What I ended up with was a month long wild goose chase!
First off, any internet searches were utterly useless. Second off, Siri only responded with the upcoming IU games and lead me to the historical society's website, which does not state the colors of Pine Village's uniform. Last, Alexa just plainly stated, "Sorry, I don't know that one."
No problem. I know how to use a book. I went back to my main resources on the Pine Village football team and combed through them, trying to find anything on the uniforms that would give me a clue to the colors. Nothing. There was information on the games, the players, the history of Pine Village, Jim Thorpe, and many other things, but not one word on the colors of the uniforms. And the pictures weren't any help either, because they’re all in black and white!
The more I researched it and failed, the more curious I was to know the answer. My next step was to talk to people from Pine Village. I talked to old farmers, a relative of one of the players, and self-proclaimed Warren County history buffs... and still no one knew the answer!
People passed the word along and asked other people on my behalf. Some people thought that since the team started at Pine Village, they wore the Pine Village school colors, which are blue and white. However, further research turned up that the Pine Village High School had their own school team (whose colors would have been blue and white), and that the Pine Village town team had different uniforms.
My favorite answer came from a farmer who said that he didn’t know the color of the material of the uniforms, but he knew there was red on the jerseys because they always had blood on them!
I was desperate to solve this mystery, so I kept investigating. I found myself back at Mary Ann Aker's The Good Ol' Days and combed through it again. Towards the end of the publication, a small line caught my eye.
"Black and Orange Colors- Left to right, Oct 17, 1915, Home Field Picture."
Was it talking about Pine Village?
My kids went to Pine Village and it's hard to imagine any other colors to represent the town other than blue and white.
I closed the publication and stared at the cover. Mary Ann Akers may have just been giving me a clue the entire time. I had always wondered why the football publication had been combined with the Halloween publication.... and now, just maybe I had the answer... the team's colors were actually black and orange.
I wanted real hard evidence though. It was difficult to tell from The Good Ol' Days if that is what the line meant. I read through the article again, which was from an excerpt of Robert Carr's book, Grandma Had Class.
I got my hands on a copy of the book, and immediately turned to the chapter on the Pine Village Football team and started reading.
Finally, beside a picture of the Pine Village football team, it said in bold print, "Black and Orange Colors” with a list and description of all the Pine Village players beneath it.
If you are from Warren County and you are surprised, believe me, I was surprised too!
When you come to the vintage football festival on Saturday, August 10th, Pine Village will once again take the field, dressed in black and orange.
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due- Special thanks to Matt Akers and Teri Morris for sharing publications of The Good Ol' Days with me, and special thanks to Simon Herrera for designing the vintage jerseys. You can visit Simon's etsy site here
