The first to wear a helmet argument

The helmet is probably what most people would answer if you asked them to say the first thing that pops into their heads when asked to name something that a football player wears. But where did the idea come from and who wore and invented the football helmet?

One of the most identifying images and symbols of modern American football is the helmet. A picture of a helmet takes the viewer immediately to the realm of American football, it’s iconic and representative to only one thing, the game of football. 

Leather helmet on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio

In our early Football History Rewind series we told of how the early roots of football were derived from Greek and Roman soldier training. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that in some of those warrior games participants could have been wearing their army issued head gear, you know the ones with decorative brushes and brooms on them. For the purpose of this discussion we will eliminate them from contention and set our starting date at 1869, the date of the famous Princeton vs. Rutgers contest.

We know though that the early players of football did not use any head protection at all while playing. So this begs for the question, who started the practice of wearing helmets in the game of American Football? Historic research gives us three different people credited with being the first innovators of this protective equipment, and we will look at each one thoroughly to see if we can figure out for ourselves the answer.

Naismith, the father of hoops wore a football helmet first?

James Naismith, the man associated with inventing the game of basketball seems like an odd selection to be credited with starting the use of a football helmet on the gridiron, but let’s look into his claim further. We have narrowed down October 17, 1891 as being the possible game against Amherst for the point in time for this claim to fame. 

The L.A. Times’ Brian Cronin wrote a great piece in his blog on December 7, 2010. You can read Brian Cronin's blog artiicle here LATimesBlog. In the writing Cronin tells us that Naismith did not wear a helmet at all. See a great rare photo of Naismith with the garb on AntiqueFootball .com. The LA Times writer argues that Naismith and his then sweetheart, Maude (his future wife) covered James’ ears with pieces of flannel to protect his cauliflower ear, suffered in an earlier game, quite possibly against Yale. Naismith played center for the Springfield YMCA training college and in those days the center was possibly the most abused player on the field as he was defenseless for a split second when he snapped the ball from being rough housed by defenders.

Cronin goes on to discredit this head wrapping to be considered a helmet due to the fact that a helmet is defined as a protective head covering and Naismith’s wrap ws to protect his sore ears. I don’t disagree with this fact. It is an interesting story about a famous person playing football but I vote we scratch Naismith’s claim off of our list of candidates.

Admiral Joseph Mason Reeves commands attention!

AntiqueFootball.com again has a brilliant piece in their blog on this same subject with an awesome photo.  Joseph Mason Reeves played for the Naval Academy in the early 1890’s. According to the post Reeves kept suffering head trauma during games and his doctor prescribed that he quit playing or risk getting instant insanity from another severe blow to the head.

Reeve’s bravery and great determination to play the sport he so loved had him take a different route. The future Admiral talked to a local shoe maker to fashion a mushroom shaped head covering to protect the player from hits to the noggin.
The Cronin and the folks at AntiqueFootball.com feel that this also was not the first designed helmet for football because of its similarities to  leather caps made to protect infant soft spots. I am not sure I agree with them on this. Reeves did go to the shoe maker and specify what he wanted him to fashion and then wore it in a game. It sounds very compelling to me, but I will hold final judgment until we talk about our third and final contestant in this argument. 

George Barclay and Lafeyette's claim

George Oliver Barclay played football from 1894 through the 1896 season for Lafayette College. According to the school’s website, Barclay in the 1894 season was suffering from cauliflower ear and asked a local saddlemaker to fabricate some leather straps to protect his ears. The idea started to catch on and Spalding even advertised a similar product in their 1894 catalog. The product called the head harness sold for $2.50 to cover both ears.

Though Barclay’s idea seems to be the one that caught on and is the pick by AntiqueFootball.com I feel differently. I discredit Barclay’s claim for the same reason as Naismith’s. They had the devices made to protect their ears, not to protect their head.

Leather head gear complete with nose guard worn in early football on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

My winner is Admiral Reeves. Not only is he the “Father of Carrier Aviation” but I credit him with the first to wear a football helmet. The evidence speaks that he wanted a covering to protect his head from blows to it by opponents. He was shielding his head with a device he had specially made for him.

Do you think differently? Please let us know at PigskinDispatch@gmail.com.

-What is the history of each college team and their helmet designs? Check out many of them with our series College Football helmet history of schools.

-How come some teams have player numbers on their helmets? We asked this question too and had a college football expert historian help divulge helmet numbers history.

-Why do some teams like Michigan and Delaware look so odd and similar? It's really uncanny isn't it that the Wolverines and Blue Hens look the same, check this out for a reason when helmets had wings.