The Houston Oilers are among the NFL’s most fondly remembered teams.

They wore what is probably the greatest color scheme ever adorned by a professional sports team, but today those special colors live in constant controversy.
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Quarterback Warren Moon warms up for the Houston Oilers

 
Houston Oilers v Pittsburgh Steelers
Running back Earl Campbell looks on from the Oilers sideline

 

 

 

The Oilers were founded in 1960 by Businessman Bud Adams as part of the American Football League, a rival to the NFL.

They were founding members of the AFL alongside the Dallas Texans (who would become the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963), the Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Titans, and Minneapolis.

When the team was founded, Adams immediately put his team’s iconic color scheme in place. A combination of white, Columbia blue, and scarlet made for a truly beautiful uniform combination on the field.

 

 

 

At home, the Oilers would wear a blue helmet with blue jerseys, white pants, and blue socks. The jerseys and socks both had scarlet accents.

For away games, the color of the jersey simply switched to white.

The Oilers logo was unchanged throughout the history of the team, with the outline of an oil derrick in team colors.

That uniform combination would stay fairly consistent until 1966, when the team switched to wearing silver pants and silver helmets with every uniform combination.

 

 

 

However, by the time 1972 rolled around the Oilers were back to wearing white pants and blue helmets, and even added blue pants to pair with their white jerseys.

Fast forward to 1981, where we see the first major change to the Oilers’ helmet, in which they changed their face masks to be scarlet.

NFL: Houston Texans at Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans wearing Oilers throwback uniforms in 2023

The combination of white helmets with scarlet facemasks, white and blue jerseys, and white and blue pants would persist until the team officially rebranded in 1999.

Adams first started threatening to move the Oilers in the 1980s, but eventually did so after the 1996 season.

They first played in Memphis as the Tennessee Oilers in 1997 and then in Nashville in 1998, before being renamed to the Tennessee Titans in 1999 alongside the opening of their new stadium.

 

 

 

At that moment, the iconic Columbia blue, scarlet, and white uniform was killed off in favor of the Titans color scheme we see today.

That is until this season, as the Titans unveiled new uniforms for the 2026 season that are very similar to those that the Oilers wore.

Texan Sitting on Truck Tailgate
Oilers owner Bud Adams pictured in 1980

As interesting as the history of the Oilers might be, why are the team’s uniforms so controversial?

Well, it comes down to a debate of who should have the right to wear the special colors, the city where the Oilers played or the franchise that was born from the Oilers.

The Titans are technically the same team as the Oilers, so it’s fair enough that they get the colors, right?

 

 

 

Well, any Houston Texans fan would tell you that the colors should have stayed with the city, not the team.

There really is no resolution to this. The Titans own that color scheme and can use it whenever they want.

For now, we can only dream of seeing the Columbia blue and scarlet on the field in Houston again.

Titans Uniforms Football
Newley-unveiled Tennessee Titans uniforms emulate the Oilerss colors