Helmet Archive

I stumbled across this the other day and thought it was cool enough to share. It's a website of historical helmets encompassing college and pro ranks called, The Helmet Project.

Perhaps the coolest thing I found was regarding my most hated rival, the Florida Gators.

"In 1962, Florida put the Confederate Battle Flag on the side of their helmet for one game. That game was the Gator Bowl game with Penn State. Florida was 6-4 and Penn State was 9-1 and Penn State felt that playing Florida was a slap in the face since they were 9-1. Since Penn State felt that way Florida put Battle Flags on the side of the helmet to pump the team up. It worked when Florida won 17-7."

...as a fan of college football, history, and the South I'm neither appalled or offended (remember this was is 1962). In fact I find that to be pretty damn cool that an SEC team shoved it in Penn State's face. Perhaps the most shocking thing was discovering the Gators played football prior to the 1990's.

Another interesting bit of SEC history is what Tennessee did with their 1965 helmets...good luck to anyone attempting a design like that in 2011.

No real shockers in UGA's helmet history, but I take great pride in saying I saw in person how HIDEOUS the October 31, 2009 helmet was in person. Never forget, never use again.