Winged Football Helmet

The winged football helmet is a helmet bearing a distinctive painted design and used by some American football teams. Fritz Crisler first debuted the winged helmet at Princeton University in 1935. When Crisler was hired by the University of Michigan he brought the new helmet style with him. It has since become one of the most identifiable parts of college football. The helmet has been said to help quarterbacks easily identify their receivers downfield. The University of Michigan is the only Division I-A school to retain the winged football helmet, although variations were used by many teams in the past, especially in the era of leather football helmets.

Princeton's helmet is patterned after the design which originated at Princeton but is most often associated with its 60-plus year run at Michigan. Most teams' helmets were bland and indistinguishable at that time, and Crisler's design was one of the first to bear some distinction. The triangular shapes are said to represent the folded-back ears of a tiger (Princeton's nickname), while the three stripes imitate those on the animal's body. Although these features are purely ornamental on modern helmets, they coincided with physical features of the helmet during the 1930s. Crisler took the design with him to Michigan in 1938, and Princeton ceased to use it at that same time. The design was resurrected in modern form at Princeton in 1998.

The design is also used by other University of Michigan teams' helmets, including the ice hockey, baseball, and lacrosse teams.

In addition to college teams, the winged football helmet design has also been adopted by high school and professional squads. For example, Xavier High School in Middletown, Connecticut, started using a white-on-black version in 1995. For one season in 1996, the Connecticut Coyotes of the Arena Football League had a unique tricolor variation: white helmet, blue wings and center stripe, and red outer stripes.

In 2007 as part of a "throwback" game, the Philadelphia Eagles wore baby-blue-on-yellow winged helmets that were replicas of the Frankford Yellow Jackets headgear in the 1930s. These helmets featured wings with a single center stripe, instead of the usual triple stripes.

Division I-A Schools

*University of Michigan [ [http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/helmet/mhelmet.htm University of Michigan Athletics - Football ] ]

Division I-AA Schools

*Saint Peter's College, New Jersey, before it dropped its football program in 2007.
*Princeton University [ [http://www.princeton.edu/football/helmet.html Tiger Uniform & Helmet ] ]
*University of Delaware [ [http://www.udel.edu/cheerleading/helmet.html UD Cheerleading (Football Traditions) ] ]

Division II Schools

*Shaw University [ [http://www.shawbears.com/mens/football/2006%20Football/Summer%20Camp/2006%20Summer%20Camp%20First%20Day.html www.ShawBears.com ] ]
*Southwest Baptist University [ [http://www.sbuniv.edu/athletics/football/index.html Football at SBU ] ]

Division III Schools

*Grove City College [ [http://www2.gcc.edu/sports/Football/fb.htm Grove City College Football Home Page ] ]
*Gustavus Adolphus College [ [http://gustavus.edu/athletics/news/2589 Football Edges Carleton 14-10 in Season Finale - Gustavus Adolphus College ] ]
*Middlebury College [ [http://www.middlebury.edu/athletics/sports/mens/football/ Football ] ]
*Nichols College [ [http://www.nicholsathletics.com/index.asp?path=football Nichols College Athletics ] ]

External links

Nationalchamps.net Helmet Project [http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/]
* [http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/helmet/mhelmet.htm Michigan's Winged Helmet]

References