History of our patches
History of Men's Team Patches
An appropriate phrase for the era (“mud blood and beer”) originate in the lyrics of a Johnny Cash song “A Boy Named Sue” (1969 album “At San Quentin”) and 1971 grad Dave Porter used it in one of his drawings: (from Dave Porter) "My recollection is a bit hazy. I did a lot of cartooning (toga decorations, calendars, the magazine, etc.) and as I recall I designed a patch in 1969 or 1970 but don’t remember it going into production. There was an egg shaped character in the center with a rugby ball under one arm and holding a frothy beer in the other hand. He had a large red crack in his head and was wearing a blue and white jersey. The words – “USAFA Rugby - in the mud, the blood, and the beer” was around the outside of the patch. Al may remember more –… Hope this helps. I think the cartoon first appeared not as a patch but as a small cartoon in the cadet calendar from 1969-1970, and then the drawing from the calendar was used to make the first patches."
