Sorry to sound like an uninformed Canadian but could someone please tell me what it means to letter in a high school or college sport?

Answer 1

Having never played high school or College Sports I am sure someone could answer this better than myself, however, 'letter' is a slang term meaning that someone has made an athletic team. Schools award sweaters or jackets with a letter, usually the first letter of the school's name or nickname in a large fancy or bold font, on front of the sweater or on one side of the jacket to those players. Sometimes there are other criteria involved to earn a letter, usually involving community service. According to http://members.cox.net/phxjer/sleeves/history.htm: "It seems with the advent of organized sports, there was a need for uniforms. There was an addition need for identifications which was satisfying by the use of emblems or letters. In 1865, the Harvard Baseball team added an old English 'H'. The 'H' was embroidered on the gray flannel shirt. The football team started to use the 'H' in 1875. It is interesting to note that for 25 years following the introduction in 1865 of the letter, it was the practice for the team captain to allow certain players who played in the most important games (Yale or Princeton) to keep the 'H' jerseys as an award. If a player did not play in an important game, the player had to return the jersey at the end of the season. Awarding the 'H' jersey may have been the birth of the letter as an award. The sweater was first regulary used by the 1891 "Nine" (baseball) and was black with a small Crimson 'H' on the left breast. It is not known when the letter sweater came to high schools. The earliest example that VLAS has come across is in the 1911 yearbook of Phoenix Union High School, Arizona Territory. Pictured, not in football uniform, wearing a V-net sweater with the letter 'P' on the left side is a student in a group photo. The sweater seems to home for the award letter from the 1890s until the 1930s. Another award during the 20s and 30s was a stadium style blanket given as an award. In the 1930s, the letter award started to appear on leather sleeved, wool-bodied jackets. The jackets from the 30s were different in design that today's modern jacket."