NCAA Division I-A Independents
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|---|---|---|
| ARMY | NAVY | NOTRE DAME |
| "Black Knights" | "Midshipmen" | "Fighting Irish" |
| West Point, NY | Annapolis, MD | Notre Dame, IN |
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|---|
| WESTERN KENTUCKY |
| "Hilltoppers" |
| Bowling Green, KY |
Comments
Army began the 2008 season with a new helmet design (shown above).
Western Kentucky spent the 2007 season as a "transitional" year between the Division I Football Championship Subdivision and the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision; WKU will have this same status in 2008 but will become a full member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2009. The team was using a new helmet design in 2007.
Historical Helmets
ARMY
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|---|---|---|
| 1957 - 1971 | 1972 - 1973 | 1972; 1974 - 1977 |
| *see note 1 below | *see note 2 below |
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|---|---|---|
| 1979 - 1980 | 1981 - 1982 | 1977 - 1978; 1983 - 2007 |
| *see note 3 below |
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| 2008 - |
This is believed to be the complete set of helmet designs for Army for the period 1957 to present; if you are aware of any others, please let me know.
*1 In 1969, Army used a version of the "100" decal on their helmets; it was worn on the back of the helmet, just above the bottom, and would not be visible from the perspective I use at this web site. The football shape was some dark color (perhaps black, but quite possibly blue or some other color), outlined in white, and with white numerals. I have seen one photograph where some renegade player had placed the decal on the side of his helmet, but the rear placement was clearly the standard position for it. The 1969 helmets were otherwise identical to this one.
*2 This design was used throughout the 1972 and 1973 seasons with the exceptions of games #3 and #4 in 1972; for those games (vs Lehigh and Penn State), the logo was absent and the helmets therefore resembled the one shown above labelled "1972; 1974 - 1977".
*3 Army first used black faceguards for the 1977 game against Navy; gray ones had been used for all earlier games that season.
NAVY
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|---|---|---|
| ? - 1961 | c.early 1960s | 1969 |
| *see note 1 below | *see note 2 below | *see note 3 below |
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|---|---|---|
| 1969 | c.1971 - 1972 | 1970; c.1974 - 1985 |
| *see note 3 below | *see note 4 below |
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|---|
| 1986 - |
While Navy has used plain gold helmets for most of the last thirty years, the team's helmet history from the 1960s is rather convoluted, with many short-lived designs having been used, including perhaps several that were used only for single games against Army. As one example, an article at espn.com mentioned that during the 1962 Army-Navy game, "Navy's receivers played the game in orange helmets, intended to increase their visibility as receiving targets".
During at least part of the 1962 season the team wore a "skull and crossbones" logo at the front of their helmets; this was apparently associated with quarterback Roger Staubach's nickname, "Jolly Roger". Earlier, I had suspected that Staubach alone may have worn this logo, but I have since seen more than one photograph showing more than one Navy player using this logo at the same time. The "Jolly Roger" logo consisted of what was apparently a white skull and bones on a dark-colored rectangle, worn on the usual gold helmets.
At roughly the same time, the team occasionally wore what appear to be two characters from the Chinese alphabet on the sides of their helmets; the characters appear to be of some dark color in all the photographs that I have seen. I have been told that the characters read "Beat Army" and were a response to the the "Chinese Bandits" nickname given to Army's defensive unit during the tenure of Army head coach Paul Dietzel. I have seen at least two photographs showing the Chinese characters and the "Jolly Roger" logo in use on the same helmet (one is shown here), but I am not certain that their periods of use coincided exactly.
For the 1963 game against Army, the words "BEAT ARMY" were applied to the helmets. The letters were in some dark color, and were arranged vertically at the front of the helmet, on either side of where a helmet stripe would normally be. "BEAT" was on the right side of the helmet, and "ARMY" on the left side. I do not know what the helmets looked like for the rest of the 1963 season, but they appear to have been plain and logo-less for at least the Notre Dame game.
Beginning apparently in 1964, a blue-and-white goat logo was worn on the sides of the helmets. I have copies of some logos that are similar to the one used on these helmets, but which are not quite the same. I have little information about Navy's helmets for the period 1965 through 1968.
Navy used navy blue helmets with the word "Navy" in gold for its 1993 game against Army; I have several photographs of this helmet, but I also need a copy of the helmet decal itself before I can add a helmet representation here. Otherwise, I believe the team has used plain gold helmets for the last thirty years or so, with only a change from gray facemasks to navy ones having been made at some unknown point.
*1 This anchor-shaped logo was apparently used for at least portions of the 1960 and 1961 seasons. A slightly different anchor logo may also have been used at some point around this time.
*2 This helmet image is based on a photograph I found of Roger Staubach, who played at Navy from 1961 to 1964; the photograph shows numerals on the left side of the helmet (the right side is not visible).
*3 For at least the Army game in 1969, Navy wore white-shelled helmets for some reason. Two differently-colored versions of the "100" logo were worn, apparently in roughly equal numbers, by Navy players during this game. Earlier during the 1969 season, a blue version of the "100" was worn on gold-shelled helmets.
*4 White stripes were worn on Navy's helmets during at least portions of 1971 and 1972, but were also absent for at least some games of the 1972 season. The stripes were absent for games #1 and #11 in 1972 (vs. William & Mary and Army), but were present for games #2 and #8 (vs Penn State and Notre Dame).
NOTRE DAME
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|---|---|---|
| 1959 - 1962 | 1963 | 1964 - |
The shamrock helmet logo was introduced in 1959 by head coach Joe Kuharich; it was used through the 1962 season and replaced with white numerals the following year. Ara Parseghian brought back plain gold helmets in 1964 and the team has continued to use those ever since, which make this the longest-running unchanged helmet design among the NCAA Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision colleges (Alabama has occasionally used white helmets during this period).
One visitor to this site has reported that Notre Dame may have used blue facemasks during a bowl game some time ago - I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can confirm or deny this report. Another visitor suggested that the game in question may have been the December 29, 1984 Aloha Bowl game against Southern Methodist.
WESTERN KENTUCKY
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|---|---|---|
| c.1970s | c.1980s | ? - 2002 |
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|---|---|---|
| September 10, 2005 | 2003 - 2006 | 2007 - |
| *see note 1 below |
I believe that the first helmet design shown above was used for many years, but I have not received much information for this team as to its helmet designs from the 1960s.
*1 This design was used during the 2005 home game against Eastern Kentucky.
