Today's Tidbit... I-N-D-I-A-N-A and Letters on Back (LOB)

The Indiana Hoosiers are known more for their innovations on the basketball court than the football field, but no one can take away football coach Ewald Stiehm's big idea. In the days before anyone wore numbers on their backs, Coach Stiehm, aka The Stiehm Roller, had his linemen wear letters on their backs.

(1920 Indiana yearbook)

The left end wore an "I," the left tackle wore an "N," and so on until they spelled" I-N-D-I-A-N-A."

'Letters on Jerseys,' Des Moines Register, October 5, 1917.

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