Historical Helmets

BOISE STATE

c.1960s	c.early 1970s	1976 - 1977

1974 - 1975; 1978 - 1979	1980 - 1986	1987 - 1990

1991 - 1996	1997 - 2001	2002 - 2008

2009 -

These are all of the "known" historical helmet designs for Boise State, whose football team first played in 1968. It is entirely possible that there are additional historical designs from the team's first five years (for which I have received very few photographs), and possibly some others from the mid- to late-1970s (though these would probably be just other stripe or facemask color variations, rather than ones with different helmet logos).

The school's name was changed from Boise College to Boise State College in 1969, and again to the present name in 1974. As a junior college, the school had a football team from 1933 through 1967 (helmet information would be appreciated for the period 1960-1967). The team played at the NCAA Division II level from 1968 through 1977, and at the Division I-AA level from 1978 through 1995, before moving to Division I-A in 1996.

FRESNO STATE

1961 - c.mid 1960s	c.late 1960s	1969

c.1970s	c.1978	1988
		*see note 1 below

1981? - 1987; 1989 - 1996?	2006 (last four games)	1997? -
*see note 2 below	*see note 3 below

I have probably received less information about Fresno State's historical helmets than I have for any other Division I-A college, so I would greatly appreciate additional information from anyone familiar with the team. There are particularly big gaps in my information for the years from 1960 to about 1980.

A few other known helmet designs appear in the photographs below:

The first photo shows the design that was used during the late 1960s; it featured white numerals that were worn on helmets that I think were almost certainly red in color. The middle stripe appears to be a darker color than the (probably) red shell, and may be black or dark blue - a color photograph would be appreciated.

The middle photograph shows the 1969 Fresno State helmet with the "100" college football centennial logo - I would guess that the football shape was blue with white numerals.

The third photo is from 1978 and shows an unknown logo (or something) on the sides of the helmet - probably a cartoon bulldog logo, perhaps one very similar to the one currently used by the team. I would greatly appreciate a clearer photograph from the 1978 season.

Fresno State's current helmet design features a green "V" outlined in white, worn at the back of the helmet, and not visible from the viewpoint that I am using at this web site. The "V" stands for "Valley", and recognizes the agricultural heritage of California's Central Valley, where the city of Fresno is located. The bulldog logo on the sides of the current helmet design has undergone some very minor modifications during recent years (which I have not attempted to represent here).

*1 It has been reported to me that, during the 1988 football season, a black stripe was worn on the helmet as a tribute to the late wife of Fresno State's then-head coach, Jim Sweeney.

*2 1981 marks the earliest use of the script "Bulldogs" logo that I have yet identified - was it used earlier than 1981?

*3 Plain red helmets were worn during the last four games of the 2006 season (November 11 vs New Mexico State, Nov. 18 vs Idaho, Nov.24 at Louisiana Tech, and December 2 at San Jose State).

HAWAI'I

c.1960s	? - 1973	1974
	*see note 1 below

1975	1976	1977 - 1981

1982 - 1998	1999	2005 - 2007
		*see note 2 below

2000 -
*see notes 2 and 3 below

There is one other "known" historical helmet design for Hawai'i, this being the team's 1975 helmet. During that year the team wore white helmets with a logo consisting of a running warrior wearing a cape and carrying a football, in front of a nearly-circular rainbow - below is the clearest photograph that I have received of this helmet and a version of what is apparently the same logo. I have not yet added this one to the web site because the colors within the logo as used on the helmet remain uncertain - so I would appreciate a clear color photograph of one of the helmets used during the 1975 season.

Otherwise I believe this is the complete set of historical helmet designs for Hawai'i from 1960 to present (though it is possible that there are other designs from the 1960s - very few photographs for this team from the years prior to 1972 have been received). A visitor to the web site has reported that the plain white helmets with one green stripe were used from at least 1955 through 1960, and probably as early as 1946. The team was discontinued following the 1960 season but was brought back in 1962. What would probably be classified as a "club-level" team played in 1961 against a series of semi-pro or amateur teams. Hawai'i played at the NCAA Division II level until 1974 when it moved to Division I; the team nickname was changed from "Rainbows" to "Rainbow Warriors" in 1974, and then to "Warriors" in 2000.

*1 This design was in use by at least 1968.

*2 Both of these designs were used during the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons. The green helmets were used for home games, and the silver ones for road games, with four exceptions: on both December 3, 2005 (vs San Diego State) and November 18, 2006 (vs San Jose State), the silver helmets were used during home games; on October 13, 2007 (at San Jose State) and November 16, 2007 (at Nevada), the green helmets were used during road games.

*3 I still occasionally receive messages claiming that the current Hawai'i helmet has a black shell rather than a green one, but I strongly believe that this is incorrect. The team definetly did use black helmets in 1999 (I was maintaining this web site at that time), but a switch to green helmets was made the following year. The helmets are VERY dark and do tend to look black, particularly during night games. As evidence that the helmets are actually dark green I would cite the following from a press release about the team's new uniforms for the 2008 season: "Only UH's green helmet will be worn for both home and away games / The silver road uniform, including the jerseys, pants, and helmet, will not be continued" (note no mention of black helmets; see http://uhfootball.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-uniform-designs.html ). You will also note the green color if you take any digital photograph of the current helmet and "brighten" it using graphics software - below are some examples:

IDAHO

? - 1964	1965	1965 - 1967

1968 - 1969	1969	1970

1971 - 1975	1976 - 1977	1978 - 1979

1980	1981	1982 - 1994

November 17, 2007	1995 - 2007	October 31, 2009
		*see note 1 below

2008 -

Besides those depicted above, there are three other "known" helmet designs which have been used by Idaho since 1960; these are visible in the photographs below:

The first two photographs show a helmet design which was used early during the 1965 season. The unusual decal apparently represents a "horn" or "wing" or hybrid thereof, as suggested by the fact that the cartoon logo on the "1971-1975" helmet depicts a bearded "vandal" wearing a helmet with horns that look like a bird's wings. The "horn" orientation is visible in the first photo, while some of the "feather" detail may be seen in the second photograph. These decals were apparently gold in color, and are identifiable in photographs from the games against Washington State, San Jose State, Utah State, and Oregon.

In 1969, Idaho used a version of the "100" logo, as may be seen in the third photograph. This very poor picture is the best one I have received of Idaho's version, but I have been provided with a description of the helmet indicating that the football-shape was black with white numerals. The "100" decals were reportedly not used during the last two games of the season.

Of greatest uncertainty is the helmet in the fourth photograph above. It was apparently used at some point in the 1970s, probably for a very short time, as this undated photograph is the only one I have received of this one. The helmet shell is probably silver, and the logo probably gold with a black outline. I have recently (January 2009) received a report indicating that this design was in use during at least the game against Utah State in 1972.

*1 This design was worn during a home game against Lousiana Tech in 2009.

LOUISIANA TECH

? - 1967	1969	1968 - c.early 1980s; c.1989
	*see note 1 below

c.mid 1980s - 1988	c.early 1990s - 2006	2007
*see note 2 below

2008 -

Louisiana Tech's traditional state outline/"T" logo has apparently been used since 1968, making it one of the longest-running designs among the Division I-A colleges. There have been some minor adjustments to the shape of the state outline and perhaps to the "T" also during this period, but the basic design has not changed. The blue color forming the state outline was apparently changed from a somewhat lighter color to a darker one sometime around 1990.

*1 The "100" logo was worn only on the left sides of the Louisiana Tech helmets in 1969, with the state outline logo worn on the right sides.

*2 The earliest and latest seasons from which I have seen photographs showing stripes on the red helmet are 1985 and 1988, respectively.

NEVADA

? - 1975	1977 - c.1979	1986 - ?
*see note 1 below	*see note 2 below

? - 1999	2000	2001
*see note 3 below

2002 - 2004	2005 - 2007	2008 -

I have no information for Nevada from 1973 or earlier. This university was known as the University of Nevada at Reno until sometime around 1990 or so.

*1 Photographs show that the "N" decal was worn considerably higher up on the helmet during at least some games in 1974 and 1975. 1974 is the earliest use of this design I have yet found.

*2 During at least portions of the 1978 season, some players used a different stripe sequence with this helmet design: a red stripe in the middle, bordered by two white stripes. The number of players using this alternate stripe sequence appears to be quite small in the photographs that I have seen, so I suspect that this was some sort of "award" for outstanding play, or perhaps a special design used by team captains, or something else of that sort.

*3 This design was used at least as early as 1995.

NEW MEXICO STATE

1960 - 1965	1966 - 1968	1969

1970 - 1972	1973	1974 - 1977

1978 - 1982	1983 - 1985	1986

1987 - 1989	1990 - 1994	1995 - 2004

October 18, 2008	2005 - 2008	2009 -
*see note 1 below

*1 A pink "ribbon" logo was worn on NMSU's helmets (left sides only; the "Aggies" logo remained on the right sides) during the 2008 home game against San Jose State. A visitor to this web site sent me a link to an old article indicating that NMSU was apparently planning to use ribbon decals (in some form) during a home game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2007 also, but photographic evidence suggests that the team did not actually do so (the "Aggies" decals are visible on both sides of the NMSU helmets in photos from this game; if any ribbon decal was worn on the helmets in 2007, it was apparently very small and worn at the back of the helmet, though I have seen no evidence to suggest that even something like this was used. The team did wear pink socks during this game). The article from 2007 stated that the pink ribbons were to be worn "in an effort to promote breast cancer awareness and raise money for research projects in New Mexico".

SAN JOSE STATE

c.1960s	c.1967 - 1968	c.early 1970s

c.1974 - 1975	c.1976	c.1980 - c.1986

c.1986	c.1987	c.1987

c.1988 - c.1989	? - 1999	2000

2001 - 2005	2006 -

There are several other historical helmet designs for this team which I have not yet been able to add to the site due to insufficient information. Very few clear photographs have been received from the 1960s and early 1970s, and the dates of use for the various older helmets are highly uncertain. I also suspect that the team colors may have been substantially different during the 1960s. Additional information would be appreciated.

It seems that San Jose State used yellow helmets throughout the 1960s, at most times without any helmet logos, but occasionally with one, as may be seen in the first two photographs below. The logo (?) on the first helmet is unidentifiable, but the second one is an early "spartan helmet". The third photograph shows a design that was used during the early 1970s (at least during parts of the 1971 and 1972 seasons). I believe that this helmet was gold or silver in color rather than blue or yellow, and it featured another "spartan helmet" logo of unknown colors.

By at least 1974 the team had switched to blue helmets. These were "plain" (aside from stripes) for several years, but by at least 1980 the team had adopted a script "Spartans" logo which was used for several years (first photo below). The letters were yellow with black outlines. Several people have sent me a copy of this logo that is not quite the correct one - I will need the one that includes the outline around the letters in order to add this one to the web site. This logo was apparently used until about 1986.

The sequence of helmet designs becomes ambiguous during the late 1980s. At least two different "SJS" logos were apparently used, along with a different "Spartans" logo. Some of these logos may have been used concurrently. By at least 1991 a new "spartan helmet" logo was adopted and used through the 1990s, though it may have had a white outline initially. Below are photos of several designs used during the late 1980s and early 1990s:

UTAH STATE

1955 - 1964; 1967 - 1969	1964 - 1967	1970 - 1972

1973 - 1975	1976 - ?	? - 1982?

1983? - 1990	1991	1992 - 1994

1995 -

This may be a complete set of historical helmet designs for Utah State for the period covered by this web site (1960 to present); if you know of any other designs used by the team during this time, please let me know about them.