according to reports at the time<\/a>. \u201cBut today with the way the young people think, they certainly enjoy them. \u2026 Those stripes on the top make them look like they\u2019re flying. What\u2019s really nice is when those linemen get down, lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, they look like three rails on a railroad track.\u201d<\/p>\nThey would become known, affectionately or unaffectionately, as the \u201cbanana peel\u201d jerseys.<\/p>\n
Minnesota\u2019s Apex One jerseys included two large \u201cM\u201d logos on the front of each shoulder, as part of a three-year deal with the company. Arkansas followed the same model, with two big hogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey believe this is going to be the style of the future,\u201d Razorbacks coach Danny Ford said at the time.<\/p>\n
But stepping on the field in them \u2014 especially in the southern heat \u2014 proved to be a problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to say this, but they were made of the heaviest and thickest material,\u201d Meadors said. \u201cAfter the first game, they took both my jerseys to a seamstress and cut the sides out into a shimmel shirt to help me out. Three or four guys had theirs altered. \u2026 We played Mississippi State, it was pouring raining, and those jerseys felt like they weighed 25 pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minnesota players also complained they were hot and heavy. The jackets and sideline gear were nice, but the jerseys were an issue. In that 1994 season, Arkansas went 4-7, Iowa went 5-5-1 and Minnesota went 3-8, all slightly worse records than the year before. Meadors remembers opposing fans making fun of them during every road game.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin also planned to use an Apex One jersey with giant shoulder logos for the Hall of Fame Bowl, but the jerseys weren\u2019t produced in time. It proved to be an omen.<\/p>\n
In 1995, on the verge of going out of business, Apex One was sold to Converse. Its gear had been popular, but its endorsement deals were too costly, and it didn\u2019t have the infrastructure to keep up with orders. The brand was shut down later that year.<\/p>\n
That left schools in an awkward position. They still had these relatively new uniforms at a time when schools didn\u2019t change jerseys as often as they do today. Arkansas was able to move back to the normal-looking Apex jerseys they\u2019d worn in 1993, but Iowa and Minnesota wore their new fits for another year, some without the Apex patch on them.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin, meanwhile, partnered with Starter, which took Apex One\u2019s unused Badgers jerseys, made some slight tweaks and put a Starter logo on them. The Badgers used them for the 1995 opener against Colorado.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players liked them,\u201d former head coach Barry Alvarez said this June. \u201cThat\u2019s who I try to satisfy.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Alvarez who had commissioned and selected the still-in-use \u201cMotion W\u201d logo just a few years prior, hoping to change the image and losing culture of Wisconsin football. Now it was prominently on these jerseys in an eye-popping way.<\/p>\n
Then the Badgers lost 47-3 to Colorado in a Top 25 matchup, and the feelings changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never wanted to wear those again,\u201d said former quarterback Darrell Bevell, now a coach with the Carolina Panthers. \u201cThey were horrible, ugly, all those things, but a lot of it was tied emotionally to the win or loss. There\u2019s always a chance if you win that you wear it again, like we did with red pants.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 1995 Iowa team improved to 8-4, while the Gophers slipped to 3-8. Maybe the uniforms played a role in the lack of success, maybe they didn\u2019t, but the poor play turned fan sentiment against them even more. Either way, Apex One was gone, and Converse wanted to pull out of football, so the schools moved to other brands.<\/p>\n
These bizarre uniforms have since been lost to history. While pro sports leagues have leaned back into goofy throwbacks, especially those of the 1990s NBA, college football hasn\u2019t done the same.<\/p>\n
That was, until 2019, when Nike and Iowa brought back the banana peels for one game against Penn State. The yellow jerseys featured black bars at the top and dropped the logo and text of the Apex One originals. Morris, after being there for the originals in the mid-1990s, thought he\u2019d never see them again. (The Hawkeyes, once again, lost while wearing them.)<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surprised,\u201d Morris said of their return. \u201cBut (head coach Kirk Ferentz) is always open to his team. He brought it to the group, and they said let\u2019s do it for a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meadors noticed when Iowa brought those jerseys back. A part of him would like to see Arkansas do the same. In a Fayetteville shop a few months ago, he saw some old Apex One Arkansas gear with a price that shocked him. When Meadors told the collector that he had a bunch of the same gear in storage, the collector asked to buy it from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess it\u2019s considered vintage,\u201d the former receiver said.<\/p>\n
Meadors won\u2019t do it. It still means something. Bevell believes he still has his \u201cugly\u201d Wisconsin jersey as well. Because the Apex One gear had such a brief run, it\u2019s difficult to find, making any pieces much more interesting to collectors like Wilkins. Many fans don\u2019t even believe they were real game jerseys.<\/p>\n
Maybe they were ahead of their time. Maybe it was too much change for a sport that leans heavily on tradition. Still, in a sport where bizarre outfits have become commonplace, these looks went outside the box before it was cool.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople look back, and it might be gaudy,\u201d Wilkins said of Apex One\u2019s designs, \u201cbut it\u2019s iconic.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Arkansas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260626132749247_0002-e1782683626105.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Iowa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unis-2-e1782507246962.jpg\")
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