Back in February someone asked me about some odd old jerseys. I didn't have a great answer then and still don't but thought we could look at them together!
Shoutout to @blakeapgar for first bringing this up. He was specifically asking about this (awesome) cover photo for the 1986-7 Women's Basketball team and the S after the M on Goldy's jersey.
My guess is that it was a strange gender thing from back when the University of Minnesota had separate Men's and Women's Athletic Departments.
But then I remembered these awesome jerseys from the late 1930s/1940s.