The NFL is finally lifting their “one helmet rule”, so the teams can finally start wearing throwback uniforms once again. For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it means their famous, (or infamous depending on who you ask) creamsicle uniforms can make a comeback.
The Buccaneers wore these uniforms from their inception in 1976 all the way up until 1996. Coincidently, this is also when the fortunes of the franchise started to take a turn for the better. You see, for the majority of the time the Bucs donned these kits, they were pretty synonymous with futility. During the late 1970s to early 1980s, the team did enjoy a brief period of success, but that quickly went down the drain. The Bucs, or “Yucks” would be circling that drain until Tony Dungy and the red and pewter uniforms came into our lives.
What’s old is new again, so now that these uniforms are considered throwbacks, they’re looked at as “cool”. For this list, we will look at the top five Buccaneers players to spend their career in these uniforms. So, there will be no Dungy/Jon Gruden players who spent their first couple years in creamsicles, but the majority of their career in the current design. For this, we are going strictly Bucco-Bruce helmets.
Here are the five best players to wear the Bucco Bruce creamsicle uniforms.
Hugh Green – OLB (1981 – 1985)
Say what you will about the history of the Buccaneers (and there is a lot to say), but they’ve often had a good history on the defensive side of the ball, particularly at linebacker. When the defense is at its best, the Bucs are at their best.
Coming out of an NFC Championship appearance in 1979, their fourth-ever season, and a disappointing 1980, the Bucs decided they needed to bolster their defense. Enter Hugh Green.
Coming out of the University of Pittsburgh, Green was arguably the greatest defender college football had ever seen. In fact, one can still make that argument today. He was a three-time All-American, a Maxwell, Lombardi, and Walter Camp Award winner. He was also the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy as a senior in 1980.
Green may not have had that kind of success in the pros, but he was certainly no slouch, especially whilst wearing the creamsicles. A Pro Bowler in 1982 and 1983, Green racked up 12.5 sacks, five interceptions, and returned two for touchdowns in his four (and some change) seasons with the Bucs. His scoop and score of a Danny White fumble in the 1982 Wild Card loss to the Dallas Cowboys (pictured above) was one of the more memorable plays in the franchise’s history to that point. Certainly for a playoff game at the very least, and it was done in the creamsicles.
Jimmie Giles – TE (1978 – 1986)
Now we come to the greatest tight end in the history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yes, we know the Bucs have Rob Gronkowski at tight end now, and while he’s been solid, let’s not pretend that he is the Gronk that he was during his prime with the New England Patriots. The best tight end the Bucs ever had was, and is, Jimmie Giles.
Spending eight years in the Bucco Bruce creamsicles, Giles would become fifth all-time in receiving yards for the Buccaneers with 4,300. When the Buccaneers miraculously got to the NFC Championship in 1979, Giles lead the team with 40 catches for 579 yards and seven touchdowns. The next year, Giles led the entire NFL with an average of 18.2 yards per catch. In 1981, Giles had career highs in would help the Bucs return to the playoffs with career highs in receptions (45) and yards (786) helping the Bucs get back to the playoffs.
In today’s NFL, those numbers may make some say “who cares?” However that’s the way the NFL was in those days, and the four-time Pro Bowler is worthy of being called the Bucs best tight end, and certainly worthy of this spot on this list.
James Wilder – RB (1981 – 1989)
Given some of the ball carriers the Buccaneers have had in recent, or dare we say more “successful” times, during the current uniform look, it may come as a surprise to some that the all-time leading rusher for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a player who spent his entire time in Tampa in the creamsicle uniforms, and the majority of it when the Bucs were the “Yucks”.
During his career, James Wilder was the epitome of a workhorse. During the 1984 season, the beginning of the end of the franchise, when the Bucs finished an ugly 6-10, Wilder carried the ball a whopping 407 times. He averaged 30 touches per game that year.
With 5,957 yards, he is the franchise’s all-time leading rusher, ahead of guys like Warrick Dunn, Mike Alstott, Doug Martin, and others. Not only that, until Mike Evans came along with his 532 receptions, Wilder, a running back was the franchise’s all-time leader in catches with 430, and by a wide margin.
He may not get mentioned as much by younger folk who don’t appreciate history, or because he played for more Yucks than Bucs, but Wilder is the best running back the Buccaneers have had in the backfield, regardless of which uniform he wore.
Doug Williams – QB (1978 – 1982)
Until a little old ballplayer by the name of Tom Brady came to Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers’ history of quarterback play wasn’t exactly sparkling. Granted, they won a Super Bowl with Brad Johnson, but he isn’t exactly on anyone’s Hall of Fame ballots. Before Brady, the best quarterback in the history of the Bucs was Doug Williams. In fact, an argument can be made he still is.
In the infancy of the franchise, the Buccaneers, in their creamsicle uniforms, lost their first 26 games in 1976 and 1977. In 1978, they drafted Williams, and the franchise’s fortunes started looking up.
The Buccaneers improved to 5-11 in 1978 with a rookie Williams then 10-6 in 1979, winning the then NFC Central. In a game against the Chicago Bears that season, he and Vince Evans made history as being the quarterbacks in the first-ever NFL game having both teams starting a black quarterback. That year, the Buccaneers would advance to the NFC Championship with Williams at the helm, along with playoff appearances in 1981 and 1982. After a contract dispute with then-owner Hugh Culverhouse, a man known to squeeze a quarter so tight the eagle would cry, Williams walked and the franchise went down the tubes.
Perhaps the most noteworthy part of Williams’ legacy is being the first black quarterback to both start and win a Super Bowl when he was with Washington. However, his legacy in the creamsicle Bucs uniforms is being one of, if not the greatest to play the position for the Buccaneers.
Lee Roy Selmon – DE (1976 – 1984)
The clear-cut number one choice. Derrick Brooks is often called the greatest Buccaneers of them all, but until him, Lee Roy Selmon had that honor. In fact, many think he still does.
Not only was he long considered to be the best Buc, but he is Mr. Buccaneers himself. Selmon was the franchise’s first-ever draft pick in 1976, he was the franchise’s first-ever inductee into the Hall of Fame in 1995, and until Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp, was the first and only Buccaneers player to have his number retired by the franchise.
Selmon was there for the putrid (26-game losing streak) and the party (1979 NFC Championship). He was the kind of player a franchise can build their team around, and the Buccaneers did exactly that.
Officially, Selmon finished his career with 23 sacks, which would land him 16th on the Buccaneers’ all-time list. The thing is, Selmon, retired after the 1984 season, after spending his entire nine-year career in Tampa. The NFL didn’t make sacks an official stat until 1982. Unofficially, Selmon ended his career with 78.5 career sacks, which is 1.5 more than the Buccaneers’ all-time sack leader, Warren Sapp.
Not only is Lee Roy Selmon the obvious choice for the number one Bucs player to wear the creamsicles, but he is arguably the greatest Buccaneer of them all. Let’s hope more memories will be made with the return of the Bucco Bruce creamsicle uniforms.