WVU football uniforms honor Miners lost in April's Upper Big Branch disaster

As Massey Energy settles lawsuits with grieving families, West Virginia University's football team honors the miners who were in harm's way.

To create West Virginia's "coal dust" uniforms -- designed to honor those lives lost in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in April -- "Nike started with a clean white uniform and then envisioned what it might look like if it were to emerge from a coal mine." The "smudged black" appears throughout the uniforms but is particularly noticeable on the Mountaineers' helmets.

Perhaps most noteworthy is the yellow accent featured on the pants and bright cleats -- it "represents the canaries used long ago to test toxicity in mines." The helmet also included a "thin yellow line running from the front to the back that represents the beam of light emitted by a miner's headlamp."

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http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2010/11/26/1837435/nike-pro-combat-uniforms-west-virginia-pittsburgh-backyard-brawl-ncaa-football