Ace up their sleeves: A look back at Evansville's iconic basketball jerseys

When Jim Crews became the head coach at West Point in 2002, he met George W. Bush at the commencement, where Bush was the speaker. Crews introduced himself, mentioning he had just arrived from Evansville, Indiana. Bush turned to the first lady and said, "Hey Laura, this guy used to coach the team that wore the sleeves."

Scott Shreffler recalls this story, having played for Crews at Evansville from 1988 through 1993. Evansville is credited with being the first to introduce sleeved jerseys in 1947 under legendary head coach Arad McCutchan, who suggested his team wear sleeves upon his arrival.

"I feel that is what most players wear in practice and, therefore, what they are most comfortable in," he said. "It's also more flattering to the thin ballplayer."

Evansville wore them until his retirement in 1977.

When Crews was hired in 1986, he brought them back to honor the man they called "Mac," and the team wore them until Crews' tenure ended in 2002. The sleeves were something by which people nationally could identify the program and city.

At Evansville, the sleeves are more than just extra fabric on the jersey. The Aces were a small college basketball powerhouse, winning five national championships between 1959 and 1971 under McCutchan.

Back in their heyday, the Aces weren't known just for their sleeved uniforms -- white and purple at home, orange on the road -- they also wore colorful robes on the bench instead of pants to keep warm, and then there were McCutchan's red socks. The fans also wore red because of McCutchan.

Larry Humes, one of the best players in program history -- alongside Jerry Sloan, who played from 1963 to 1965 -- said, "When we got way ahead, he'd cross his legs and pull up his pants to show off his red socks."

The undefeated national champion 1965 Aces are one of the best college basketball teams of that era at any level, and Humes isn't shy about it. "We could have beat anybody in the country that year," he says. "We played Iowa, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Purdue, LSU, Southern Illinois with Walt Frazier, Kentucky Wesleyan, North Dakota with Phil Jackson, before we played in our regular conference games."

Aces basketball games were big social events in Evansville, considered by many to be America's biggest small town. There are different living experiences all over, but no matter where you came from, Roberts Stadium was the common thread. The Aces were among the top 10 in the nation in attendance across divisions at their peak. "We gave them something to come see," Humes says. "Roberts Stadium was an unbelievable place at that time."

The sleeves represent the best times -- times that people in Evansville have been trying to recapture for decades now. And even though Evansville hasn't been able to do that since McCutchan's retirement and the devastating plane crash of 1977, there's still an immense pride in what was accomplished.

Shreffler returned to UE after his playing days as an administrative assistant under Crews in 1997. One day, Crews arrived at the Carson Center on UE's campus and told Shreffler, "I want you to do something about the sleeves." Shreffler asked him what he meant. Crews told him, "We gotta honor them some way. Write a poem, do something. Just come up with something and let me know."

Shreffler says, "So I'm like, 'A poem?' He's like, 'Yeah, a poem. Maybe a poem.'"

Shreffler took two weeks to write the poem. "I wanted to try to bring attention to the uniqueness of it and what it stood for, why Arad McCutchan brought it there, the championships they had and the tradition of the University of Evansville," he says.

Here's what Shreffler came up with:

"It's an honor, indeed, to wear the sleeves. An honor that only a select few will achieve.
The sleeves stand for championships, attitude and desire. A tradition that will raise one's standards higher.
The respect they have earned is quite unique. A commitment to excellence that all programs seek.
Hard work, determination, success and pride are characteristics of the sleeves known nationwide."

"I brought it back into his office and was like, 'Here, take a look at this, Coach," Shreffler says. "He read it, and I was expecting him to say, 'Nah, do it over' or go a different route or whatever." But he said, 'It's perfect. I love it.'"

"I was like, 'All right, guess I'm a poet now.'"

The next season, Shreffler recalls the poem being read before the players would run out and the band would play. Now, the poem is regarded as part of the legend of the sleeves, which were retired again in 2002 by then-athletic director Bill McGillis and then-coach Steve Merfeld.

Among Evansville fans, as well as current and former players, there seems to be a general consensus that the sleeves should never make a permanent return but rather should pop up for special occasions or games. The last time the Aces wore sleeves was in 2018, but it was a much different experience for the players.

Nike sponsors the University of Evansville, but it doesn't make sleeved basketball jerseys. The closest thing UE could get with sleeves was a baseball jersey. So Nike made them, it slapped the script Aces logo on the front and the Aces went with the jerseys for a game.

The 2018 sleeves looked a lot closer to the ones the Aces had traditionally worn in comparison to the Adidas basketball sleeves that LeBron James infamously ripped off in a 2015 game against the Knicks. But they were still baseball jerseys, and players could feel it.

Senior Noah Frederking says, "For me, it was more difficult because you just got so hot so quickly, and it was heavier than what you're used to." He adds, "If we played the whole season in it, we'd get used to it."

And that's the argument many make against the return of the sleeves -- that it would be uncomfortable and more specifically, might mess up a jump shot. But that seems more like a convenient excuse for poor shooting than anything.

"I still got my 30-something points," Humes says. "I might have averaged 50 points if [people] claim that's a problem with them. It didn't affect me none at all."

However, the one thing that does seem to be an actual factor is continuity and the comfort that comes along with it, whether you go from sleeves to no sleeves or vice versa. "Once I was with the Pacers and Chicago Bulls trying out, once I went to a regular jersey, I felt naked," Humes says.

Former Creighton Blue Jay and current Indiana Pacers forward Doug McDermott explains the same. "I really don't think it affects the jump shot," he says. "If anything, when I took it off, I shot it worse because I was so used to having the T-shirt. So it's taken me a few years to adjust, but now I couldn't see myself going back to the shirt anymore."

Former West Virginia guard and current assistant GM of the Cleveland Cavaliers Mike Gansey started wearing T-shirts below his jerseys in high school, and eventually into college. "Without it, I would feel weird. I couldn't actually play my game or shoot the way I wanted. I didn't feel myself if I didn't have a T-shirt or two on."

When he turned pro, he went out of his way to try to wear something underneath his jersey.

"I'd always try to get a doctor to sneak me a medical note saying I could wear a T-shirt or a long sleeve or something," he says. "I wasn't myself and couldn't play my game without a T-shirt underneath."

However, Gansey did concede that extra material could affect other players who weren't used to it differently, as it did James in 2015. "Clearly it affected him and the way he plays, and he's arguably the best that ever played the game," he says.