Expert: Duke Ha - 10/19/2009

Question
Thank you for being available to answer questions for fans like myself.  My question is regarding the time Deion Sanders spent with the team.  I am trying to track down authentic jerseys from that period and I was wondering if you could tell me who provided jerseys to the team during the years he played in Dallas?  I own a Nike one that I thought was worn by the team during games, but I am not so sure any longer.  Any help you can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

Regards and keep up the great work.

Answer
Hi Darryl,

You're totally welcome as I love helping in any way I can and especially love answering questions about one of my favorite Dallas Cowboys, Deion Sanders.  Now as to your question, Deion played 5 seasons for the Dallas Cowboys from 1995-1999.  His first year with the team in 1995, the Cowboys were outfitted with a company that went out of business shortly before the beginning of the regular season called Apex One.  That year, most of the player's uniforms were still Apex One made, but since the company was now defunct, all logos were removed from the jersey sleeves and pants.  Deion signed with the team about 3-4 weeks into the season, so his jersey was made by a company called Ripon, or at least that is what some of the photos I have show.  Jerry Jones was also in a lawsuit with the NFL over his impending deal with Nike, which may have been another reason for the removal of manufacturer logos in 1995.  

In 1996, Nike was officially part of the NFL and outfitted the Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders.  Nike was the manufacturer that introduced the Cowboys current navy jersey, nicknamed the "Stars n' Stripes" and placed a "COWBOYS" word logo under the collar on the white jerseys.  Nike outfitted several more other teams from 1997-1999 and the only major change to the Dallas uniforms was the removal of the "COWBOYS" word logo from the white jerseys in 1999.  So there you go.  With the exception of his first year in Dallas, Deion pretty much wore Nike, the company that sponsored him throughout his entire career, during his tenure with the Cowboys.

There currently is a beautiful 1999 game issued Deion jersey on sale at Ebay that is absolutely gorgeous. It is going for $2500.00 and I am still drooling over it. :-)  

http://cgi.ebay.com/DEION-SANDERS-GAME-USED-COWBOYS-JERSEY-1999-SEASON_W0QQitemZ...

Good luck with your search and thanks for asking!!!

Duke
Dukesta22@yahoo.com