Philadelphia Eagles Logo History

Philadelphia won three championships prior to the Super Bowl era in 1948,1949 and 1960. The Eagles logo has evolved greatly in the past nine decades. So let’s go down the memory lane of this revered franchise’s logo history.

The Evolution of the Philadelphia Eagles Logo

1933-1935 - Original Logo

The Eagles' founding owners Bert Bell and Lud Wray were inspired by the NRA emblem which had Eagle on it. The Eagle was blue and holding a football which was also blue in color. The bird was facing the right side and had its wings spread like it was flying. The details on the ball were significant as it also showed the laces.

1936-1942 - Change of Color

The logo’s blue color was scrapped and a new green palette came into the picture. Here the ball had no details like the previous version and it also got enlarged.

1943 - Merger of two teams

This logo came into effect due to the merger of two Pennsylvania football teams in the Steelers and the Eagles, also known as Steagles. It happened due to a scarcity of players on both teams as World War 2 was going on. It was a full black logo with an eagle gripping helmet in its talons. Another change that took place was that the wings of the bird were pointed straight upwards at 90 degrees.

1944-1947 - Back to Green

The logo remained the same as the 1943 version with green color used in the emblem instead of the previous black version. The other change was the football came back in the place of a helmet like the original version.

1948-1968 - Secondary color introduced

White was introduced as a secondary color to green in this logo. The eagle's neck, claws and football were mostly white with wings having multiple white stripes on them. Unlike the previous iterations, the eagle's wings were spread horizontally as if it were in a flying motion.

1969-1972 - Refined version of the previous emblem

This logo is the same as the previous version with a darker green shade and more polished. Here the beak of the eagle was seen clearly and was white while the wings were square/rectangular in shape and had right angles.

1973-1986 - Helmet Logo

They started using their green helmet with wings as the primary logo. It had two gray color wings spreading on both ends of the helmet with green as the main color. This winged helmet was first worn by players in 1954.

1987-1995 - Left Facing Eagle

In this redesign, Eagles introduced two new color palettes - brown and orange along with primary green. This was the first time in franchise history an eagle's head was facing the left side. The eagle’s beak and claws were orange in color while the football in its talons was brown. It also had a thick black outline surrounding the whole emblem which added to its aesthetics.

1996 - Present - Today’s Logo

Philadelphia went with a completely new look of the bird as only the eagle's head remained. The eagle is facing left like the previous version. It has a gray beak along with white and gray feathers. The bird’s feathers at the back form a letter ‘E’, representing the team's name. The logo is outlined in black and midnight green.

Philadelphia Eagles Alternative Symbols

Philly first came up with an alternate logo in 1973 and has been using it till the present.

1973 - 1995

This logo was the exact replica of the 1948 primary logo version. However, it also had the full team name written below the eagle.

1987 - 1995

This was a white version of the 1987 primary logo. It had white as the main color and black along the border.

1996 - 2021

The same logo as the present primary logo with an eagle facing the right side. It also added the full team name above the eagle.

2022 - Present

Here the logo is exactly the same as the primary version with ‘EAGLES’ font at the top.

Philadelphia Eagles Anniversary Emblems

The Eagles have created two emblems in their history to celebrate their 60th and 75th anniversary.

1992

In 1992, Philly celebrated its 60th anniversary. The logo had a big 60 font with the 1987 primary logo below the font. It also had an ‘EAGLES’ wordmark below the bird.

2007

The Eagles constructed one more emblem to celebrate its 75th anniversary. It had a current team’s logo on it with 75 below it and everything wrapped up in a huge circle outlined by two thick black lines.

Philadelphia Eagles Helmet Design

1948 - 1949

The first metallic helmet had a green base and a wide silverish element under the center.

1950 - 1954

After a year, the silverish middle element was removed and only green color remained on the helmet.

1955 - 1968 (Debut of Wings)

This is the year that wings were introduced on helmets. It has a cool story behind it. Jim Trimble, Eagles coach during that time, thought of the Rams horn logo on the helmet to be very cool when Philadelphia faced them. And this was how Philly’s headgear started having wings on it. Two silver wings were drawn on the side of the helmet with the base remaining as green.

1969 - 1973

The wings here were more off-white than silver and this made the helmets pop out more. However, a road helmet was also introduced for the first time in franchise history. It had white as the base color with solid green wings on it. From 1970 till 1973 those road helmets became a permanent staple as they were worn both at home and on the road.

1974 - 1995

The 1955 version came back with some minor changes. The base color had a lighter shade of green than the 50s version and silver wings had a white outline.

1996 - Present

Midnight green became the primary color with the same silver wings on both sides of the helmets. However, the wings have a more white accent in it and are outlined by thick black color.

Philadelphia Eagles Uniform History

1933 - 1934

The Eagles didn’t start out with their iconic green uniforms. Their color palette consisted of blue and yellow with blue being the primary one. The pale blue jersey with yellow sleeve stripes along with khaki pants.

1935-1936

Here yellow became the primary base and blue as the secondary color. The pants remained the same as before. Here the blue was stretched from shoulder to sleeves.

1937 - 1973

This period saw many different uniforms added to the jersey set but the core aesthetic remained the same. Solid green was the base along with white as the secondary color. Many different iterations came of this color palette but the essence remained the same. White jerseys had two green stripes on the sleeves while green jerseys had no sleeve stripes on it. In later years, numbers were also pasted on both sides of the shoulder. Also, shoulder stripes came into the picture for some years in the mid-1960s.

1974 - 1984

A major overhaul was done by the Eagles. They went with a slightly darker shade of green. There were thick white/silver/white stripes on the sleeves which were different from previous looks.

1985 - 1995

The Kelly Green version came back once again. The green jerseys were completed by a silver pant which had two green stripes on both sides.

1996 - Present

Midnight green was also introduced in the uniform set with a major overhaul in the logo too. The home jersey is midnight green in color with white pants and vice versa for away games.

Philadelphia Eagles Throwback Jersey (2023 - Present)

The Eagles made a throwback jersey debut for the first time in the 2023 season. They are inspired by 1985 uniforms. This came back as the NFL lifted its previous rule of using only one helmet.