unique thing about cycling were the jackets that the competitors would wear so they could be identified from a long way out.

If you’re a cycler who wants to show off their school pride, or if you simply want to stand out in a crowd and hold your drinks and keys and such in a pouch, this is definitely the jacket for you. It’s 100 percent polyester, can be zipped up or worn open, and features local businesses as well for the true “made in Oxford” feel.

It’s going for $14.99 plus shipping, which is a fair price. A perfect and affordable addition to the closet of any active superfan.

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1926 Battle for the Victory Bell Gameday Program

eBay

Gameday programs don’t get much more traditional than this lovely bit of nostalgia from the thirtieth anniversary of the Battle for the Victory Bell. The country’s oldest college football rivalry which has 89+ games in the series, the game between Cincinnati and Miami is a storied rivalry not just in Ohio or the Midwest, but in the country as a shining star in the history of collegiate football.

The rivalry game features what is now a replica of the original traveling bell, adorned with the colors of each team and years each side took the victory. Originally, the “Victory Bell” referred to a bell kept on campus at Miami’s Old Main, which was rung after every Miami victory. It was “borrowed” by Cincinnati in 1894 and summarily exchanged over the next 40 years until it disappeared. The replica has been the bell exchanged by both teams since.

Coming into the 1926 game on Thanksgiving Day, Miami led the rivalry series 15-13-4 and had a 5-2 record for the season. The game was played to a 6-6 tie in Cincinnati, Ohio, snapping Mimi’s win streak at 1 after a two-year win streak for Cincinnati. This program includes a lot of features that are uniquely historical, such as a “rules of sportsmanship” section, a section with fight songs and alma maters, full-body photos of starters, season summaries and even a scorecard for fans to track stats.

The program also features a section noting a tribute for Jimmy Nippert, a UC player who lost his life due to an injury suffered playing in the 1923 Battle for the Victory Bell. The stadium was subsequently named after him and renovated into a horseshoe shape thanks to the donations of James Gamble, Nippert’s grandfather.

Miami still edges Cincy in the overall rivalry series, but that’s not for lack of trying. The Bearcats have won 13-straight in the series to narrow the margin to 59-77-7

This program can be yours for $24.99 plus $4 shipping.

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Game-worn Andrew Hendrix Miami RedHawks jersey

eBay

This particular football jersey is notorious for being one of the worst college uniforms to exist, according to many college football fans. Shoulder wordmarks have generally been unable to gather popularity, but Miami took a shot here, and well… they took it. Maybe “Red” and “Hawks” would have worked better rather than splitting Miami in twain, but alas.

Anyway, the story with this jersey is that’s very likely a game-worn jersey of Andrew Hendrix, the Notre Dame grad transfer who followed current Miami head coach Chuck Martin to Oxford. In his one year of service, Hendrix proved himself to be one of the most dangerous dual-threat QB’s in the MAC, throwing for 3,280 yards, 23 touchdowns and 9 interceptions while rushing for six touchdowns and 324 yards. (The official Miami roster indicated DB Xavier Swinton also wore #12 in ‘13 and ‘14, but he was redshirted and then missed the next season with injury.)

Now, you can have a piece of college football aesthetics infamy in this beauty, which is going for $149.98 plus $12 shipping. Why so high? It’s apparently a hard jersey to find anywhere and is a one-of-a-kind look. Other Miami jerseys barely approach the $50 mark, for reference. You can make an offer on this one, but I’m afraid you’d have to figure out that amount on your own, given the circumstances.

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If you have your own suggestions for themes or gems to be featured, let us know on Twitter @HustleBelt or using the tag #MACGems! We also accept showing off MAC gems which are not for sale, too!