Rock Island football bringing back gold pants for 125th season

New season. New look. To celebrate 125 years of Rock Island football, the gold pants are back. A staple of the program dating back to the early 1900s that went away in 2014.

“A piece of the program kind of returning home,” head coach Fritz Dieudonne said. “When I got here in 2017, I was still hearing from the community members how they felt about the gold pants going away in 2014, so for me being able to honor the history of our program and do something that’s really permanent, a reset of what it means to be Rock Island football is great.”

Having a link to the past gives a new energy to the community and the team.

“We’re a legacy program, I’m coaching young men right now whose dads and grandfathers and uncles wore the colors themselves,” Dieudonne said. “Being a legacy program and that common link of what Rock Island football looks like, I think is why the community had reacted the way it did, giving these guys something to be excited about getting back to playing for their city that’s just one little piece to the puzzle.”

The energy has shown continued growth in Year 2 under Coach Fritz.

“Guys are more respectful from Coach Fritz,” quarterback Jae’Vion Clark-Pugh said. “Started getting their heads more in the books because of Coach Fritz.”

The Rocks open up at home against Minooka on August 30, the start of many more events to come celebrating 125 years.

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