Northwest Conference

Northwest Conference


LEWIS & CLARK	LINFIELD	MENLO
"Pioneers"	"Wildcats"	"Oaks"
Portland, OR	McMinnville, OR	Atherton, CA


PACIFIC LUTHERAN	PUGET SOUND	WHITWORTH
"Lutes"	"Loggers"	"Pirates"
Tacoma, WA	Tacoma, WA	Spokane, WA


WILLAMETTE
"Bearcats"
Salem, OR

Comments

Menlo is using a helmet logo for the first time in many years in 2009 (helmet image above). Lewis & Clark also has a new helmet design in 2009 (shown above).

Historical Helmets

LEWIS & CLARK


? - 1994	c.late 1990s	? - 2001
*see note 1 below


2002 - 2003	2004 - 2005	2006


2007 - 2008	2009 -

Since this team appears to make helmet design changes rather frequently, there is probably a large and interesting helmet history for the team - additional information would be appreciated.

*1 It has been reported to me that this design was probably first used in 1988, which was Tom Smythe's first year as Head Coach at Lewis & Clark.

LINFIELD


1955 - 1962	1963 - 1992	1993 -

A newspaper article that was sent to me mentioned several facts about historical helmet designs used by Linfield:

The team used cardinal red helmets through 1954, and switched to white helmets in 1955;

The scowling wildcat logo was first used on the helmets in 1963, and has been used ever since; its colors were cardinal and black until 1993, when the colors were changed to cardinal and purple;

The facemask color was changed from gray to white in 1993;

The name of the person who designed the logo has apparently been lost.

The article did not mention whether stripes were ever used on the helmet, but it was sufficiently detailed that I would suspect mention would have been made if Linfield had ever used stripes. Apparently then, this is a complete set of historical helmet images for Linfield for the period covered by this web site (1960 to present), though, as with most teams, it is likely that, periodically, there were some minor, "unintentional" variations to the sizes and colors of the helmet decals, as new batches of them were bought from time to time, possibly from different manufacturers.

MENLO


1996 - 2008	2009 -

Descriptions of some earlier Menlo helmet designs have been received:

c.1980 - 1988: helmets were gray with a logo consisting of a navy blue oval shape containing a white "M" and the team name "Oaks";

1989 - 1990 and 1992 - 1995: plain gray helmet with blue stripe and blue facemask;

1991: "Menlo written on the left side in block letters like the Old San Diego State Aztec helmet that arched with the shape of the helmet";

1996: switch made to white helmets; initially plans were made to use a large, navy blue block "M" logo, "but before the first game they decided to take it off".

Photographs of any of these earlier helmets would be appreciated.

PACIFIC LUTHERAN


1959 - 1961	1962	1963 - 1965


1966 - 1967	1969	1968; 1970


1971	1972	1973


c.early/mid 1990s	? - present

PUGET SOUND


1999 - 2001	2002 -

UPS changed its school colors in 1999 from green and gold to the present maroon and white. Yellow helmet shells were used from at least 1987 through 1998; at least two different helmet logos were used during this period. The earlier one consisted of the letters "UPS" above a lumberjack figure holding an axe; the lumberjack was mostly enclosed inside a green circle. A later helmet logo featured the letters "UPS" inside a green football shape which was outlined in white. I would greatly appreciate copies of these two helmet logos/decals, and some photographs of these helmets.

WHITWORTH


? - 2005	2006 -

No information has yet been received about any earlier helmet designs used by this team.

WILLAMETTE


c.late 1990s	? - 2001?	2002?


2003? -

The dates listed here are extremely uncertain; I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can clarify when each design was used.