Historical Helmets

BOISE STATE

c.1960s	c.early 1970s	1974 - 1975; 1978 - 1979

1980 - 1986	1987 - 1990	1991 - 1996

1997 - 2001	2002 -

In 1976 and 1977, BSU used a large, orange "horse head" logo (shown in the photograph below); I would appreciate a "flat" copy of the artwork for this decal.

Information about the specific years of use for these various helmets would also be appreciated. I have received little information about BSU helmets from the team's very early years - 1968 was the first football season at Boise State, so a complete helmet history for the team could probably be determined quite easily by someone at the University with access to yearbooks, game programs, etc. The school's name was changed from Boise College to Boise State College in 1969, and again to the present name in 1974.

FRESNO STATE

c.1970s	c.1980s - 1990s	1988
	*see note 1 below	*see note 2 below

2006	1997? - present
*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.

During the early 1960s, Fresno State appears to have used white helmets with an extremely wide dark-colored "stripe". I strongly suspect that this "stripe" actually consisted of some extra padding on the exterior of the helmet, because it appears in the photographs that I have seen to be similar to the padded helmets used by Ohio, Ohio State, and Duke at about the same time. The color of the "stripe" also remains unknown to me, although red would of course seem likely.

During the late 1960s, white numerals were worn on helmets that I think were probably red, and in 1969 a version of the "100" logo was used.

Aside from some stripes, the helmets appear to have been plain red for most of the 1970s, but a logo that I cannot identify was used for at least part of the 1978 season. It may be a cartoon bulldog of some sort.

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.

*1 1981 marks the earliest use of the script "Bulldogs" logo that I have identified so far.

*2 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.

*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	c.early 1970s	1974

1976? - 1977?	1978? - c.1981?	c.1982? - 1998
		*see note 1 below

1999	2000 -	2005 -
	*see note 2 below	*see note 2 below

In 1975, Hawai'i used a helmet logo that was similar to the one used during the period 1976 - c.1982, but the rainbow shape had a circular outer extremity, as opposed to the oblong one used on the later helmet. A clear color photograph of the 1975 helmet (one clear enough to show the colors within the decal) would probably allow me to add that one to this web site.

*1 The "UH"/rainbow logo was apparently used for the first time in either 1982 or 1983.

*2 Both of these designs have been used during the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons. The green helmets have been 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.

IDAHO

? - 1964	1965	1965 - 1967

1968 - 1969	1969	1970

1971 - 1975	1976 - 1977	1978 - 1979

1980	1981	1982 - 1994

November 17, 2007	1995 -

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 is the only photograph I have seen of this one. The helmet shell is probably silver, and the logo probably gold with a black outline. Can anyone identify when this design was in use?

LOUISIANA TECH

? - 1967	1968 - c.early 1980s; c.1989	c.mid 1980s - 1988
		*see note 1 below

c.early 1990s - 2006	2007 -

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 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 -

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
	*see note 1 below	*see note 1 below

1978 - 1982	1983 - 1985	1986

1987 - 1989	1990 - 1994	1995 - 2004

2005 -

*1 A decal of the United States flag was worn on the back of these helmets during 1973 and 1974.

SAN JOSE STATE

c.1974 - 1975	c.1976	c.1988 - 1989

? - 1999	2000	2001 - 2005

2006 -

San Jose State is another team for which I do not have much historical information yet. Most of the older pictures that I have received are black-and-white, so I cannot identify the colors used; also, there are many years from which I have no pictures, and so I have no information about what design was used that year.

Around the mid-1960s, the team used plain yellow helmets with a single dark stripe. In about 1967 an early dark-colored "spartan head" logo was used for the first time, and one or more other logos may have been used during the late 1960s.

By 1970, a different "spartan head" logo had been adopted (see below); I do not know the colors of either the logo or the helmet shell on this design. This logo was used through at least parts of the 1972 season.

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.