Lowe and Campbell question

[Andy Sandler]

Does anyone know when Lowe and Campbell started making sports equipment? I am trying to date a basketball jersey. Does anyone have a cloth label on their Lowe and Campbell equipment that they are certain of the year? Can you show them, here? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Andy Sandler alwysyakn@aol.com (845) 331-8610 NY

[CarltonHendricks]

Andy, I don't know the exact date they started...but I do know George Lowe was the buyer for Schmelzer Arms Company who were a large sports equipment maker and retailer in Kansas City from the later 19th century...Kansas City was also the home of Lowe and Campbell...

George Lowe probably felt he could do it better than Schmelzer and ventured out on his own...I would speculate he started around the turn of the century..probably started small and grew....I scoured the net but it looks like you'd need deeper research...like micorfilm of the leadng newspaper of Kansas City at turn of the century.

http://www.sportsantiques.com/portlandpg6.htm
See above link, 8th paragraph down for a snipit of a reference in a brief profile I wrote on the Shmelzer Arms Company...which I culled from a 1930 Sporting Good Illustarted magazine.

[Andy Sandler]

Hi Carlton! Thanks for your help. The item I have that I am trying to figure out the year is a Yale basketball jersey. My guess it is from around 1895 to 1915. I looked on the internet, as well, and found nothing. I do not have a Yale school yearbook from the era, either.
Thanks, Andy

[CarltonHendricks]

Hi Carlton! Thanks for your help. The item I have that I am trying to figure out the year is a Yale basketball jersey. My guess it is from around 1895 to 1915. I looked on the internet, as well, and found nothing. I do not have a Yale school yearbook from the era, either.
Thanks, Andy

Andy, Sounds like a very cool jersey...please post a photo...also with close ups of the tag....That's a coincidence....I just got outbid on a vintage Yale basketball jersey a couple days ago...but it was a Spalding....had a large Y on the chest flanked with smaller B's on each side.

[Andy Sandler]

Hi Carlton! Here is a photo.
Andy

[Vintage Basketball Pat]

Andy...

That is a gorgeous item! I might be able to date it through guides and yearbooks. I'll check into it this weekend.

Pat

[CarltonHendricks]

Hi Carlton! Here is a photo.
Andy

http://www2.yalelock.com/Yale/Templates/LocalNormal____1630.aspx
Andy, It's a nice looking uniform but I'm suspicious it may not be Yale University...I beleive there were a lot of company teams in the 1920’s...I'm thinking your uniform may have been for the Yale Lock company...

It's orange and black and I can't imagine Yale University not wearing the school colors blue and white...orange and black were the colors of Yale U's biggest rivalry...Princeton...(not Harvard as most assume)...and I can't imagine wearing the colors of your rival..see link above...Nevertheless it's still a very nice uniform.

[Vintage Basketball Pat]

Hi Andy...

I can confirm what Carlton said. I looked in my old Spalding guides and both all the Yale images are a "Y" flanked by to "b"s. Interestingly, the Harvard jersey has an "H" flanked by the same two "b"s.

Pat

[prewarsports]

I had a large Football photo once from Ohio and it was a semi-pro team and they were called the "Massilon Yale's" and had Yale on their jersey so perhaps it is the same area of the Country and used the same Mascot for their Basketball team? At least it confirms that other teams besides the University were using this nickname. The jersey is a beauty regardless.

Rhys

[Andy Sandler]

Thanks for everyone's help!
Regards, Andy Sandler alwysyakn@aol.com