MJWalker45 Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/051117 While watching archival footage of O.J. Simpson playing in 1968 I noticed that the Trojans played a team that had a combination of gold and dark helmets. After reviewing the schedule I knew it had to either be Maimi (FL) or Washington. The team turned out to be the Washington Huskies. After consulting with a few other sources I found this, which is found in the article posted above in an article discussing award decals: Meanwhile, it turns out that decals aren't the only mechanism for helmet accolades. Check out these chapters from college football history: • From reader Jim Holt: "In the 1960s, when the Washington Huskies wore plain gold helmets, players who graded out to some absurdly high level on defense would be awarded a purple helmet for the next game. So you'd have most of the team wearing gold, but one or two guys a game on defense would be outfitted in purple." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MellowTheMyth Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 Wow! That's a very interesting reward to say the least. I'm guessing there was no rule regarding teams having same colored helmets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted June 13, 2016 Author Share Posted June 13, 2016 And apparently it was still allowed up until 1985. I'll try adding the picture I took later. It's kinda blurry unfortunately but the helmets definitely stood out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gothamite Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 The Wisconsin Badgers did the same thing around this time - the team wore red helmets while some players were rewarded with black helmets. The Green Bay Packers Uniform Database! Now in a handy blog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_grateful_ted Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Thats just... so weird. I've NEVER heard anything like this. Do you know the most recent case of this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevsim1 Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 1 hour ago, sleuthpanther said: Thats just... so weird. I've NEVER heard anything like this. Do you know the most recent case of this? The article mentions 1985 Iowa State Cyclones as far as NCAA teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WavePunter Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 IIRC, Alabama did it, but did so by giving WR's white helmets to make them easier to see downfield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenjiJ Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Yes they did award players with purple helmets. There was some talk while Sarkisian was the coach about bringing it back, but I'm guessing the NCAA wouldn't allow it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sykotyk Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 2 hours ago, WavePunter said: IIRC, Alabama did it, but did so by giving WR's white helmets to make them easier to see downfield This was the reason for the Browns going with orange helmets. It's also probably the reason the NCAA had to step in. Though, really what difference is there to different helmets than just giving someone a crap-ton of award stickers like OSU to just plaster all over their helmet until it's indecipherable from the regular helmet? Didn't the old WFL of the 70s experiment with different pants for each position or something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJWalker45 Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 The helmet stripes are distinctive enough to stand out on Ohio State's helmets. They also don't have a helmet logo to avoid covering over as well. And YouTube actually has video of some of those games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ujju2 Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 On June 13, 2016 at 7:18 PM, kevsim1 said: And the gold even has a different sponsor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohryan Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 I do remember Iowa State doing this back in the 80's. This is the only picture I could find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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