Winged Football Helmet
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Fritz Crisler first debuted the winged football 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.
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 the University of Michigan ice hockey team for their helmets.
Contents |
[edit] Division I-A Schools
[edit] Division I-AA Schools
[edit] Division II Schools
[edit] Division III Schools
[edit] External links
Nationalchamps.net Helmet Project [3]
