After months of speculation and leaks, the Sounders unveiled their secondary kits Wednesday. The ruby-red material with a hand-drawn dragon and black shadowing is a tribute to legendary martial artist and actor Bruce Lee.
The secondary jersey is part of MLS and Adidas’ “Community Kit” line where clubs create designs with meaning unique to each team. The Sounders’ Jimi Hendrix kits in 2021 were praised globally.
Tagged “The Bruce Lee Kit,” the new jersey will replace Hendrix and be worn through the 2024 season. The Sounders badge and marquee sponsor, Providence are part of the yellow accents on the new kit — a color Lee believed represented “the center of everything associated with nature, balance and heroism,” according to a news release.
January marked the 50th anniversary of the release of Lee’s final film “Enter the Dragon.” It bagged $400 million at the box office and made him a household name. Lee died seven months later at the age of 32.
The Hollywood star is buried in Lake View Cemetery north of Volunteer Park in Capitol Hill despite being born in San Francisco and passing in Hong Kong. Lee became attached to Seattle as a student at the University of Washington in the 1960s. His wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, is a Garfield grad and one of Lee’s first dojos, Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, was founded in Seattle and is still operational.
Lee’s daughter Shannon praised the Sounders’ design in a released statement. The team will also donate $50,000 of the proceeds from the first 30 days of jersey sales to the Bruce Lee foundation and Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. The funds are to be used to develop youth programming and curriculum intersecting Lee’s teachings with soccer, movement and art, according to a news release.
“I’m so honored that the Sounders wanted to create this kit around my father’s legacy,” said Shannon, who’s CEO of the Bruce Lee Family Company. “My father has deep and dear history with Seattle as a place of learning, teaching, friendship, growth, inspiration, love and ultimately rest. And so, it feels fortuitous to come together with the Sounders to represent him not only as the Dragon he was, but also reflect him more deeply within the community that helped to shape him fundamentally. What an amazing tribute!”
Other touches on the jersey are Bruce Lee’s signature, including the loong mark (dragon) on the bottom left corner of the front. His art of Jeet Kune Do and philosophies are represented on the back neckline by opposing directional arrows and traditional Yin Yang symbol.
The Sounders, which will celebrate their 50th year in 2024, haven’t worn a red jersey since 2002 when the club was a USL side coached by Brian Schmetzer. An unearthed team photo shows Craig Waibel, the current general manager and chief soccer officer, with a steely glare in the red uniform.
Internet sleuths have posted mock-ups of the jersey from adidas’s international sites and retail stores. Seattle Center also had a display of the Sounders’ badge with a red dragon crawling up the Space Needle at a viewing for the team’s FIFA men’s Club World Cup match earlier this month.
“It was an honor for the club to work hand-in-hand with Shannon Lee, the Bruce Lee Family Company and the Bruce Lee Foundation to develop such a beautiful and distinctive tribute to their beloved family member,” Sounders majority owner Adrian Hanauer said in a news release. “Sounders FC is looking forward to furthering deliberate work in the community to bring Bruce’s story and teachings to life.”
Seattle, which lost their opening round Club WC match in Morocco earlier this month, begins MLS play Feb. 26 against Colorado at Lumen Field.