California Golden Bears Grateful Dead 1966-Forever Jacket

California Golden Bears Grateful Dead 1966-Forever Jacket is a classic varsity cut: navy body, gold sleeves, a snap front and striped navy-and-gold knit collar, cuffs and hem. “Cal Berkeley Grateful Dead 1966-Forever” is stitched in gold script on the chest with the Cal skull emblem opposite, one sleeve carries a big number 6 beside an oval football patch, and the other is lined with marching bears in blue, pink, yellow, orange and green.

Roses, Bears and the Greek

The back reads GRATEFUL BEARS around the skull emblem, flanked by two gold roses. Roses have been part of the Dead’s imagery since the 1971 live album fans call Skull and Roses, whose cover Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse adapted from their own 1966 concert poster. The marching bears on the sleeve come from 1973’s Bear’s Choice, drawn by Bob Thomas.

Those images belong to Berkeley as much as anywhere. The band played the Greek Theatre on the Cal campus 29 times between 1967 and 1989, and a varsity jacket is campus wear in its purest form, which makes this one a natural home for both stories.

The letterman tradition itself is older than either team. College athletes began wearing their school letter on knit sweaters in the second half of the nineteenth century, and the wool-and-snap varsity jacket followed in the twentieth. Putting Dead imagery on that classic shape treats a concert memory the way schools treat a championship season: as something worth wearing on your sleeve.

What Fans Will Spot

• Front: gold script “Cal Berkeley Grateful Dead 1966-Forever” and the Cal skull emblem.
• Sleeves: a number 6 with an oval football patch on one arm, five marching bears on the other.
• Back: GRATEFUL BEARS in gold block letters around the skull emblem and two roses.
• Trim: striped knit collar, cuffs and hem, snap buttons and gold-piped welt pockets.

Choose your size from the options at checkout. For more Golden Bears gear, view more products from League.

Questions From Golden Bears Fans

What do the bears on the sleeve mean?

They are the Grateful Dead’s marching bears, first drawn for the 1973 album Bear’s Choice.

How does the jacket close?

With a row of snap buttons down the front, in classic varsity style.

Why roses on the back?

Roses trace back to the Dead’s 1971 live album, Skull and Roses, and have stayed in the band’s imagery ever since.