Big Ten Conference
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| ILLINOIS | INDIANA | IOWA |
| "Fighting Illini" | "Hoosiers" | "Hawkeyes" |
| Champaign, IL | Bloomington, IN | Iowa City, IA |
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|---|---|---|
| MICHIGAN | MICHIGAN STATE | MINNESOTA |
| "Wolverines" | "Spartans" | "Golden Gophers" |
| Ann Arbor, MI | East Lansing, MI | Minneapolis, MN |
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| NORTHWESTERN | OHIO STATE | PENN STATE |
| "Wildcats" | "Buckeyes" | "Nittany Lions" |
| Evanston, IL | Columbus, OH | State College, PA |
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|---|---|
| PURDUE | WISCONSIN |
| "Boilermakers" | "Badgers" |
| West Lafayette, IN | Madison, WI |
Comments
Minnesota and Michigan State had new helmet designs in 2007 (shown above).
Historical Helmets
ILLINOIS
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| c.early 1960s - 1970 | 1971 - 1976 | 1977 - 1979 |
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| 1980 - 1982 | 1983 - 1987 | 1988 |
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| 1989 - 2004 | 2005 - |
I have a single, poor-quality photograph from the 1969 season which suggests that Illinois used a version of the "100" decal (recognizing the 100th anniversary of the first college football game) on the back of its helmets that year - the colors within the decal are completely unknown. Otherwise, I believe these are all of the different helmet designs used by Illinois during the period covered by this site (1960 to present), though it is possible that some others were used during the very early 1960s. The first design shown above was used at least as early as 1962.
INDIANA
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| 1962 - 1964 | 1965 - 1966 | 1966? - c.1972 |
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| c.1973 - 1975 | 1976 - 1982 | 1983 |
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| 1984 - 1990 | 1990 (end of season) | 1991 - 1995 |
| *see note 1 below |
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| 1996 | 1997 - 2000 | 2001 |
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| 2002 - 2004 | November 19, 2005; November 17, 2007 |
2005 - 2007 |
| *see note 2 below |
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| December 31, 2007 - |
During the very early 1960s Indiana used light-colored helmets with uniform numerals on the sides, and an interlocking "IU" logo at both the fronts and backs of the helmets; this is apparently one of the earlier instances of a college team using something other than just stripes and numerals on its football helmets. Unfortunately, I do not have any color photographs of these helmets, so the colors of the numerals and the "IU" cannot be determined with the information that I presently have (photographs of "replica" helmets cannot safely be used as evidence). Even the helmet shell color may be in doubt; since Indiana's school colors have long been "crimson and cream", it is possible that these helmets were a "cream" color (i.e., off-white or pale yellow), rather than ordinary white. The photograph below is from the 1961 season (thanks James M. for the photograph).
A version of the "100" decal was used during at least some games in 1969; Indiana wore them at the back of the helmet. The colors are uncertain, though one report indicated that they were white numerals with red outlines on a blue football-shape.
*1 Indiana had switched to black facemasks by at least the last game of the 1990 season, a Peach Bowl appearance against Auburn. I do not know if these were used for any earlier games during 1990.
*2 This design was used during Indiana's home games against Purdue in 2005 and 2007.
IOWA
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| c.1960 - 1964 | 1965 | 1966 - 1970 |
| *see note 1 below |
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| 1971 | 1972 - 1973 | 1974 - 1976 |
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| 1977 - 1978 | November 2, 1991 and December 29, 1996 |
September 4, 2004 |
| *see note 2 below | *see note 3 below |
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| 1979 - |
| *see note 4 below |
An unconfirmed report has been received indicating that Iowa used a version of the "100" decal in 1969 (supposedly white numerals with red outlines on a blue football-shape), but these are not visible in any of the several photographs that I have showing Iowa helmets during the 1969 season.
*1 During at least part of the period when this design was in use, some players wore decals on the sides of their helmets; the decals were a black version of the same one shown on the 1972-1973 helmet above. These were apparently presented as "awards" of some sort, and 1968 is the only season from which I have seen any dated photographs of these special decals.
*2 Iowa removed all decals from its football helmets on two occasions during the 1990s; on the earlier occasion in recognition of the victims of a campus shooting, and on the later date, its December 29, 1996 appearance in the Alamo Bowl, as a tribute to the family of one of the team's members, who were involved in a fatal traffic accident while en route to the game.
*3 This helmet design was worn during Iowa's first game of the 2004 season, a home game against Kent State, in recognition of the 75th anniversary of Kinnick Stadium, the team's home field.
*4 From (I think) 1985 through 1992, Iowa Coach Hayden Fry had his players wear a small, circular yellow decal containing the letters "ANF" in black on their football helmets; the acronym stood for "America Needs Farmers" and was intended to draw attention to the economic plight experienced by many farmers in the American midwest at that time. I have seen only about three pictures of helmets with this decal, and on each of these, the decal is placed high up on the right side of the helmet, midway between the hawkeye decal and the central stripe. The "ANF" decal appears to have been about half the size of the hawkeye decal. Coach Fry also had his players wear a small American flag decal for a season or two around the time of the Persian Gulf War; in the two pictures I have of these helmets, the flag is placed opposite the "ANF" decal on the left side of the helmet, and is roughly the same size as the "ANF".
MICHIGAN
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| 1959 - 1968 | 1969 - c.1975 | c.1976 - |
Michigan has used some variation of what has come to be known as the "winged" or "Michigan" helmet design since 1938. During the era covered by this web site (1960 to present) I believe there have been only some minor changes to the shape of the "wings" and to the widths of the stripes, and perhaps some minor color changes. Very small players' uniform numerals were worn on the helmets through most of the 1960s.
An interesting history of the "Michigan helmet" design (which was actually first used at Princeton) can be found at the university's web site.
MICHIGAN STATE
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| 1960 - 1964 | c.1965; c.1970 - 1972 | c.1966 - 1968; c.1972 |
| *see note 1 below | *see note 1 below |
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| 1973? - 1975 | 1976 | 1977 |
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| 1978 - 1982 | 1983 - 1994 | 1983 - 1994 |
| *see note 2 below | *see note 2 below |
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| 1995 - 2000 | 2001 - 2002 | September 6, 2003 |
| *see note 3 below |
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| September 23, 2006 | 2003 - 2006 | 2007 - |
| *see note 4 below |
In 1969, Michigan State used a version of the "100" decal. Shown at left is the clearest photograph I have received of this helmet; it seems to indicate that the football was dark blue, or perhaps black, and that the numerals had red outlines around them. If anyone familiar with the team can confirm these unexpected colors, I would appreciate hearing from you (the appearance of "replica" helmets, unfortunately, cannot be counted upon as reliable evidence).
*1 The helmet design without the white outline around the logo was used during at least part of the 1965 season, in addition to the 1967-1968 and 1970-1972 periods. The version with the white outline is visible in photographs dating from 1965, 1966, and 1972, so the chronology of these two designs seems to be rather complicated, and a game-by-game analysis would probably be necessary to identify precisely when each was used. Photographs from the 1970 to 1972 period strongly suggest an outline around the logo that appears darker than the helmet shell color itself, perhaps black or a darker shade of green.
*2 These two images represent the same helmet; the "S" was actually worn only on the right side of the helmet, but I've placed a technically incorrect image here to show what the "S" looked like. Also, small player's numerals (not shown here) were used at the front of the helmet, on either side of the central stripe. For the 1994 season only, narrow black stripes were added alongside the white stripe, with the white stripe being slightly narrower than during previous years.
*3 Michigan State used plain green helmets during the 2003 home game against Rutgers; these, along with a special uniform patch, were worn in recognition of the school's 1000th football game.
*4 A special helmet design was worn to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the November 19, 1966 "Game of the Century" between #1 ranked Notre Dame and #2 Michigan State, which ended in a 10-10 tie.
MINNESOTA
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| ? - 1967; Oct. 21, 2006 | 1968 - 1971 | 1972 - 1975 |
| *see note 1 below |
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| 1976 | 1977 - 1979? | 1979 - 1985 |
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| 1986 - 1991 | 1992 - 1995 | 1996 |
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| 1997 - 1998? | 1999? - 2006 | 2007 - |
*1 It is possible that maroon numerals and perhaps even dark blue numerals MAY have been used on helmet designs similar to this one at some time during the 1960s. During the October 21, 2006 home game against North Dakota State, Minnesota used this helmet design once again; the numerals were black on this occasion.
NORTHWESTERN
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| c.1960 - 1967 | 1968 - 1974 | 1975 - 1976 |
| *see note 1 below |
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| 1977 | 1978 | 1979 |
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| 1981 - 1992? | 1993 | 1994 - |
I believe this is a nearly complete set of helmets for Northwestern for the period covered by this site (1960 to present), with the exception of the 1980 helmets; those were like the 1979 design but had a logo consisting of the word "Cats" in a purple script font instead of the "N". Shown at left is the best photograph I have received of this particular helmet; I would appreciate a copy of this "Cats" logo from somebody.
The current "N" logo featured a silver outline during its earlier years of use (c.1980s).
*1 There may have been some changes to the sizes and styles of the numerals used during this period.
OHIO STATE
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| 1960 - 1964 | 1965 | 1966 - 1967 |
| *see note 1 below | *see note 1 below |
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| 1968 - |
Ohio State's current helmet design has been used essentially unchanged since 1968, making it one of the longest-running continously-used designs among the NCAA Division I-A colleges. There have been some minor changes to the relative widths of the stripes, however (in particular, the black stripes were somewhat wider prior to 1979 than they have been since then).
*1 The "red stripe" on these helmets actually consisted of some extra padding worn on the exterior of the helmet shell, making this a physical feature of the helmet rather than just an artistic one. Ohio State used this helmet style during at least the period 1960 through 1965, and possibly earlier, but it has been reported to me that from 1960 through 1963, the "padding only came halfway down the back of the helmet". I have so far identified only five other colleges that appear to have used this "padded" helmet design, all at about the same time as did Ohio State: Ohio University, Fresno State, Duke, Harvard, and Brigham Young.
PENN STATE
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| 1968 - 1974 | 1962? - 1966; 1975 - 1986 |
1987 - |
Dated photographs that I have received indicate that Penn State used white helmets with players' numerals on the sides during at least two periods: 1961 (and possibly earlier), and again from 1967 to 1974. It appears that between these two periods (from 1962 through 1966) the helmets were plain white with a single blue stripe. I am not certain about these dates, however, so I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can confirm them.
While the numerals were of the "block" style shown here during the last few years when they were used, at least one other style was used earlier, and I do not necessarily know that the numerals were always blue (they may have been black instead during the early years). The two styles of numerals were used simultaneously during at least some games in 1967.
PURDUE
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| 1962 - c.1968; September 2, 2006 |
1969 | 1970 |
| *see note 1 below |
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| 1971 - 1979? | 1980 | 1981 - 1983 |
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| 1984 - 1987 | 1989 - 1990 | 1988; 1991 - 1995 |
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|---|---|---|
| 1996 | January 1, 2001 | 1997 - |
| *see note 2 below |
Purdue used black helmets during the very early 1960s; these featured a single light-colored stripe and players' numerals of some light color (I have only black-and-white photographs of these, so I do not know what colors were used; presumably either white, gold, or yellow).
*1 For the opening game of the 2006 season, a home game against Indiana State, Purdue wore special uniforms and helmets designed to resemble those worn by the 1966 Purdue team which defeated Southern California in the Rose Bowl, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of that team.
*2 A rose was added to the "P" decal for Purdue's appearance in the 2001 Rose Bowl game against Washington.
WISCONSIN
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| 1960 - c.1966; September 3, 2005 |
c.1968 | 1967 - 1970 |
| *see note 1 below | *see note 2 below |
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| 1970 - 1971 | 1972 - 1974 | 1975 - 1977 |
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| 1988 - 1989 | 1978 - 1987; 1990 | 1991 - |
During the 1969 season only, one Wisconsin player was presented the "Savage Award" after each game, which entitled him to wear a black helmet with the "Bucky Badger" logo for the rest of the season (reference: http://www.helmethut.com/College/Wisconsin/Wisconsinblack.html). As a design used by less than half the football team, this helmet does not currently meet the criteria for depiction and inclusion at this web site (the reason being that there may be huge numbers of such single-player or few-player designs, particularly from the 1960s). It is not inconceivable, however, that some of these may be added to the site in the future.
*1 That is a "W" at the front of the helmet; a similar red "W" was present at the back of this helmet design. The latest use of the "W"s that I have identified was during the 1966 season. This design was resurrected for Wisconsin's first game of the 2005 season, a home game against Bowling Green.
*2 Red helmets were used at least occasionally in each year from 1967 through 1970, but not during every game - white helmets were used during at least some games in 1968 and 1970. A game-by-game accounting would be necessary to clarify Wisconsin's helmet history during these years.
