Celtics fan creates new custom jersey designs to celebrate wins
BOSTON -- Bring on the next round! Celtics fans are ready to see the C's close out the Hawks in Game 5 of the opening round of the NBA Playoffs. One Massachusetts native is turning each win into art.
Pete Rogers began re-designing sports jerseys during the pandemic. The Lincoln native moved to Minneapolis and had been writing for SB Nation. When sports came to a halt due to COVID, he needed something to fill his time. He was proficient in Photoshop and began re-designing jerseys for teams in all four major US sports.
"For this year I wanted to do something Celtics oriented. I wanted to do something on Twitter because I had a Boston following on Twitter," explained Rogers.
When this season started, he pledged to re-design a new Celtics jersey for every Celtics win. Now 57 jerseys later, it's time for the playoffs.
"The idea came from an artist named Rita Oak. She drew a picture of Jimmy Garoppolo every day until he got traded from the 49ers. She did like 300 photos of him," laughed Rogers. "I didn't want to do a jersey a day because that's just preposterous. I felt like this was a team that was going to make an impressive run, and probably going to win upwards of 50 games. I figured roping it into wins was the easiest way to do that, and that 50 jerseys wasn't that hard. Fifty jerseys was a lot! 57 was even more so!"
Some of his creations are inspired by classic Celtics jerseys, while others replicate Boston landmarks like "Make Way For Ducklings" or the T. There's even a Dunkin' jersey. For the playoffs, Rogers began targeting the Celtics opponents with each C's win.
"I have been taking a jersey from the opponent's history and re-doing it as if it were a Celtics jersey," details Rogers. "It's kind of stealing the opponent's jersey after every win is what I call it."
Quickly, fans began seeing the creations, and wanting to wear them as real jerseys. Rogers' friend connected him with a Florida clothing company called Wade + Williamson. They began making limited runs of Rogers' jersey designs. They do one drop of jerseys a month, and they quickly sell out. There will be another drop in May. Rogers announces the drops on his Twitter page.