Central Michigan Chippewas Indian Spear (1973 - 1988)

[petnic]

Preface

The following post features an attempted digital restoration, rather than a concept. I am, however, interested in obtaining resources, comments, and criticism to further improve the restoration. Your help will be much appreciated.

Introduction

A couple of years ago, my father, a proud Central Michigan University alumnus and an "action C" opponent, mentioned an Indian spear logo that the Chippewa football helmets donned during his years in Mount Pleasant. Recently, I decided to research the topic, in effort to find information and photographs of said Indian spear logo. Unfortunately, not many resources are available.

History

The Mid-American Conference Helmet Project claims that the Central Michigan Chippewas adopted the Indian spear logo in 1973. The Central Michigan Chippewas retired the Indian spear logo in 1988, in effort to maintain their funding, their nickname, and their support from the Chippewa tribe. The "CMU Football Programs" webpage on the Central Michigan University Clarke Historical Library website supports this timeline.

Resources

The Football Programs on the "CMU Football Programs" webpage featured the following photographs.

Photograph 1

Photograph 2

Photograph 3

Photograph 4

Photograph 5

These photographs hint that the Central Michigan Chippewa Indian spear (1973 - 1988) is heavily influenced by the Washington Redskins Indian spear (1965 - 1969). The biggest, and potentially only, difference between the Chippewa Indian spear and the Redskins Indian spear is the shape and position of the feather.

Therefore, I gathered the following photographs of Washington Redskins football helmets.

Photograph 1

Photograph 2

Photograph 3

Restoration

The Central Michigan Chippewas and Washington Redskins resources led to the following restoration.

Before

During

After (Indian spear)

After (Indian spear Football Helmet)

Conclusion

I am fairly pleased with the restoration, given the lack of quality resources. I hope to put any necessary finishing touches on the logo before sending off to Pro-Tuff Decals to produce 20 mil mini helmet decals. Nothing like a one-of-a-kind retro mini helmet!

I am open to comments and criticism, as well as quality resources (high resolution photographs, high resolution scans), to improve this restoration.

Thank you.

[charger77]

Awesome! Glad to see a Central Michigan project here. I'd love to have a mini helmet of that to go with the collection.

-Dan

CMU Class of 2002

[petnic]

Thank you, charger77. If and when I order the mini helmet decals, I will have to order a minimum of 12 pairs at $3.65 a pair (Pro-Tuff Decals). I only foresee the need for two or three pairs, so I will most likely have plenty of extra pairs. If you are interested, I will send you a message when I receive them.

I am using a maroon Central Michigan Chippewas (1997 - 2005, 2009 - Present) Riddell shell with a gold Washington Redskins (1978 - Present) Riddell Z2B facemask to achieve the 1980 - 1988 look. You could use a gray Washington Redskins (2002) Riddell Z2B facemask to achieve the 1973 - 1980 look. Probably cost you about $45 + shipping + a little elbow grease to add to your collection.

[charger77]

Thank you, charger77. If and when I order the mini helmet decals, I will have to order a minimum of 12 pairs at $3.65 a pair (Pro-Tuff Decals). I only foresee the need for two or three pairs, so I will most likely have plenty of extra pairs. If you are interested, I will send you a message when I receive them.

I am using a maroon Central Michigan Chippewas (1997 - 2005, 2009 - Present) Riddell shell with a gold Washington Redskins (1978 - Present) Riddell Z2B facemask to achieve the 1980 - 1988 look. You could use a gray Washington Redskins (2002) Riddell Z2B facemask to achieve the 1973 - 1980 look. Probably cost you about $45 + shipping + a little elbow grease to add to your collection.

Yeah, let me know... I want in

I'm sure a little will help the process.

[petnic]

Thank you, charger77. If and when I order the mini helmet decals, I will have to order a minimum of 12 pairs at $3.65 a pair (Pro-Tuff Decals). I only foresee the need for two or three pairs, so I will most likely have plenty of extra pairs. If you are interested, I will send you a message when I receive them.

I am using a maroon Central Michigan Chippewas (1997 - 2005, 2009 - Present) Riddell shell with a gold Washington Redskins (1978 - Present) Riddell Z2B facemask to achieve the 1980 - 1988 look. You could use a gray Washington Redskins (2002) Riddell Z2B facemask to achieve the 1973 - 1980 look. Probably cost you about $45 + shipping + a little elbow grease to add to your collection.

Yeah, let me know... I want in

I'm sure a little will help the process.

Indeed. Surprisingly, the residue the action C's left behind wasn't that tacky. I, myself, used mineral oil (vegetable oil would probably work as well) and followed with soap and water. Worked very well.

Glad to hear you're interested. I was beginning to wonder if I was crazy for seriously contemplating the purchase of $43 worth of mini helmet decals, $37 of which would sit in a box for all eternity.

I'll probably wait a week or two to see if this thread turns up any high quality resources that could lead to a more authentic design.

Maybe a current Chippewa logo-phile can swing by the library or the athletic department and get their hands on a photograph or two that I haven't seen yet. Especially one of the Indian spear on a flat surface. Every photograph of the Indian spear I have seen is low resolution and already applied to the football helmet. Extremely tough to get an accurate reproduction from a pixelated, distorted mess.

[charger77]

Maybe a current Chippewa logo-phile can swing by the library or the athletic department and get their hands of a photograph or two that I haven't seen yet.

There is another chippewa here too CMUBrent, you may want to PM him.

[Buster]

Love it, for a new Redskins helmet! Looks great with the Skins' current gold.

This is a solid look for anyone that uses it and Central Michigan's color scheme works with it.

[illwauk]

Great work, but I can't say I'm a fan... not for any PC reasons, but because it's an obvious ripoff of a classic NFL helmet and the fact that the casual college football fan would see this and think "Florida State."

If you were to somehow work a "C" into this, it'd be 1000x better.

[andycumbee19]

Glad to see i'm not the only one who makes vectors out of pics of helmet logos. Nice job, dude.

[petnic]

Great work, but I can't say I'm a fan... not for any PC reasons, but because it's an obvious ripoff of a classic NFL helmet and the fact that the casual college football fan would see this and think "Florida State."

If you were to somehow work a "C" into this, it'd be 1000x better.

Exactly, illwauk. As I mentioned (in the novel of a post that I wrote), this is not so much a concept as it is an attempted digital restoration of this Indian spear logo:

Photograph 1

which the Central Michigan Chippewas used from 1973 - 1988.

Yes, I agree. I wouldn't necessarily want them to bring back the Indian spear (or at least not in the 1973 - 1988 form, which is heavily influenced by the classic Washington Redskins Indian spear logo).

[petnic]

Glad to see i'm not the only one who makes vectors out of pics of helmet logos. Nice job, dude.

Thank you, andycumbee19.

Painstaking work, especially when your dealing with pre-90's football helmet logos. And, even tougher when you are dealing with a pre-90's football helmet logo for a then-Division II college football team. And, even tougher yet when the university has, to some extent, swept the logo under the rug to maintain both political correctness and a healthy relationship with a local tribe.

Nonetheless, fun. Like putting together a defective jigsaw puzzle with both irregular and missing pieces. Just jam it together, make a couple of adjustments, and say: "Well, that's as good as it's going to get with what I got."

[Cody21]

good job. now if only the school would only listen to you and place this on the helmet again.

[illwauk]

Great work, but I can't say I'm a fan... not for any PC reasons, but because it's an obvious ripoff of a classic NFL helmet and the fact that the casual college football fan would see this and think "Florida State."

If you were to somehow work a "C" into this, it'd be 1000x better.

Exactly, illwauk. As I mentioned (in the novel of a post that I wrote), this is not so much a concept as it is an attempted digital restoration of this Indian spear logo:

Photograph 1

which the Central Michigan Chippewas used from 1973 - 1988.

Yes, I agree. I wouldn't necessarily want them to bring back the Indian spear (or at least not in the 1973 - 1988 form, which is heavily influenced by the classic Washington Redskins Indian spear logo).

I know what you were doing... I guess I should've made that more clear

Seriously though, great work! I've done a few of these reconstruction projects for logos my school has used in the past and know first hand how difficult that is when you're dealing with a poorly-covered mid-major.

[andycumbee19]

Glad to see i'm not the only one who makes vectors out of pics of helmet logos. Nice job, dude.

Thank you, andycumbee19.

Painstaking work, especially when your dealing with pre-90's football helmet logos. And, even tougher when you are dealing with a pre-90's football helmet logo for a then-Division II college football team. And, even tougher yet when the university has, to some extent, swept the logo under the rug to maintain both political correctness and a healthy relationship with a local tribe.

Nonetheless, fun. Like putting together a defective jigsaw puzzle with both irregular and missing pieces. Just jam it together, make a couple of adjustments, and say: "Well, that's as good as it's going to get with what I got."

I think maybe tomorrow I'll post some of the logos I've re-created from pics of helmets. I know I can think of at least 3 right now that I have completed

[petnic]

BUMP

Back to BUMP the topic (to get last minute comments and criticism) and to post what might be the print version of this Indian spear logo.

As you can see (below), I have separated the logo in to two layers: a white base layer and a gold layer (color layers are typically printed on top of a white base layer, especially when the decal will be applied to a dark surface, so as to maintain proper color contrast and vibrance).

Step 1: Decal

Step 2: Prepare White Layer; Print White Layer on Decal

Step 3a: Prepare Gold Layer

Step 3b: Print Gold Layer on White Layer

Done: Decal Pair

[petnic]

Most likely the last post before I send the logo out this weekend for printing. Decided to do a simple mockup with paper in place of the decals to make sure I request the proper height and width (in inches) for the print. Here are a couple of pictures of the completed mockup.

Photograph 1

Photograph 2

Photograph 3

Photograph 4

Photograph 5

Photograph 6

[petnic]

They're here, finally! Really happy about the way everything turned out. Big thanks to the Colorwerx blog (which helped me to match the facemask color (taken from a Washington Redskins mini helmet) with an appropriate Pantone color for printing) and Pro-Tuff Decals (http://www.protuffdecals.com/, my first experience with this company, I highly recommend for any sports decals).

Original

Photograph 1

Photograph 2

Photograph 3

Photograph 4

Photograph 5

Original

I have approximately 10+ extra pairs of decals. If you are interested, feel free to PM me.

Photograph 6

[lancealot]

Exactly, illwauk. As I mentioned (in the novel of a post that I wrote), this is not so much a concept as it is an attempted digital restoration of this Indian spear logo:

what a novel idea. that all I'll leave now.. But in all seriousness they turned out real nice

[DWECK996674]

Could someone get this spear for me in purple?

[Spearhead]

I like the way you went to work on this, Petnic, you put a good deal of work into it and it paid off.

As someone who is interested in retrieving old (often forgotten)logos and restoring them, I can appreciate your efforts. I don't have the requisite skills needed to restore many of the old stuff I run across and often have to rely on the kindness of those who do (thanks again bwalker1974). Good job and post more of these reclamation projects if you have any.