MOOSEHEART, IL - If clothes make the man, then uniforms make the football player. And like a new suit gives a man an extra spring in his stride, a new set of uniforms is always certain to put an extra bounce in a players' step.

Mooseheart's football team certainly looked sharp in Saturday's season-opening victory over Hoopeston, and that was because the Ramblers were convincing in their 22-0 victory over the Cornjerkers.

But even as they took the field, the Ramblers' sartorial splendor was evident for all to see - and the new-look to the team's uniforms had everything to do with the generosity of the New Jersey Moose Association.

The New Jersey Moose raised $15,000 in the four days of its March midyear conference. With that money, the Ramblers were able to purchase new:

* Home and road football jerseys.
* Game football pants, complete with a hip pad girdle.
* Warmup jackets and pants.
* T-shirts and shorts.

"It's an awesome tribute to New Jersey; how much they care," said Mooseheart football coach Gary Urwiler -- who himself had been sponsored into Mooseheart as a student by a New Jersey Moose Lodge in 1981. "We want them to know how much their support means to us."

While most of the equipment is destined for the football team, the entire athletic program will benefit. The warmup suits can be used by all Mooseheart athletic teams.

New Jersey Moose Association representatives Bruce Masopust and Dan Gooch came to Mooseheart's practice on Aug. 24 to see how the uniforms looked on the 2007 Ramblers.

"It's unbelievable how they look," Gooch said. "Hopefully they'll get them dirty and get some victories for us."

"My old coach said 'you look sharp, you play sharp,' " said Masopust. "It didn't have to be new jerseys and new pants, but you always had to go out and represent your school with the utmost dignity and respect. The new jerseys and uniforms will give them so much more pride in themselves to play better."

Gooch said the movement from the appeal to the membership in March through to the amassing of the necessary amount was very smooth and swift.

"People came out with their checkbooks," Gooch said. "They heard it was for the kids here and they were very overwhelmingly supportive."

That made it possible for the Ramblers to have their new uniforms for this athletic season. The original timeline called for a 12-month fundraising effort in anticipation of the 2009 Mooseheart teams benefiting from new outfits.

"Each Mooseheart team can go off this campus, walk off of a bus and go into the visiting locker room or gym or field and look uniform," Masopust said. "Again, that instills more pride in what they're doing."

And the speed with which the money was raised allowed for swift ordering of the equipment, the last of which arrived midweek before the Aug. 25 season-opener.

"Yes, we were surprised because we got it all within that weekend," Gooch said. "But we weren't surprised because we know how New Jersey works. If there's a legitimate need, especially if it's going for our kids at Mooseheart, then they come through."