Football History

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On November 10, 1928, the iconic Yankee Stadium hosted a clash between two college football titans: Notre Dame and Army. This matchup, however, presented a unique twist. The Fighting Irish, typically a powerhouse, entered the game as underdogs, having suffered two losses. In contrast, the Black Knights boasted an undefeated 6-0 record.

Despite the odds, Notre Dame's legendary coach, Knute Rockne, possessed a secret weapon: his ability to inspire. At halftime, Rockne delivered a rousing speech that ignited the passion of his players. His words, "Win one for the Gipper!" became a rallying cry that echoed through the locker room.

The "Gipper" was George Gipp, a former Notre Dame player who had tragically passed away a few years earlier. Rockne, who had been by Gipp's side during his final moments, claimed that the fallen athlete had requested a final favor: to remind the team of him. Whether this tale was true or a piece of Rockne's motivational arsenal remains a mystery.

Nevertheless, the Irish players responded to the coach's impassioned plea. They stormed back onto the field, fueled by a desire to honor Gipp's memory. The result was a thrilling comeback victory, with Notre Dame emerging triumphant with a final score of 12-6. This game, forever linked to Rockne's inspiring speech, became a legendary chapter in college football history.

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The modern-day football helmet seems to be changing almost annually to make the game safer. At no time since the inception of wearing protective headgear did it change more drastically than when leather helmets were replaced with the new plastic technology?

One of the top experts in early football rules history Timothy P. Brown joins us in the discussion to chat about the transition of the material composition of helmets. Timothy Brown's FootballArchaeology.com has a daily football factoid that he shares that is really quite interesting in a short read.

This chat is based on Tim's original Tidbit titled: Transitioning from Leather to Plastic.

-Transcribed Leather to Plastic Helmets with Timothy Brown

Hello, my football friends, this is Darin Hayes of PigskinDispatch.com. Welcome once again to The Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history. And we like to look down that portal every Tuesday and go into some football archaeology with our friend Tim Brown of that very site, Football Archaeology. Tim Brown, welcome back to The Pig Pen.

Hey, Darin. Thanks for having me back. Looking forward to chatting once again.

Yeah, we are really enjoying these these Tuesday meetings that we have and, you know, talking about some different aspects of football that are sort of some of them are a little out there. They're not directly related to the game. Some are very directly related to the game, but they're all very interesting indeed, and we really appreciate you sharing these with us.

Yeah. You know, I just love football in all dimensions, including the technical side of the game, the fan experience, and how it's handled in the media. And so equipment and uniforms, all that kind of stuff.

And so, you know, I just try to approach it from a different place, you know, every couple of days to, you know, basically try to mix it up, you know, try to do some different things. Well, I'm glad you said you would like to talk about the uniforms and some of the equipment because I think that's a subject I'd like to discuss today because you had a recent tidbit out, and you called it the transition from leather to plastic. It's one of those things that's not directly involved in the game of football, but it's such an important element of it and such a big change that happened to the game.

And I'd sure like to hear about it. Yeah, well, I mean, I think the development of plastic helmets and then, you know, metal-reinforced face masks is one of the defining elements of today's game. And so, I mean, obviously, a lot happened before that, but the game just has changed dramatically as a result of that development.

So, you know, I think the thing that's that, you know, maybe people don't recognize it when they, with the Intercollegiate Football Association, adopted word for word effectively, adopted the rugby rules in 1876. I mean, they changed three or four rules, but nothing, nothing really significant. Well, one of the rules that came along from rugby was a rule that basically said that you could not players could not wear anything that had a hard substance.

And they cited a substance called gutta-percha, which was some kind of rosin or, you know, it was basically like what we might think of as an early plastic. And, you know, it came off of trees from Indonesia or whatever. But so, you know, anything that was hard could not be worn on the uniform.

So, you know, all the protective gear early on was soft leathers. Right. So when they had any kind of head harness, there's a softer leather is heavily padded, both on the outside and inside.

You know, the shoulder pads that they wore were, you know, fairly just pads filled with felt and horsehair and things like that. They used a little bit of sole leather, which is harder leather, on helmets for a little bit around the turn of the last century. And then they got rid of those.

They basically outlawed them. So so then, you know, football went, you know, continued with this no hard substances thing and then, you know, for decades. And then they kind of started allowing a little bit more sturdy helmets.

Right. Those still those tended to be fairly soft on the outside. But then in 1940, Rydell introduced plastic helmets and Northwestern was first team to wear them.

A few other teams had them early on. And then they also the U.S. Army got a hold of them and actually borrowed helmets from West Point and then basically modified it. And then Rydell became a supplier to the Airborne.

So, you know, Airborne trainees wore Rydell football helmets when they were jumping out of airplanes. You know, you see images of that here and there. But so, the football helmet preceded the crash helmet that the pilots were wearing.

Yeah. So until then, you know, there were people who tried, you know, I mean, if you think about the early guys in planes flying around like gliders. All right.

There was a if you were if you're going to hit the ground, you were really going to hit the ground. And so, you know, they tried to do tried to wear various types of pads on their head. But again, it was more like a football helmet.

And a lot of them, you think about the World War one ace and Snoopy and everything, you know, they're just wearing a leather kind of hood. But so they ended up. They started, you know, they used the because of World War two supply issues, they really couldn't produce any more civilian helmets.

So it really wasn't until after World War two that the helmets kicked in the plastic ones. And so they they were adopted pretty, pretty quickly. But there were still a lot of people holding out there.

You know, folks who just thought these things were too hard. They're causing a lot of injuries. Most guys didn't wear face masks at the time.

So, you know, you got hit in the face by a hard helmet. You know, that didn't feel that good. So and, you know, that's, I think, part of the reason why additional people started wearing face masks.

But yeah, I mean, it was just there was this constant battle of should we retain more of the rugby element where you don't pad up and then let the game go wherever it goes, or do we try to protect players from, you know, I mean, what the plastic helmet did was it protected people from skull fractures. Right. I mean, the leather helmet did that to some extent, but not really.

Plastic helmets did do that, but again, they came at the cost of now you're hitting somebody else with a hard plastic helmet. And then coaches started teaching, you know, spearing and things like that. And, you know, some of the blocking changed to take advantage of the hard helmet.

But they eventually outruled all of that or outlawed all of that. So anyway, it was just kind of an interesting period of time. And, you know, really, I think basically by 61 or 62, pretty much everybody had been switching over to plastic helmets.

You can still buy them, but you can still buy leather, is what I meant. But typically, it was, they're selling, you know, pretty much all over or all. So, it was such a long period of time to, you know, like over a decade, it sounds like maybe a couple of decades for that transition; it wasn't like a wide sweeping change where they, you know, the rules maker said next year, everybody wears plastic helmets.

So you had games for probably some participants were wearing leather and some were wearing plastic. Is that true? Oh yeah. Yeah.

And in fact, so the this, that, that tidbit about the transitioning from leather to plastic, there's an image or two that shows some guys wearing the old leather helmets with the straps, you know, crossing the head or crossing the, you know, the top of the helmet. And then other guys, what's clearly a plastic helmet. So, you know, I think through probably 1949, 50, you would see a lot of that.

And then after that, it became, you know, there were just certain people who just, Hey, this is a helmet I always wore. I wore it in high school. So I'm going to continue wearing it.

You had guys who didn't wear helmets at all. You know, you had the Tommy McDonald's of the world, um, in the NFL who didn't wear a helmet. Um, so, but you know, I think there were just some old school coaches who didn't, you know, who just thought that the, the leather helmet was safer.

Um, I think they were wrong, but that's what they thought, you know? So, um, but the, you know, the other thing was that you know, the, you know, the leather helmet, there was like, it kind of, it wasn't a suspension system, but there were, you know, there was padding inside of it, then, the early plastic helmets were all suspension systems, you know, and I don't know if you ever wore one of those, but I did, you know, and there was, you know, it didn't offer anywhere near as much protection as the padded and the airfield ones that, you know, I was able to wear a little bit later. Um, but you know, the other thing that, you know, you, you mentioned about, you know, there wasn't a rule that said you had to wear a plastic helmet, um, that still really didn't come into place. Um, the, um, the national testing organization, I think it's people call it Noxie, but N O C S A E always got the little stamp on the back of the helmet.

Um, that opened its doors in 68, started certifying helmets in 73. And it wasn't until 78 that the NCAA required anyone playing in a game to have one of those stickers on their helmet. That's I didn't realize it was as recent as that.

I was thinking it was back in the fifties or sixties, but yeah, very interesting. That, you know, it was, um, you know, there was, there was a lot of, you know, testing, a lot of universities were involved in testing the helmet quality. Um, Wayne state, uh, here in the Detroit area was big.

Michigan was big on it. Uh, North Carolina was big on it. So, you know, there were various, um, uh, Northwestern did a bunch of.

Uh, testing in the early sixties with like sensors to measure how hard, you know, the level of contact and, you know, the strength of the hits that were occurring. So, anyway, it was all academic research. And so it wasn't until somewhere in the seventies that they really kind of figured out and had a reasonable set of standards that they could even try to enforce.

Isn't it kind of interesting that, uh, sort of the more things change, the more they stay the same? Now we are seeing teams; all the NFL teams, I think, had to wear the guardian cap over their hard shell, which is a softening. I'm not sure exactly what the materials, but I know it's, it's like a dead deadens, any blows that you take it to the head, uh, where you, you know, instead of having that impact, you know, hard plastic, the hard plastic, whatever the materials they make them out of now.

And, uh, it almost goes back to those days of the, the leather of, you know, that impact, but you still have the hard shell underneath it to give that extra protection. So I'm actually, uh, writing an article on the history of the pad, you know, the external pads, uh, just, you know, partly driven by, you know, kind of the prevalence of the, the guardian, uh, pads, but, you know, so it's, it's an interesting thing. There was a Cornell did a lot of development work on that and, you know, their, their students or their players wore, I think it was just a strip, um, you know, through the middle, but the challenge that they had initially with the external padding was, um, that the, like if it's plastic to plastic, it's fairly clean hit boom.

It's that's it. Whereas with the padding that they had then the, the two helmets stayed in contact with one another and increased the force and increased some of the torque. So that was part of the reason why that never really went forward.

And I think that's probably still part of the case, but I know I'm not enough of a technologist to know that. Just as a side note, I think you probably remember the pro caps in the 1990s. I think a couple of members of the Buffalo Bills wore them.

Um, they were the sort of like that, um, almost like a styrofoam, almost like a wrestling mat type material that you'd put over the top of the helmet. Those were made, uh, or actually found by a guy about five, 10 miles from here, founded them here near Pennsylvania. And they were making those.

So, but never, never took off though. Well, actually I think it's called the thing was called materials called Insolite, but that's the stuff that Cornell initially put on top of their helmets and then Ohio state, Oklahoma, Duke, others use them. Um, that was also Insolite was the first material used to create the initial like wrestling mats that weren't made of horsehair and felt and all that stuff.

So, there's a connection between the two. I mean, it was sort of what I described as a wrestling mat. I wasn't too far off then.

Oh, very interesting. Well, Tim, you did it once again, you educated us on something that was a little bit off the beaten path that, uh, maybe us football fans wouldn't pay attention to, but you're keen. I caught another one and we appreciate that.

Uh, why don't you let folks know, uh, where, where they can find more of your material and, uh, follow you on social media? Yeah. So, um, you can just find me at, uh, footballarchaeology.com. Uh, there's an option.

There's always an option to subscribe. And if you subscribe, you'll get the content into your email box whenever I post anything, which is at least once a day. Um, otherwise follow me on Twitter.

Um, and again, just look for football archaeology, and you should be able to find me. Okay. Tim Brown and football archaeology.

Thank you very much. Once again, we'll talk to you next week.

Okay, cool. Thanks, Darin.

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.

-Frequently Asked Questions

-Who was the first player to wear a football helmet? We have your answer in our in-depth study ofthe first to wear a helmet.

-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.

-What do stickers on college football helmets mean? Some of them look really crazy but there is some goos reason for the extra adornments and we have the scoop Why all the stickers on some football helmets?.

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Timothy Brown of Football Archaeology found some images of two-tone colored football jersey numbers and dug up some history on these unique features from the past.

Tim takes us back to Cal Tech and their innovation of split and two-tone colored jersey numbers with his original Tidbit titled: Two-Tone and Split Jersey Numbers.

-Transcribed Two-Tone CalTech Jerseys with Timothy Brown

Hello, my football friends. This is Darin Hayes of PigskinDispatch.com. Welcome once again to The Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history. And welcome to Tuesday, FootballArcheology.com day. Timothy P. Brown, the founder and head writer of that site. Tim, welcome back to The Pig Pen.

Hey, Darin. Good to see you again on a beautiful summer evening. Looking forward to talking a little bit of old football. Yeah, we are getting to the point where football is.

You know, there's pads being clacked around the country and balls being thrown. And we're going to be seeing a lot of that real soon. Well, of course, we can still watch our friends north of the border who have been playing, but it is getting exciting.

Yeah. I mean, well, I was going to say before you added the CFL, our CFL friends, I've been I don't I haven't been really watching when it's on CFL Plus, but when it's on the CBS thing, you know, I take those and watch those games. So it's fun.

It was some great, great football. It definitely is a lot of offense. They really gear it towards scoring some points.

So that's what makes it attractive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

So we're going to talk tonight about one of your tidbits that you had back in June, you know, just a little over a month ago and talking about some jerseys, which is a favorite topic. I love talking about those and something in particular unique about the numbers, and I'll let you take it from there. Yeah.

So this is. Sometimes, I can't even recreate how I found some of these stories, but I think what happened was I I was looking, somehow I'd come across the story about Caltech. So California technology.

And right there, you know, it's going to be something wacky when that school name and football come together. There's something going to be. Yeah.

Well, they don't play football anymore, at least at the varsity level. But they did for a long time. You know, they had success in the California small college circuit, you know, the Occidentals and the Whittiers and, you know, those kinds of schools.

And. But, you know, they sit in the school in Pasadena. And so, you know, one of the cool things about them is that there's a picture of one of their home games in the Rose Bowl, in 1933 or something.

But, you know, they played their games in Tournament Park before the Rose Bowl stadium was built and then in the Rose Bowl because they're literally right next door. And so anyways, you know, they did attract a couple of thousand fans to see a game under the lights and in the Rose Bowl. So, you know, kind of fun stuff.

I'm sure it had to be a big treat for any of the opposing teams to get a chance to play there. But so somehow, I came across them. I actually wrote two stories in a row about Caltech because the previous tidbit was about the face shields that they wore in the 1940s and 41st centuries.

And but they ended up, you know, they were basically shields to allow guys who wore glasses to play football. And this is before face masks, you know, were common. And so somehow, in searching through their yearbooks, I came across a couple of pictures where it's like, what is going on with those jerseys? And so what they had was, you know, for want of a better term, two two-toned numerals on the jerseys.

So they they only had numbers on the backs. They didn't have them on the front. But that they had, you know, a wide, a dark, wide stripe that ran through the sleeves and then the body and maybe, you know, just above the belly button, but not all the way up at the chest.

And so it's probably a six-inch wide, seven-inch wide stripe. And because that thing was there when they put the numbers on, you know, they couldn't have like a dark number. Because it would have overlapped with the dark stripe.

And then, on the rest of the jersey, where it's white, they couldn't have a white number. So what they did was they had a two-tone number. So on the dark where, you know, where it went over the dark stripe, it was a white number.

But then, above the stripe, it was dark. Yeah. So let me let me cut in here real quick here, folks.

If you want to, Tim will explain this. You can see a great example of it. We have the link in the show notes to take you right to Tim's football archaeology dot com site.

He's got some great images of what he's talking about there. So you can appreciate that. So I'm sorry.

Go ahead, Tim. Yeah. So, yeah, I should I should have mentioned that myself.

But so the thing is, you know, I mean, like, I literally track every college yearbook that I look at, you know, just to make sure I have covered this turf before or not. And, you know, I probably need to go through a bunch of them just because I'll see new things. But I've looked at, like, now, I'm just under thirty-four hundred old college yearbooks that I've paged through to look at the, you know, the football section.

And I've never come across these two-toned numbers before, or at least I haven't noticed them. Anyway, I think they're unique. You know, I've seen like Penn used to have, or Penn probably still does.

And Harvard, both schools, I've seen like the P or the H logo where. There'd be a diagonal, you know, split, you know, from lower to lower to upper. And so one would be maroon, and the other would be white, and one would be blue and the other white.

So, you know, so if you can imagine that, if you've seen that logo, then that's basically what it looked like, except as a horizontal split, you know, upper and lower of the dark and the white. But anyway, it's just one of those weird things that thankfully never caught on. And as much as, you know, nowadays it used to be, you could only have Arabic letters, and then there were certain constraints; you could only use these typefaces.

Nowadays, there's so much. You know, basically unreadable. And I think I think they still there's just a greater number of fonts.

I think they can use what they've got. So we're going to have, you know, a certain size block number to be legal. I think even NCAA, because otherwise somebody like Oregon would be pushing the limits probably beyond what Caltech did in this case.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you have to.

Yeah, it's just, you know, I've seen too many like white on gray uniforms, you know, white numbers on gray uniforms. The fonts are all the things that they look like. They're from NASCAR.

They're just big, ugly. And so anyway. And don't get me started on colored fields because that's another story.

Yeah. Yeah, I know there's one blue one in particular. I don't even know if I can watch the games.

It drives me crazy. But great football there, but not the great field. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, this is just one of those things that is kind of bizarre.

I mean, I've never seen it. You know, it obviously didn't take off, and it didn't become popular, but, you know, maybe somebody else had one. If they do, reach out and let us know. Well, that's why we count on you for the bizarre football items.

And you definitely deliver those. And this is one of them. So we love it.

I mean, I think it's a great it's great conversational pieces. And you learn a lot about what people were trying to experiment with and innovate or try to gain an advantage over the other team or whatever. Personal style choice.

I don't know what you'd call this, but it's cool stuff. It's really interesting. So we appreciate that.

I mean, I've used it a couple of times, but it's the, you know, innovation versus oddity. You know, it's if people adopt it and, you know, it takes off, then, oh, you were innovative. But if you did something that everybody thinks, especially looking back, you know, 50, 60 years later, you know, what in the heck were they thinking? But why do those people have stripes down the middle of their helmets? What are they crazy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Those things. Yeah. I know.

Wow. You know, if you could share with us, you know, the listeners so we can enjoy your tidbits because you have items like this, you know, seven days a week and you have you have some beauties that are come on there like this and you'll get a good chuckle out of her. Just be entertained for, you know, a few minutes and talk about the people at the work around a water cooler next day or whatever.

But he's well; you're having a few cold ones. It's a great way to do it and get some football history every single day. So, Tim, could you share how the folks could join you in that?

They appreciate that. Sure. You know, the best way to do it is just to go to football archaeology dot com and subscribe.

You can do that for free. And then, you know, basically, you'll get an email from me every night at seven o'clock Eastern. I'm also on the substack platform on on Twitter and on threads.

So and all under the same name, football archaeology. Well, Tim Brown, thank you very much once again for talking to us about some great football history and your football archaeology dot com tidbits. And we will talk to you again next Tuesday.

Very good. Thank you very much. Have a good one.

Love the football jersey designs and evolution wait till you check out the History of American Football Jersey.

-Football Jersey Frequently Asked Questions

-What are American football jerseys made of? Modern jerseys are a mix of synthetic fibers such as polyester or a blend of different materials such asspandex, for more check out our in-depth study ofThe Make up and Materials of Football Jerseys.

-What are some of the unique football jerseys in history? Gridiron jerseys with logos on the front were some what of fad once upon a time. Check this story titled Football Jerseys with Emblems.

-Whose college football jersey was the first to be retired? Red Grange's Number 77 Ilinois Illini jersey was the first college uni to be shelved in 1925. There were a couple more about the same time and we chatted with a college football expert historian help divulge College Football and its First Retired Jerseys.

-When did football jerseys start having numbers on them? Though there was documented talk of it since 1894, players did not all wear digits in a game until the 1905 Iowa State at Drake game, check this out more on this storyThe Origins Of Football Player Numbers.

-Who are some of the most famous NFL players at each jersey number? From Red Grange's jersey number 77 to Tom Brady's iconic number 12, a slew of NFL players made their digits proud. Want to know more? You are in the right place as we covered all 100 jersey numbers and the best to wear each:About Football By Numbers.

Mark your calendars, football fanatics, because June 13th boasts a trifecta of gridiron glory! Not only does this date celebrate the birthday of the legendary Red Grange, but it also marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of the playing field itself. Buckle up and get ready to dive into a day rich with football history!

On one hand, June 13th welcomes the arrival of Harold "Red" Grange, a college football superstar whose electrifying talent captivated the nation in the roaring twenties. But that's not all! This very same day witnessed a significant innovation that forever altered the landscape of the game – the introduction of a revolutionary element on the playing field itself. Can you guess what it is? Stay tuned to find out as we explore the fascinating football history woven into the fabric of June 13th!

June 18th isn't just another summer day. It's a date brimming with gridiron history, from the birth of legendary players to groundbreaking firsts that changed the game forever. Buckle up as we unearth the fascinating stories on this football-filled day:

-Hall of Fame Heroes: Did you know that two giants of the game, both enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, share a June 18th birthday? We'll delve into their illustrious careers and the impact they left on the sport.

-Heisman History: June 18th also marks the birthday of a Heisman Trophy winner, a college football superstar whose exceptional talent left fans in awe.

-First on the Field: But wait, there's more! This date also witnessed the first-ever use of a helmet logo in professional football. We'll explore the story behind this iconic innovation and how it paved the way for today's recognizable team branding.

So, grab your favorite jersey and get ready to celebrate June 18th – a day that truly captures the rich tapestry of American football history!

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The Ohio State-Oklahoma football rivalry, a storied clash between two college football titans, has been marked by numerous memorable games. One such encounter, played on September 24, 1977, stands out as a classic thriller that showcased the intensity and unpredictability of the sport.

The game began with Oklahoma storming out to a commanding 20-0 lead in the second quarter. The Sooners' high-powered offense, led by quarterback Steve Davis, seemed poised to cruise to an easy victory. However, Ohio State, known for its resilient defense and clutch performances, refused to back down.

The Buckeyes staged a remarkable comeback, outscoring Oklahoma 28-0 in the second half. Quarterback Rod Gerald led the charge, effectively directing the offense and finding his receivers in stride. Ohio State's defense also tightened up, limiting Oklahoma's scoring opportunities.

With the game on the line, Oklahoma managed to regain the lead with Elvis Peacock's 2-yard touchdown run, making the score 28-26 with 1:29 remaining. However, the Sooners' failed two-point conversion attempt left the door open for Ohio State to steal the victory.

That's when Uwe von Schamann, Oklahoma's kicker, stepped up to the plate. Von Schamann, a German-born player who had become a fan favorite in Norman, first successfully executed an onside kick, giving the Sooners a chance to regain possession. Then, with the clock winding down, he drilled a 41-yard field goal through the uprights, securing Oklahoma's dramatic 29-28 win.

The September 24, 1977 game between Ohio State and Oklahoma will be remembered as one of the greatest college football contests of all time. It showcased the resilience of both teams, the brilliance of individual players, and the sheer excitement of the sport. The game's thrilling finish, capped by von Schamann's clutch field goal, left a lasting impression on fans and solidified the rivalry between these two legendary programs.

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The 1982 Penn State-Nebraska football game, played on September 25th, is remembered for one play: Todd Blackledge's 2-yard touchdown pass to Kirk Bowman with four seconds left to give Penn State a 27-24 victory. However, the play that Huskers fans will never forget is the previous snap, where Blackledge threw a 15-yard pass to Mike McCloskey. To everyone in the stadium, it appeared that McCloskey came down out of bounds, but the officials ruled it a touchdown.

This controversial call had major implications for the national championship race. Both Penn State and Nebraska were undefeated, and the winner of the game would likely have a clear path to the national title. With the win, Penn State moved to No. 1 in the polls, while Nebraska dropped to No. 2. However, the controversy surrounding the McCloskey catch continued to linger, and many felt that Nebraska had been robbed of a victory.

In the end, neither Penn State nor Nebraska played for the national championship. Penn State lost to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, while Nebraska was upset by Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. The debate over whether Penn State or Nebraska would have played Georgia in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship remains one of the biggest "what if" scenarios in college football history.

The following year, in the Kickoff Classic, Nebraska got its revenge, defeating Penn State by a score of 44-6. While this victory provided some consolation for the Huskers fans, it did not erase the memory of the controversial call from the previous year. The 1982 Penn State-Nebraska game will always be remembered as one of the most thrilling and controversial games in college football history.

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The 1987 matchup between No. 3 Miami and No. 4 Florida State on October 3rd was a classic clash between two powerhouse college football programs. The game, played at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida, lived up to the hype, delivering a thrilling contest that will be remembered for years to come.

The Seminoles jumped out to an early lead, taking a 16-point advantage into the second half. However, Miami's resilient offense staged a remarkable comeback, fueled by the stellar play of quarterback Vinny Testaverde and running back Jerome Brown. The Hurricanes outscored Florida State 20-9 in the second half, eventually taking a 26-25 lead with just over a minute remaining.

With time running out, FSU had one last chance to win the game. Facing fourth-and-goal from the Miami 2-yard line, the Seminoles opted to go for a two-point conversion. Quarterback Danny McManus dropped back to pass, but his throw was deflected by Miami defensive back Bubba McDowell, preserving the Hurricanes' victory.

The Miami-Florida State game featured an incredible amount of future NFL talent. A total of 60 players from both teams went on to play in the NFL, including 10 first-round draft picks. The game also showcased the intense rivalry between these two programs, which has been one of the most compelling matchups in college football history.

The 1987 Miami-Florida State game remains a legendary contest, remembered for its dramatic finish, the incredible talent on display, and the fierce competition between two storied programs. It is a game that will be talked about for generations to come.

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The 1994 Colorado-Michigan football game, a classic showdown between two college football powers, will forever be remembered for its dramatic finish. The Wolverines, led by quarterback Todd Collins, appeared to be cruising to victory, holding a comfortable 26-14 lead late in the fourth quarter. However, Colorado, sparked by the electrifying play of quarterback Kordell Stewart and wide receiver Michael Westbrook, staged a furious comeback.

With time running out, Stewart connected with Westbrook for a crucial touchdown pass, narrowing Michigan's lead to 26-21. The Wolverines faced a third-and-seven situation, needing just one first down to seal the win. However, a costly false start penalty pushed them back, giving Colorado one last chance.  

The Buffs took over on their own 15-yard line with 15 seconds left. Stewart, in a desperate attempt to keep his team's hopes alive, launched a Hail Mary pass deep into the end zone. The ball hung in the air, seemingly destined to fall incomplete. But then, in a moment of pure magic, Blake Anderson, a Colorado receiver, tipped the ball toward Westbrook, who leaped over Michigan safety Chuck Winters and made an incredible one-handed catch for the game-winning touchdown.

The play, now famously known as "The Miracle at Michigan," sent shockwaves through the college football world. It was a stunning upset that defied all odds and showcased the extraordinary athleticism and determination of both Stewart and Westbrook. The fact that Westbrook, a Detroit native who had grown up playing youth football with Winters, made the winning catch against his former teammate added an extra layer of drama and emotion to the moment.

Timothy P. Brown of Football Archaeology shares his research and a keen eye for unique helmet designs. This episode focuses on the "winged" helmet design and the homage paid to it by a few teams in the modern era.

Our conversation is based on a Tidbit of Tim's he titled: When Leather Helmets Earned Their Wings.

-Transcribed Winged Helmets with Timothy Brown

Hello, my football friends, Darin Hayes, PigskinDispatch.com. Welcome once again to the Pig Pen. And we have another great episode where we're going to talk to the resident expert, who says that we, well, are not our residents, but we go to footballarchaeology.com residents and talk to their great founder and historian, Timothy P. Brown. Tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Darin, thank you. I have a leather helmet sitting here in front of me. Uh, I no longer, it no longer fits.

Yeah, I can see your name etched in the back of it there for, from your, from your playing days, I assume. No, this was for my uncle's playing days. Really? Okay.

So that is a genuine game-playing helmet, then? It's not a game that used Spalding helmets. And, uh, I actually did wear this in my backyard football day days in my youth. When the other neighborhood kids had those plastic, cheap plastic little things, I didn't have one of those.

So I pulled this baby out and protected my noggin. Well, Hey, it, uh, it's in your logo too. So that's, that's always a good thing too, or something similar to it.

So that's great. So folks, if you didn't realize it yet, our topic today is going to be a tidbit that Tim just a little while ago called when leather helmets earned their wings. So we're gonna get some history on these leather helmets that Tim just showed us.

So, Tim, I'll let you take it away. Yeah. So, you know, I think it's, uh, so, you know, fashion and styles are, you know, everybody's got their own tastes, right?

And I have made public my, um, my belief that the 1930s produced the ugliest football uniforms. I've written a poster too on that and provide photographic evidence, uh, which no one has been able to refute so far. Uh, I mean, it just, they just had stripes going.

There were so many stripes, uh, on some of those uniforms that it was just ungodly ugly. But the 1930s also produced winged helmets, which, um, now people associate, uh, typically with Michigan, Delaware, uh, Princeton, and then there's probably, you know, 300 high schools spread across the country that wear those ugly things. But so as not to offend you, if you're a fan of one of those teams, they're still ugly.

So, but then, the point, the real point is not, you know, I mean, I'm an equal opportunity ugliness kind of historian. So, I am willing to discuss the origins of wings and winged helmets. And I think really the funniest thing about them is that they, the first team to wear winged helmets, was not Michigan, but Ohio State, which is just kind of a fun little.

That's really ironic. Yes. So, so what happened, you know, um, in 1930, there were some new rules put in place that required helmets to have different colors or at least contrasting colors.

Now that could be done either by painting them or by, um, you know, I think most people are familiar with the straps that ran across the tops and there were different patterns, including, you know, what we now think of as kind of the Michigan helmet. There were straps running along the crown of the helmet. And so those could be painted or oftentimes when they produce the helmets, it would be the leather would be in different colors.

So the straps might be a dark Brown or a light Brown, and the rest of it, you know, you know, different variation. Um, but they did that because, in the late twenties, there were people who were, you know, uh, on their shirts, on the front of their jerseys, and on their, uh, on the inside of their arms and things. And they'd wear them in the same color as some of them would wear them in the same color as the football.

So then people were confusing the leather on the iron with the leather on the football. And there were even running backs who would like to toss their helmet off so that, you know, defenders would see the helmet bouncing along the ground and think that's a ball. So they kind of put it, put a stop to that, and they said, okay, your helmets have to have contrasting colors, uh, at the same time.

So there was, that was kind of a stylistic, but it also had a functional use. At the same time, the manufacturers were all trying to create better, more protective helmets. And one of the things that they all kind of did at the same time was to add pads on the front of the helmet about where, you know, the forehead is.

And so rather than just put a pad on there, which is what they had done previously, they started stylizing those pads. And so, um, you know, one version was the wing that we think of now where it kind of, you know, there's the, it kind of moves around a little bit, and then there's this, uh, you know, kind of these tips on either side, but there were, you know, that wasn't the only version. There were 20 or 30 different versions of these things.

Some of them were, I don't even know how to describe it. Cause I, I did some looking before we talked about the shape, but it's, um, it's like a cross between an upside down T and a shamrock with three, with three leaves, you know, that there's kind of had this bulb, bulges thing or bulbous thing, like where the wing would be, and then it would extend all the way up to the, to the top of the crown. So anyway, we're just a lot of different variations on these things.

And so the wings were functional because they pat, you know, they provide additional pads, but for the manufacturers, they were making them try to make them look cool, right? So that people would buy them. I mean, if it was between the DMN, DNM helmet, and the reach helmet, and they were the same price and presumably the same quality, well, whichever one looked cooler would be the one that you'd order. So, um, anyways, I mean, that's kind of the whole deal of it.

And the actual, um, tidbit shows a lot of pictures from sporting goods catalogs at the time. But what's happened is that despite there being many variations back then, every team that I see pretty much has the same today. You know, the same teams are all the teams today that use that winged look seem to pretty much have the same look, you know, they don't, you know, they don't, they don't use the other versions that were available.

So, if you're a high school coach or somebody out there who has an influence on helmet designs, you can go your own way and adapt to one of the looks from the thirties, which is something other than the Michigan helmet. Well, I'm going to have to, uh, make a true confession here that I didn't figure out that Michigan's helmet, 'cause that's the one that's the most popular of these winged helmets. I didn't realize, you know, it was a winged helmet.

I thought that was representing their mascot, the Wolverine. And I was trying to envision a Wolverine. I'm thinking, boy, Wolverines have stripes going down her back and down her sides like that.

And like the wings were sort of the ears of it. That's what I thought, you know, it was until I got into college and found out otherwise, but I never realized it was; they were sort of modeling it after the leather helmets that came before them on the plastic and whatever they make them out of now. But, uh, so very interesting.

So, I'm glad you felt comfortable sharing that with us. Yeah, I am. So there are probably people I'll get the mail coming in now.

You idiot. I mean, there's all kinds of things like that where, you know, I didn't realize that this is where that came from. Yeah.

I guess I never really put a lot of thought into it, but I just assumed it was a Wolverine. I mean, so, um, actually, in my book, How Football Became Football, I've got a picture of, I can't remember his name right now, but an offensive tackle for Ohio State and, you know, wearing the helmet from 1930. So, uh, proof positive that, uh, you know, Michigan didn't invent the things, but, you know, they're obviously the ones that are all associated with them.

And it takes a Wisconsin fan to point that out about the Michigan state. Actually, there's a Michigan state fan who has documented a fair amount of this stuff on the internet. So you want some others to, uh, to jump in on that big ten rivalries, uh, going back in history and picking on their headgear, uh, all good stuff.

Well, Tim, that was really enlightening. And I appreciate you coming on and sharing this tonight. Now you have these tidbits that come out each and every day, uh, seven days a week, 365; you're a busy guy and, uh, you, you like to share them, and you like people to enjoy them and comment and, uh, share them with other people.

Why don't you, uh, tell folks how they can get a hold of your tidbits on a daily basis? Sure. So, the easiest way is to go to footballarchaeology.com. Um, when you hit the site, if you haven't been there before, it's going to ask you to enroll or subscribe. All you have to do is just enter your email.

Uh, it's free. You'll get, uh, you'll get an email every night with whatever the story is for that day. And, uh, you can also follow me on Twitter.

You know, obviously, I'm going to throw out some other things on Twitter besides, you know, more commenting on somebody else's things, but I do share all my tidbits there, but subscribing just ensures you get it. And then you can, you know, it's in your inbox. You can ignore it for two weeks and then read whatever you want to read.

So, you know, that's kind of the value of subscribing to you. Um, but yeah, it's supposed to be fun, and hopefully, that's the way it comes across. All right.

Well, folks, I highly recommend you, uh, take Tim up on that offer to get the tidbits and whatever your preference is to get it and, uh, visit footballarchaeology.com and see the wisdom and knowledge of Timothy P. Brown in action. Tim, thanks a lot. And we will talk to you again next week.

Thank you, sir. Look forward to it.

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.