History of the football helmet
Encyclopedia
Professionals and amateurs alike wear protective head gear to reduce the chance of injury while playing American Football
. The football helmet has changed over time as different materials have become available and as the rules of the game have changed.
rules convention voted to allow tackling below the waist. Players and coaches soon regarded pads as essential for the game. However, helmets were the last thing to be accepted. They were not a mandatory piece of equipment in college ball until 1939 and they were not made mandatory in the National Football league until 1943
As a side note "the last NFL player to play in a game without a helmet probably was Dick Plasman
an end for the Chicago Bears
in 1940." There is a photo of him without one, taken during the 1940 NFL Championship Game
in which Chicago defeated the Washington Redskins
73-0.
The man largely credited with inventing the first helmets was George Barclay
who played at the college-level for Lafayette College
and professionally for the Greensburg Athletic Association
. He developed the "head harness" in 1896 by designing a headgear which had three thick leather straps forming a close fit around his head, made by a harness maker. It became known as a head harness. Additionally, other sources credit the invention of the football helmet to U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman
Joseph M. Reeves
(later to become the "Father of Carrier Aviation"), who had a protective device for his head made out of mole skin to allow him to play in the 1893 Army-Navy Game
after he was told by a Navy doctor that he must give up football or risk death from another kick in the head. Reeves went to a local shoemaker/blacksmith and had a crude leather helmet fabricated to protect his skull. Later helmets were made of padded leather, and resembled aviators' helmets. The helmet slowly began to take more of the appearance we recognize today when around 1915 more padding and flaps were added with ear holes for better on-field communication. Painted helmets have been around almost as long as helmets themselves: used to show team spirit and to help the quarterback distinguish a down field receiver from the defenders. The helmets of the University of Michigan Wolverines
bear logos that follow the original seams of the leather helmets. Professional team logos started in 1948 when Fred Gehrke
, a halfback
for the Los Angeles Rams, began painting a horn design on all of the Rams' helmets. Gehrke studied art at the University of Utah
.
The next innovation came probably in 1917 in the form of suspension: to "cradle" the skull away from the leather shell. Straps of fabric formed a pattern inside the helmet. They absorbed and distributed the impact better, and they allowed for ventilation. It was a breakthrough. They were first known as "ZH" or Zuppke helmets named after the Illinois
coach who came up with the design
. Rawlings
and Spalding
were some of the first manufacturers.
The first person to design a bar face mask on a football helmet was Vern McMillan, the owner of a sporting goods store in Terre Haute, Indiana
. It was a rubber-covered wire mask on a leather helmet. This kind was used in the mid-1930s.
Company in Chicago, a sporting goods provider. The single molded shell was stronger, lighter, longer lasting, and didn't rot the way leather does when damp. Colors could also be baked into the plastic so the paint jobs would be longer lasting. In 1940 Riddell also developed the first chin strap to rest on the chin instead of the neck and the first plastic face mask.
There were problems however. The plastic helmets were brittle when hit head on. And the bar hole that was drilled for the face mask tended to pop loose. Because of this Riddell was in trouble and so was the plastic helmet.
The plastic helmet survived because of an intercession by one George Halas
of the Chicago Bears on its behalf, and the plastic helmet was made legal in 1949, the beginning of the end for leather helmets. Riddell's plastic helmet was a little flat on top at first but it changed to its tear-drop shape, which allowed a blow to slide to one side or the other rather than be met head-on. Its web suspension could be raised or lowered to fit the head of a player.
In 1955. G.E. Morgan a consultant to Riddell, and Paul Brown
the coach of the Cleveland Browns
, invented the BT-5 face mask which is the single bar design. The year after the BT-5 a single wave radio was installed in a players helmet so the coach could give the play to the quarterback over a radio frequency. It only resulted in game time interference but the experiment was ahead of its time.
1971, Morgan, now chairman of the board of Riddell received a patent for "Energy Absorbing and Sizing Means for Helmets." The result: new HA-91 and HA-92 energy-absorbing, "microfit" helmets. They had valves on their crown to allow air to be pumped into vinyl cushions that were crammed into every space inside the helmet. The player put it on and then had it pumped up to fit firmly around the player's head. Sometimes fluid was also used. An anti-freeze solvent, was used by some of the Green Bay Packers
to beat the cold of Lambeau field
.
Sources are unsure as to who first designed air bladders for football helmets but Dr. Richard Schneider of the University of Michigan
Hospital is reported to have believed that air was the most effective way to protect against blunt force. With this theory in mind, he invented an inflatable bladder for use inside a football helmet. The Michigan Wolverines Football team used a prototype and Schutt Sports hired Schnieder and started mass producing the AirTm Helmet in the early 1970s.
Many veteran players still preferred the old web suspended Riddell TK-2 because it was generally lighter and more breathable. Interior helmet pads were then developed that were lighter and didn't need to be filled with air or fluid by both the Schutt and Riddell sports companies. And because of safety they were soon preferred by all positions.
In late 1976, because of concern for safety, four point chin straps were required in college ball. These kept the helmet firmly in place.
Space age rigid Polycarbonate
alloy plastic helmets and vinyl coated steel alloy face masks were the norm in the 1980's and 1990's.
In 2002 Riddell released a new more spherical design for the helmet called the Revolution (or Revo) and it is currently the most widely used helmet in the National Football League
The Schutt counterpart is called the DNA Pro Adult Helmet. A study released by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
shows that the Riddell Revolution, and others like it, reduce the incidences of concussion by 31%.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. The football helmet has changed over time as different materials have become available and as the rules of the game have changed.
Origins
In 1888 the college footballCollege football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
rules convention voted to allow tackling below the waist. Players and coaches soon regarded pads as essential for the game. However, helmets were the last thing to be accepted. They were not a mandatory piece of equipment in college ball until 1939 and they were not made mandatory in the National Football league until 1943
As a side note "the last NFL player to play in a game without a helmet probably was Dick Plasman
Dick Plasman
Dick Plasman is a former professional American football player who played running back for eight seasons for the Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals. He is notably the last player in the NFL to play a game without a helmet. He did so in the 1940 NFL Championship game....
an end for the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
in 1940." There is a photo of him without one, taken during the 1940 NFL Championship Game
1940 NFL Championship Game
The 1940 National Football League Championship Game, was the 8th in NFL history. The game was played at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. on December 8, 1940. The Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins, 73-0, the most one-sided victory in NFL history...
in which Chicago defeated the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
73-0.
The man largely credited with inventing the first helmets was George Barclay
George Barclay (baseball)
George Oliver Barclay was an American football and baseball player. He played Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and later the Boston Beaneaters. He was also an early professional football player-coach for the Greensburg Athletic Association. He was nicknamed "The Rose" for his...
who played at the college-level for Lafayette College
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private coeducational liberal arts and engineering college located in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832...
and professionally for the Greensburg Athletic Association
Greensburg Athletic Association
The Greensburg Athletic Association was an early organized football team, based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, that played from 1890 until 1900. The team began as an amateur football club in 1890 and was composed primarily of locals before several professional players were added for the 1895 season...
. He developed the "head harness" in 1896 by designing a headgear which had three thick leather straps forming a close fit around his head, made by a harness maker. It became known as a head harness. Additionally, other sources credit the invention of the football helmet to U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman
Navy Midshipmen football
The Navy Midshipmen football team represents the United States Naval Academy in NCAA Division I-A college football. They are a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision independent school and coached by Ken Niumatalolo since December 2007...
Joseph M. Reeves
Joseph M. Reeves
Joseph Mason "Bull" Reeves was an admiral in the United States Navy, who was an early and important supporter of U.S. Naval Aviation...
(later to become the "Father of Carrier Aviation"), who had a protective device for his head made out of mole skin to allow him to play in the 1893 Army-Navy Game
Army-Navy Game
The Army–Navy Game is an an American college football rivalry game between the teams of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The USMA team, "Army", and the USNA team, "Navy", each represent their services' oldest...
after he was told by a Navy doctor that he must give up football or risk death from another kick in the head. Reeves went to a local shoemaker/blacksmith and had a crude leather helmet fabricated to protect his skull. Later helmets were made of padded leather, and resembled aviators' helmets. The helmet slowly began to take more of the appearance we recognize today when around 1915 more padding and flaps were added with ear holes for better on-field communication. Painted helmets have been around almost as long as helmets themselves: used to show team spirit and to help the quarterback distinguish a down field receiver from the defenders. The helmets of the University of Michigan Wolverines
Michigan Wolverines football
The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...
bear logos that follow the original seams of the leather helmets. Professional team logos started in 1948 when Fred Gehrke
Fred Gehrke
Fred Gehrke was a National Football League running back for the Cleveland-Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Cardinals. from 1940 through 1950. He is best remembered for designing the Los Angeles Rams logo in 1948, which was the first painted on the helmets of an NFL team...
, a halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
for the Los Angeles Rams, began painting a horn design on all of the Rams' helmets. Gehrke studied art at the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
.
The next innovation came probably in 1917 in the form of suspension: to "cradle" the skull away from the leather shell. Straps of fabric formed a pattern inside the helmet. They absorbed and distributed the impact better, and they allowed for ventilation. It was a breakthrough. They were first known as "ZH" or Zuppke helmets named after the Illinois
Illinois Fighting Illini football
The Illinois Fighting Illini are a major college football program, representing the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. They compete in NCAA Division I-A and the Big Ten Conference.-Current staff:-All-time win/loss/tie record:*563-513-51...
coach who came up with the design
Robert Zuppke
Robert Carl Zuppke was an American football coach. He served the head coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1913 until 1941, compiling a career college football record of 131–81–12. Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951, Zuppke coached his...
. Rawlings
Rawlings
- People :*Angela Rawlings, Canadian author and poet *David Rawlings, American guitar player*Donnell Rawlings, American actor and comedian*Edwin W. Rawlings, U.S. Air Force general*George C. Rawlings, American politician*Hunter R...
and Spalding
Spalding
-Places:Australia* Spalding, South Australia, a town north of the Clare Valley* Spalding, Western Australia, a suburb of GeraldtonCanada* Spalding, Saskatchewan, a village* Spalding No...
were some of the first manufacturers.
The first person to design a bar face mask on a football helmet was Vern McMillan, the owner of a sporting goods store in Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...
. It was a rubber-covered wire mask on a leather helmet. This kind was used in the mid-1930s.
Plastic helmets
The plastic football helmet came in 1939. It was invented and patented by John T. Riddell and his son John T. Riddell Jr., of the John T. RiddellRiddell
Riddell is an American company specializing in sports equipment for American football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, softball, track and field, tennis, volleyball, National Football League, NCAA Football and wrestling. It is headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois.The company was started...
Company in Chicago, a sporting goods provider. The single molded shell was stronger, lighter, longer lasting, and didn't rot the way leather does when damp. Colors could also be baked into the plastic so the paint jobs would be longer lasting. In 1940 Riddell also developed the first chin strap to rest on the chin instead of the neck and the first plastic face mask.
There were problems however. The plastic helmets were brittle when hit head on. And the bar hole that was drilled for the face mask tended to pop loose. Because of this Riddell was in trouble and so was the plastic helmet.
The plastic helmet survived because of an intercession by one George Halas
George Halas
George Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...
of the Chicago Bears on its behalf, and the plastic helmet was made legal in 1949, the beginning of the end for leather helmets. Riddell's plastic helmet was a little flat on top at first but it changed to its tear-drop shape, which allowed a blow to slide to one side or the other rather than be met head-on. Its web suspension could be raised or lowered to fit the head of a player.
In 1955. G.E. Morgan a consultant to Riddell, and Paul Brown
Paul Brown
Paul Eugene Brown was a coach in American football and a major figure in the development of the National Football League...
the coach of the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, invented the BT-5 face mask which is the single bar design. The year after the BT-5 a single wave radio was installed in a players helmet so the coach could give the play to the quarterback over a radio frequency. It only resulted in game time interference but the experiment was ahead of its time.
1971, Morgan, now chairman of the board of Riddell received a patent for "Energy Absorbing and Sizing Means for Helmets." The result: new HA-91 and HA-92 energy-absorbing, "microfit" helmets. They had valves on their crown to allow air to be pumped into vinyl cushions that were crammed into every space inside the helmet. The player put it on and then had it pumped up to fit firmly around the player's head. Sometimes fluid was also used. An anti-freeze solvent, was used by some of the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
to beat the cold of Lambeau field
Lambeau Field
Lambeau Field is an outdoor football stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the home of the NFL's Green Bay Packers. Opened in 1957 as City Stadium, it replaced the original City Stadium as the Packers' home field...
.
Sources are unsure as to who first designed air bladders for football helmets but Dr. Richard Schneider of the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
Hospital is reported to have believed that air was the most effective way to protect against blunt force. With this theory in mind, he invented an inflatable bladder for use inside a football helmet. The Michigan Wolverines Football team used a prototype and Schutt Sports hired Schnieder and started mass producing the AirTm Helmet in the early 1970s.
Many veteran players still preferred the old web suspended Riddell TK-2 because it was generally lighter and more breathable. Interior helmet pads were then developed that were lighter and didn't need to be filled with air or fluid by both the Schutt and Riddell sports companies. And because of safety they were soon preferred by all positions.
In late 1976, because of concern for safety, four point chin straps were required in college ball. These kept the helmet firmly in place.
Space age rigid Polycarbonate
Polycarbonate
PolycarbonatePhysical PropertiesDensity 1.20–1.22 g/cm3Abbe number 34.0Refractive index 1.584–1.586FlammabilityV0-V2Limiting oxygen index25–27%Water absorption – Equilibrium0.16–0.35%Water absorption – over 24 hours0.1%...
alloy plastic helmets and vinyl coated steel alloy face masks were the norm in the 1980's and 1990's.
In 2002 Riddell released a new more spherical design for the helmet called the Revolution (or Revo) and it is currently the most widely used helmet in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
The Schutt counterpart is called the DNA Pro Adult Helmet. A study released by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is an $9 billion integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 54,000 employees, 20 hospitals, 4,200 licensed beds, 400 outpatient sites and doctors’ offices, a 1.5 million-member health insurance division, as well as commercial and...
shows that the Riddell Revolution, and others like it, reduce the incidences of concussion by 31%.