NCAA lower division football helmets

[AndrewPF]

Ok so, recently i was checking out The Helmet Project at http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/ and i noticed that in the lower NCAA divisions, several helmets were ripoffs of D1 college teams and NFL teams, in design, color, or both.

I made a paint graphic with all that i could find. I did not include ones with just numbers, blanks, or Michigan-style ones, with a reason for each. 1 and 2: Those are pretty generic. 3: U of M is a ripoff itself. Actually i did put in 1 blank and one Michigan-style one. I'll note why later in the post. Sorry about the length of the empty space in the college one!! In case the last group on each can't be read, I'll write them.

Here are the NFL-Similar ones:

And the ones similar to d1 teams:

Here is the key so that you know what schools are what helmet. We'll start with the NFLs.

Rams-

1: Angelo St.; 2: U of Regina (CA); 3: Shepherd; 4: West Chester

Lions-

1: Lindenwood (old); 2: Mars Hill (old); 3: North Alabama (old)

Bears-

1: Carroll; 2: Catholic; 3: Central; 4: Central Missouri St.; 5: Chapman; 6: Chicago; 7: Colby;

8: Concordia-Moorhead

Eagles-

1: Central Methodist; 2: Central Methodist (old); 3: Chadron St.; 4: Minnesota-Crookston; 5: Lock Haven;

6: Southern Connecticut

Vikings-

1: Dana; 2: Lawrence; 3: North Park (old); 4: Valley City St.

Cardinals-

1: Lamar; 2: Otterbein (old), 3: William Jewell (old)

Bills-

1: Bethany (old); 2: Harding

49ers-

1: Sioux Falls (old); 2: St. Francis (old)

Falcons-

1: Bentley (old); 2: Wisconsin- River Falls (old)

Chargers-

1: Hillsdale; 2: Southern Nazarene

Bucs, Ravens, Jets, Chiefs, Packers, Colts, Broncos, Panthers, Bengals, Saints, Pats. (In that order.)-

1: Beloit; 2: Benedictine; 3: Bethany (old); 4: Catawba; 5: Grove City (old); 6: Hastings; 7: Kentucky St.

8: Kentucky Wesleyan (old); 9: St. Paul's; 10: St. Norbert; 11: Wilmington (old)

NCAAs

Wisconsin-

1: Ilinois Wesleyan; 2: Washburn; 3: Waynesburg (old); 4: Westfield St (old); 5: Whittier (old);

6: Windsor (old); 7: Wingate

Florida State-

1: Chowan; 2: Haskell (old); 3: Mississippi College; 4: Newberry; 5: West Georgia

Auburn, Florida, Michigan State, Boston College, Clemson, Miami (FL), Oklahoma, Michigan, Pitt, Tennesee, Indiana, Washington. (In that order.)-

1: Alfred (old); 2: Allegheny (old); 3: Case Western Reserve (old); 4: Charleston*; 5: Hiram (old);

6: LaVerne (old); 7: Ouachita Baptist (old); 8: Pace (old)**; 9: Pittsburg St.; 10: Tri-State; 11: Upper Iowa;

12: Western New Mexico

*I listed this because like BC, Charleston's name is the Eagles.

** I put this up because it is a direct copy of Michigan.

Enjoy!

[Billy B]

Princeton had the winged helmet before Michigan did. The coach of Princeton at the time went to Michigan and took the helmet with him. And the Bears ripped off University of Chicago's wishbone C.

[illwauk]

Funny thing about the Beloit helmet... the Buccaneers ordered a cease & decist on Beloit for using bucco bruce. But when Beloit said they'd be willing to go to court over it, the Bucs decided to just change theirs insetad (they'd been talking about revamping their image and the inevitable court costs put them over the edge).

And I'm not sure St. Norbert belongs on the list. No only do they use a different fleur than the Saints, but the Fleur was an identifying symbol way before the Saints were using it. By that logic, the Steelers logo would also be a rip off.

[ShaftDu]

shouldn't FSU be under classic Redskins?

[kewp80]

Central Missouri State (actually it's the University of Central Missouri now) doesn't use the Bears type helmet anymore. They have a helmet with a Mule head on it.

[KevinMcD]

I believe Howard University also has a rip-off of the Bills, unless they recently changed it.

[AndrewPF]

And I'm not sure St. Norbert belongs on the list. No only do they use a different fleur than the Saints, but the Fleur was an identifying symbol way before the Saints were using it. By that logic, the Steelers logo would also be a rip off.

good point.

Princeton had the winged helmet before Michigan did. The coach of Princeton at the time went to Michigan and took the helmet with him

I think i mentioned that U of M's helmet wasn't original itself.

shouldn't FSU be under classic Redskins?

I only included d2 and d3 teams because the use of other logos is more common in those divisions, for reasons that i don't know.

People have made some good points. Maybe I shoulda put more thought into this. Better luck next time?

[ShaftDu]

naw, this is kind of cool,

i know a lot of the NCAA borrowed from the NFL

[kabubbies]

And I'm not sure St. Norbert belongs on the list. No only do they use a different fleur than the Saints, but the Fleur was an identifying symbol way before the Saints were using it. By that logic, the Steelers logo would also be a rip off.

good point.

Princeton had the winged helmet before Michigan did. The coach of Princeton at the time went to Michigan and took the helmet with him

I think i mentioned that U of M's helmet wasn't original itself.

shouldn't FSU be under classic Redskins?

I only included d2 and d3 teams because the use of other logos is more common in those divisions, for reasons that i don't know.

People have made some good points. Maybe I shoulda put more thought into this. Better luck next time?

I wouldn't throw it all out, but some of it is not right obviously.

Another interesting thing might be to see who has rights to it, I know for example, that Tampa Bay Bucs do not (or did not at this point) own the copy right to their logo (the designer does (did?), the Bucs passed on buying it), hence it can be used by other people (who pay for it)

[winghaz]

If you look, the Upper Iowa UI doesn't really look like the Indiana IU at all. Those are two different breeds.

[Rocky Mts]

If a school's nickname is the Rams, they really can't improve on the NFL team's design. They more or less have to go with the horned helmet. You could probably make the same argument for Vikings. But that's not the case with Bears, Falcons, or Lions. Better designs are possible, if more expensive.

[B-Rich]

A few more for you:

- One of the most famous: Green Bay Packers essentially the same as Georgia and Grambling:

- For one year ( 1989), the Western Carolina Catamounts looked a lot like LSU. Several high schools with similar names and color schemes have followed the LSU model, too: Hattiesburg High (MS) Tigers and Hahnville High (LA) Tigers for example.

- For several years in the eighties, the Kent State Golden Flashes were almost identical to the Chargers.

[AndrewPF]

If a school's nickname is the Rams, they really can't improve on the NFL team's design. They more or less have to go with the horned helmet. You could probably make the same argument for Vikings. But that's not the case with Bears, Falcons, or Lions. Better designs are possible, if more expensive.

I did see a few with similar design, but they were more reallistic looking horns.

[pcgd]

Add to that that the Rams helmet was the first helmet to feature a logo on it. That is if you want to count that as a logo. An arguement could be made that its more a "design" and that the Princeton Wing and other paneling colors were "designs". I say the Ram horns is the first in my book.

Also, minor point but Chicago no longer has football. They were an original member of the Big Ten however. And now they are a D3 school without a football team.

The Bears borrowed their colors from Illinois and their logo from Chicago and together it makes one of the best uniforms in the NFL. Interesting...

[HatManTC]

i think the kentucky Wesleyan is the worst offender of them all. the Carolina Panthers logo was designed to be the general shape of both North and South Carolina(from what i have been told). So why would a school in KY use that logo.

[BlueSky]

In most of these cases it's unfair to characterize the designs as "ripoffs." When most were designed, there was no such thing as "intellectual property" and no army of lawyers to take you to the Supreme Court if your logo even vaquely resembled someone else's. Even a large school's athletic budget probably didn't allow for hiring a designer even if you could find one back then.

Besides, in most cases copying a design was done to pay homage to the original. Good examples include the number of teams who have the Packer-esque "G" logo or Iowa going to their Steeler look-a-like unis.

Take off your designer hat and relax. It's not the end of the world if some college or high school has the same look as a pro team.

[Billy B]

Add to that that the Rams helmet was the first helmet to feature a logo on it. That is if you want to count that as a logo. An arguement could be made that its more a "design" and that the Princeton Wing and other paneling colors were "designs". I say the Ram horns is the first in my book.

Also, minor point but Chicago no longer has football. They were an original member of the Big Ten however. And now they are a D3 school without a football team.

The Bears borrowed their colors from Illinois and their logo from Chicago and together it makes one of the best uniforms in the NFL. Interesting...

Chicago recently has added a football program again and they use the original wishbone C.

University of Chicago Football

[Thunderstruk]

Add to that that the Rams helmet was the first helmet to feature a logo on it. That is if you want to count that as a logo. An arguement could be made that its more a "design" and that the Princeton Wing and other paneling colors were "designs". I say the Ram horns is the first in my book.

Also, minor point but Chicago no longer has football. They were an original member of the Big Ten however. And now they are a D3 school without a football team.

The Bears borrowed their colors from Illinois and their logo from Chicago and together it makes one of the best uniforms in the NFL. Interesting...

Sorry Pat but you are wrong U of Chicago still has football team though it is a d3 program.

[pcgd]

Oh wow. Nice. My bad, I always had thought they didn't have football anymore. Maybe it's just the D3 thing that threw me off.

I just looked, looks like they reinstated the team in '98, unless htat was a club team.

[RichO]

actually, per the athletics website linked above, U of C reinstated varisty football in 1969.

I believe UChicago is also tied to the origins of the Cardinals, as the team had used, faded U of C uniforms and thus were the Chicago Cardinals. Or so that story goes.