By Jonathan M. Gornet ’14
THE ROUNDUP
As the Brophy Broncos walked onto the field during the Aug. 5 game against Santa Margarita on national TV, their bright red jerseys flashed, the same way that the Brophy Red Army flashed from the stands.
It was the new jerseys that the Brophy football players were wearing, that were offered to Brophy from Under Armour.
It was a “nice opportunity,” said Mr. Frank Antonioli, who is the equipment manager for the varsity team.
“I think it’s a nice opportunity for Brophy athletes to be recognized by a company like Under Armour with their status quality, not every school is given this opportunity so it says an awful lot about the athletic program that Brophy has,” Mr. Antonioli said.
Under Armour approached Brophy as part of a deal with Universal Athletics, another company that Brophy buys a lot of equipment from.
“We buy a lot of equipment through Universal Athletics and Universal Athletics deals a lot with Under Armour,” Mr. Antonioli said. “So between Universal Athletics and Under Armour, they approached us and we had a deal that you might be interested in a good discount on a quality uniform with the stipulation that we wear Under Armour products on the field for the football program.”
Before Under Armour though, Russell was the Brophy sponsor.
“We were going to wear new uniforms through Russell,” said Athletic Director Mr. John Chambers. “We got better uniforms through Under Armour, so it was a better deal for what we would have gotten from Russell.”
The choice they made is something exciting for the student body.
“Under Armour is a good product and the kids are excited about having that sponsorship and I do think it’s good for the school,” Mr. Antonioli said.
As for the football team, they love the new uniforms and how they are customized.
“They feel great and they were custom made for our own sizes so we got to pick out our size and everything,” said Dominick Olmedo ’13. “They feel great this year; look great as a team.”
But being too customized can take away Brophy traditions as well.
“We try to stay away from personalizing them to where you want to be one as a team and not individuals on the team, so we try to make them as generic as possible to not ruin the tradition that we have here at Brophy,” Olmedo said.
