Big 12 Conference

BAYLOR IOWA STATE KANSAS
"Bears" "Cyclones" "Jayhawks"
Waco, TX Ames, IA Lawrence, KS
KANSAS STATE OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA STATE
"Wildcats" "Sooners" "Cowboys"
Manhattan, KS Norman, OK Stillwater, OK
TEXAS TEXAS CHRISTIAN TEXAS TECH
"Longhorns" "Horned Frogs" "Red Raiders"
Austin, TX Fort Worth, TX Lubbock, TX

Comments

Texas Christian will be a new member of this conference in 2012, while Missouri and Texas A&M have departed to join the Southeastern Conference. West Virginia has also been admitted to the Big 12 Conference but as of January 2012 it is unclear whether the team will participate during the 2012 football season.

Baylor, Oklahoma State, Kansas, TCU, and Texas Tech all used multiple helmet designs during the 2011 season.

Historical Helmets

BAYLOR

c.early 1960s;
1967 - 1968		 c.early 1960s c.early-mid 1960s
*see note 1 below *see note 1 below
1969 - 1971 1972 - 1978 1979 - 1988
*see note 2 below
1989 - 1992 1992 1993 - 1996
*see note 3 below
1997 - 2002 October 23, 2004 2005 - 2007
*see note 4 below *see note 5 below
'B'
2003 - 2007 September 5, 2009;
additional games 2009- 		September 11, 2010
*see note 5 below *see note 6 below *see note 7 below
'C' 'A'
December 29, 2011 2008 -
*see note 8 below

Baylor used the following sequence of helmet designs in 2011: A-B-B; B-A-A; A-A-B; A-B-A; C (the last of these being the Alamo Bowl game against Washington).

*1 Apparently helmet numerals were used rather inconsistently during the early 1960s, with some players wearing them and others not doing so. The green numerals were used by some players during at least some games in both 1965 and 1966, and white numerals were used for at least part of the 1960 season, and perhaps 1961 also. I would appreciate hearing from anybody who can clarify what scheme was in place with regards to the helmet numerals during these years.

*2 In 1969, a version of the "100" decal recognizing the 100th anniversary of the first college football game was worn at the back of the helmet. Baylor's version featured a dark-colored football shape with the numerals "100" in some light color (I do not have any color photographs of this one, so I don't know what colors were used).

*3 According to the Southwest Conference Helmets web site, the "plain" helmet was used for just the first few games of the 1992 season, after which the logo and stripes of the previous helmet design were restored.

*4 A special helmet design was worn during the 2004 home game against Iowa State to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the "Miracle on the Brazos" (a come-from behind victory by the 1974 Baylor team in a game against Texas).

*5 Green helmets were used for eight games during the 2005 season: September 10 vs Samford, Sept. 17 at Army, October 1 at Texas A&M, Oct. 8 at Iowa State, Oct. 15 vs Nebraska, November 5 vs Texas, Nov. 12 at Missouri, and Nov. 19 vs Oklahoma State. The gold helmets were used during the first game, September 3 at SMU, and the seventh and eighth games, Oct. 22 at Oklahoma, and Oct. 29 vs Texas Tech.

In 2006 and 2007, the green helmets were used during road games, and the gold helmets during home games, with one exception: on November 17, 2007, Baylor used green helmets during the home game against Oklahoma State.

*6 This design was first used during a game at Wake Forest in 2009; subsequently used during the 2009 season on September 19 (vs Connecticut), October 31 (vs Nebraska), November 7 (at Missouri), and November 21 (at Texas A&M); used during the 2010 season on September 10 (at TCU); October 9 (vs Texas Tech in Dallas, TX) and November 13 (vs Texas A&M); used during the 2011 season on September 17 (vs Stephen F. Austin), September 24 (vs Rice), October 8 (vs Iowa State), and November 12 (at Kansas).

*7 Worn during the 2010 home game against Buffalo.

*7 Worn vs Washington during the 2011 Alamo Bowl game at San Antonio, Tx.

IOWA STATE

1960 1961 1962 - 1966
1967 1969 - 1970 1968 - 1974
*see note 1 below *see note 2 below
1975 - 1976 1976 - 1978 1979
1980 1981 - 1982 1983 - 1986
*see note 3 below
1986 1987 - 1994 1995 - 2002
September 16, 2007 2003 - 2007 2008 -

*1 This design was used only during Iowa State's away games in 1969 and 1970.

*2 This was ISU's full-time helmet design in 1968 and from 1971 through 1974. During 1969 and 1970, it was used for home games only.

*3 During at least 1983 and 1984, and possibly in 1985 and 1986 also, at least some players wore an "inverted" version of this helmet (red shell, yellow logo, one yellow stripe, with red facemask). Most sources indicate that the red helmets were "awarded" to certain players for good performances, and I believe this is probably accurate, though I have not seen many photographs showing both helmet colors in use at the same time (I have seen some). As a helmet design used by less than half of the team, this design does not meet the current criteria for graphic representation at this web site (my concern being that there may be hundreds of such single-player or a few-players designs, particularly from the 1960s).

KANSAS

1960 - 1962 1963 1964
*see note 1 below *see note 2 below
1965 - 1966 1967 - 1969 1970 - 1976
1977 - 1978 1979 - 1982 1983 - 1986
1987 1988 1989
1990 - 1993 1994 - 1996 1997 - 2001
*see note 3 below
2002 - 2004 2005 - 2006 November 28, 2009
*see note 4 below
2007 - 2009 November 27, 2010 October 1, 2011
*see note 5 below *see note 6 below
2010 -

Kansas has been one of the more difficult teams to summarize because of the large number of helmet variations through the years, and due to the fact that many of these variations have involved relatively minor changes to the color of the helmet shell. I have resorted to classifying all these blue helmets into just a few shades, but please note that there may have been a larger number of actual colors used than are depicted here (or I may just as well have too many different colors represented here).

*1 White numerals were used at least as early as 1960; the previous helmet design was apparently similar to this one but without the numerals. A red stripe MAY have been used on this design during some of the years when this helmet was in use.

*2 The jayhawk on the 1963 helmet faced towards the left on both sides of the helmet (in other words, the one on the right side of the helmet faced towards the back of the helmet). I believe that with all other incarnations of this logo the jayhawk always faced towards the front of the helmet.

*3 Kansas switched to "metallic" blue paint in 1997; this resulted in the helmets generally appearing to be slightly darker in color than those used earlier during the 1990s.

*4 Worn during the 2009 game against Missouri played at Kansas City, MO.

*5 Worn during the 2010 game against Missouri played at Kansas City, MO.

*6 Worn during the 2011 home game vs Texas Tech.

KANSAS STATE

c.1950s - 1963 1964 - 1965 1966
1967 - 1968 1969 - 1971 1972 - 1973
1974 1975 - 1977 1978
*see note 1 below
1979 - 1981 1982 - 1985 1986 - 1987
1988 1989 -

To the best of my knowledge, these are all of the different helmet designs used by KSU during the period covered by this web site (1960 to present).

*1 The color of the helmet shells used during these years may have been an ordinary silver color, but by at least 1978, KSU had switched to helmets of an unusual light gray color that has apparently rarely been used elsewhere. These helmets were used through the mid 1980s.

OKLAHOMA

1962 - 1965 1966 1967 - 1976
August 30, 2003;
November 21, 2009		 1977 -
*see note 1 below

Oklahoma switched from white helmets to crimson ones for the 1966 season, which also marked the debut of the traditional interlocking "OU" logo, which was "rounder" in shape for the first season than the "block" version which appeared the following year and has been used ever since. There have been some minor changes to the logo during the intervening years.

A change to the shade of "crimson" used on the helmets was made sometime around 1977, the earlier color having been basically "red", and I believe the facemasks were also changed from gray to white at about the same time. Apparently white facemasks were not added to all helmets at the same time; there may have been some seasons in which both white and gray facemasks were used simultaneously by different players. The helmets have remained essentially unchanged since about 1977, aside from a switch to "metallic" paint for the 2000 season.

*1 Oklahoma used white helmets during their first game of the 2003 season, a home game against North Texas, as part of a plan to wear uniforms "similar to those worn during the Bud Wilkinson era of the 1950's at OU". An apparently identical design was used during the 2009 game at Texas Tech.

OKLAHOMA STATE

? - 1960 1961 - 1966 1967
*see note 1 below
1967 - 1968 1969 - 1972 1973 - 1975
*see note 1 below *see note 2 below
1976 1977 - 1979 1980 - 1983
'D'
1993 - 1994 1984 - 1992;
1995 - 2000		 November 21, 2009;
additional games 2010-2011
*see note 3 below
'B' 'C' 'A'
2011 - 2011 - 2001 -
*see note 4 below *see note 5 below

Oklahoma State has used the following sequence of helmet designs in 2011 (through twelve games): A-A-D; B-C-C; A-B-B; A-C-C.

*1 The helmet with the white numerals was used during OSU's first five games in 1967, while the helmet with the cowboy and horse logo was used for the last four games. Unknown to me at the present time is which of these (if either) was used for OSU's sixth game that year, a home match against Missouri.

*2 In 1969, a version of the "100" logo was worn on the back of this helmet, down at the bottom.

*3 Worn November 21, 2009 (vs Colorado), September 30, 2010 (vs Texas A&M), November 20, 2010 (at Kansas), and September 17, 2011 (at Tulsa).

*4 First worn September 24, 2011 (at Texas A&M); subsequently worn October 29, 2011 (vs Baylor) and November 5, 2011 (vs Kansas State).

*5 First worn October 8, 2011 (vs Kansas); subsequently worn October 15, 2011 (at Texas), November 18, 2011 (at Iowa State), and December 3, 2011 (vs Oklahoma).

TEXAS

1957 - 1960 1961 - 1962 1963 - 1966
1969 1967 - 1968;
1970 - 1976		 January 1, 1982
*see note 1 below
September 3, 2005;
November 26, 2009 		1977 -
*see note 2 below

*1 For its appearance in the 1982 Cotton Bowl game against Alabama, Texas used a special version of the longhorn logo which included between the "horns" the words "COTTON BOWL CLASSIC" and a picture of a cotton boll.

*2 This design was used during the 2005 home game against Louisiana-Lafayette and during the 2009 game at Texas A&M.

TEXAS CHRISTIAN

1960 - 1964 1965 1966
1967 1968 1969 - 1970
1971 - 1973 1974 - 1976 1977 - 1980
*see note 1 below
November 8, 1980 1982 (late season) 1980 - 1991
*see note 2 below *see note 3 below *see note 4 below
1992 1993 - 1994 1995 - 1997
November 14, 2009;
January 4, 2010;
October 23, 2010		 September 4, 2010;
October 16, 2010 		January 1, 2011
*see note 5 below *see note 6 below *see note 7 below
1998 - 2010 2011 (first six games) December 3, 2011
*see note 8 below
October 22, 2011 -
*see note 9 below

Much of the pre-1998 information here for TCU, including the dates of use for most of the earlier helmets, is derived from information found at the "Southwest Conference Helmets" web site.

In 1965 purple helmet shells were used with a logo depicting a horned frog. Below is the clearest photograph I have received of this design, in which the letters "TCU" are visible within the frog's body. I would greatly appreciate a clearer photograph of this helmet and a copy of the frog logo used on the helmet.

*1 This helmet design was worn during the first eight games of the 1980 season.

*2 This design was apparently used for just one game, November 8, 1980 vs Texas Tech.

*3 This design was used for the last few games of the 1982 season only.

*4 This one was first used for the team's tenth game of the 1980 season, November 15 vs Texas.

*5 Used during the 2009 season for two games: a home game against Utah, and in the Fiesta Bowl game against Boise State; used during the 2010 home game against Air Force.

*6 Worn vs Oregon State in a game played at Arlington, TX, and during a home game against BYU in 2010. The gray part of the helmet featured a "frogskin" pattern that would be impossible to represent with the image size used at this web site, but below is a photo showing the "frogskin".

*7 Worn during the Rose Bowl game vs Wisconsin at the end of the 2010 season. In this version of the logo the horned frog is holding the stem of a rose (the red blob) in its mouth.

*8 Worn during the last game of the 2011 regular season, a home game against UNLV. The helmet shells again featured the "frogskin" pattern worn on the September 4, 2010 helmet.

*9 First worn during the 2011 home game vs New Mexico; this design was worn for the remainder of the 2011 regular season (five games total) with the exception of the December 3 game.

TEXAS TECH

1960 1961 - 1962? 1963? - 1969
1970 - 1973 1974 1975 - 1983
1984 - 1992 1993 - 1999 September 11, 2010;
additional games in 2010
*see note 1 below
November 6, 2010 September 17, 2011;
November 19, 2011		 November 12, 2011
*see note 2 below *see note 3 below *see note 4 below
2000 -

The dates of use for the first thirty years or so of the above helmets were taken primarily from the Southwest Conference Helmets web site. This is believed to be a complete set for Texas Tech for the period covered by this web site.

*1 First worn during the 2010 game at New Mexico (September 11); subsequently worn October 2, 2010 (at Iowa State) and November 13, 2010 (at Oklahoma).

*2 Worn during the 2010 home game against Missouri.

*3 Worn during the 2011 games at New Mexico and at Missouri.

*4 Worn during the 2011 home game vs Oklahoma State.