Outdoor Hockey Can Lead to Black Eyes

Watching The Winter Classic today on NBC, I noticed several of the Red Wings players wearing Farkas Eye Black. As much an aid to reduce the sun’s glare as it is an intimidating war paint of sorts, eye black has been used by athletes young and old for years. As a kid, I can recall stashing a tin of my dad’s shoe polish in my bat bag and slashing the stuff across my face the day of the big game. According to UniWatch, Detroit’s equipment manager, Paul Boyer, ordered several tins of the stuff for today’s match. Traditionally worn by athletes playing outdoors on sunny days, it’s been years since pro hockey players – in their air-conditioned arenas – had to worry about the blinding sun, but as anyone who’s ever skied on a sunny day can tell you, sunlight bounces off the white stuff like nothing else. I’ve had a heckuva time tracking down old-timey photos of hockey players sporting eye black. Hopefully, I’ll have something for you later. Until then, retired Blackhawk, Bobby Hull and 46 y.o. former Hawk, Red Winger Chris Chelios show off the throwback jerseys for each team.

Farkas Eye Black, $7, available at Uncrate.

The Detroit News featured Farkas in a story on January 3rd.