From midway up the stands at a football game, it might be hard to see how dilapidated Kansas University’s marching band uniforms have become.

But a tour through the uniform storage room shows the wear and tear the uniforms have suffered since they were purchased in 1982.

Chin straps are broken and held together with tape. Uniform liners are stained. Collars are frayed. Jayhawk emblems are hanging on by a few threads.

And all the uniforms’ colors are a far cry from the bright crimson, blue and white they once were.

“Would you be proud to put that on?” asked James Hudson, marching band director. “It’s embarrassing to have a kid come in and their high school band had better uniforms than what we can check them out.”

Hudson is hoping to retire the current batch of uniforms this fall, if the Feather the Flock campaign is successful in raising $150,000 for a new set. The campaign is being organized by the Journal-World, KU school of fine arts, KU athletic department, Topeka Jayhawk Club and the KU Endowment Association.

In fact, KU’s 22-year-old band uniforms have survived a decade longer than they were intended to last.

Valencia Kavivya, a customer service representative with Fruhauf Uniforms Inc. in Wichita, said the company guaranteed uniforms through 12 years. Fruhauf designed the current uniforms and is working to design the new set.

“They can definitely last a long time if the school takes great care for them as (KU) has, and follows the manufacturer’s instructions for care,” she said. “It sounds like they definitely got their money’s worth.”

KU marching band director James Hudson points out the missing star on a marching band helmet. The Feather

Hudson said even with admonishing students to take care of their uniforms, the jackets, pants and hats tend to go threadbare where the marchers touch them, and fasteners go bad after years of use.

“The kids don’t mistreat them,” he said. “It’s just the frequency of being taken on and off so many times. They just get a lot of wear and tear.”

Further complicating the issue is that Fruhauf doesn’t make many of the uniform parts anymore, so replacement parts are hard to come by. And as uniforms are retired because of their poor condition, it becomes harder to have the right combination of sizes to fit the band members.

“We tell them to take pride in the uniform,” Hudson said. “It’s part of the heritage and the history. That uniform, more than anything else, says they’re a Marching Jayhawk.”

Couple’s gift will help outfit ‘first-class’ Jayhawk band (2-10-04) Marching Jayhawks maintain traditions through long history (2-8-04) See more on Feather the Flock Donate online to the Feather the Flock campaign