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Looking Sharp, Not an Issue!
It is hard to imagine a time at Episcopal without athletic issue, the ubiquitous shirt and shorts worn by EHS students for afternoon athletics.
Long-time EHS Coach and Athletic Director Jim Seidule recalls the days preceding the mid-1950s implementation of athletic issue when students would arrive for practice in rag-tag, mismatched, and even torn apparel of all colors. Coach Seidule took great pride in the School’s athletic issue and the laundry operation which made it possible. When he describes the “rental system,” as athletic issue was known in his day, as a “thing of beauty,” it is not just a statement on the sharp appearance of the students at practice, but also the effi ciency of the operation which supported it. Athletic issue was owned by the School, and the fee for its use was billed to the students’ families.
Basic “white issue,” consisting of a white T-shirt, maroon shorts, an athletic supporter, and towel, was distributed to each student, one set at a time. At the conclusion of practice, a student would exchange his dirty set for a fresh set. Athletic issue was only worn on the court or the field.
During Seidule’s nearly 20 years at Episcopal, there was very little loss or theft of athletic issue, so few in fact that the incidents clearly stand out in his memory. In one instance, two basketball uniforms had gone missing, and Seidule was incensed. He knew the students respected and followed the system of returning their athletic issue to the laundry room in the gym, so he conducted a stake out. One evening, Seidule hid among the sweatpants in the athletic issue room in the gym. At approximately 10 p.m., he heard someone walk down the hall and unlock the door. It turned out to be the security guard, who was pilfering the School’s athletic issue. Despite the fact that the security guard had a gun, Seidule confronted him, and the security guard was dismissed the next day.
Because loss and theft were so rare, athletic issue would literally be worn out. As athletic issue became unpresentable, it would be decommissioned to the E-Club, which would sell the used athletic issue each spring as a fundraiser.
When Ed Rice arrived in the 1970s, the School still distributed “white issue.” His impression of them was, “They were the nicest looking things. They were special order and cost more. Other schools did not have T-shirts like them.” During Coach Rice’s tenure, Episcopal transitioned from the white to the gray shirts that we know today with “Episcopal” printed on the front in maroon. The gray shirt of the 1990’s and today has become iconic and is regarded by alumni, who wear it with a sense of school pride.
During Coach Rice’s tenure, athletic issue became known as the “bucket system.” As in Seidule’s day, the students did not own their athletic issue. It was owned by the School and washed communally as a part of the laundry bucket system. Coach Rice explained, “You would bring your dirty shirt in a bucket and trade it for a clean one. The system was as much a part of the School’s systems as seated dinner or chapel.” For a student to fail to return athletic issue was an honor offense.
Alumni can be assured they would recognize today’s athletic issue system and could easily follow the program. Individually owned issue is now communally managed by the laundry strap system, whereby one set of issue, consisting of a T-shirt, pair of shorts, a towel, and a pair of socks, distributed to each student at the beginning of the year, is threaded onto a washable strap with the student’s number. After practice, the strap is returned with the dirty issue wear, laundered, and returned to the student, via a cubby hole labeled with the student’s number. While the athletic issue is laundered communally, the student wears the same set of issue throughout the year. While the system has evolved over the years, Episcopal High School students continue to look sharp at practice and continue to wear their issue as alumni.
