Pac-10 Conference

ARIZONA ARIZONA STATE CALIFORNIA
"Wildcats" "Sun Devils" "Golden Bears"
Tucson, AZ Tempe, AZ Berkeley, CA
OREGON OREGON STATE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
"Ducks" "Beavers" "Trojans"
Eugene, OR Corvallis, OR Los Angeles, CA
STANFORD UCLA WASHINGTON
"Cardinal" "Bruins" "Huskies"
Palo Alto, CA Los Angeles, CA Seattle, WA
WASHINGTON STATE
"Cougars"
Pullman, WA

Comments

California made a slight helmet design change for the 2008 season - a yellow stripe was added to the helmet. Stanford returned to a helmet design last used by the team in 2001.

Washington State is presently using two different helmet designs; the design used during home games is shown above. Oregon will apparently have at least four different helmet shell colors to choose from in 2009 (including a new color called "carbon").

Historical Helmets

ARIZONA

1960 - 1964 1965 - 1966? 1966? - 1967
*see note 1 below
1968 - 1969 1970 - 1971 1972
1973 - 1976 1977 - 1979 1980
*see note 2 below
1981 - 1982 1983 - 1989 1990 - 2003
*see note 3 below *see note 3 below
December 30, 2009 2004 -
*see note 4 below

There are three known historical helmets for Arizona (used since 1960) which I have not yet been able to add to the web site; below are photographs of these:

The first design was used in 1965 and apparently in 1966, also; the helmets appear to be plain white in all photographs that I have seen, with an unknown stripe sequence (probably blue-red-blue). The spacing of the stripes may have varied, and some photos seem to indicate a narrow gap between the colored stripes, effectively creating two additional white stripes.

The middle photographs shows the intricate, multi-colored "wildcat head" logo used during the 1967 season, and apparently during at least some games in 1966, also. This is by far the best photograph, and the only color one, which I have received of this helmet. Does anyone have a larger or clearer photograph, or a copy of the helmet logo from this design?

The 1972 helmet appears in the third photograph. The helmet shells were almost certainly red, and the oval shape blue, but I have received conflicting information about the presence or absence of a red outline around the white, stylized "UA" letters inside the oval shape. There was a pair of white stripes on this design with a dark stripe (probably blue) between them. Again a color photograph would be appreciated greatly.

*1 The stripe sequence may have differed from this during the very early 1960s.

*2 Some of the photographs I have seen from these years show a "wildcat head" logo worn on or near the front of the helmet, while others do not show this. I suspect this was an award decal of some sort rather than an inherent part of the "helmet design".

*3 Both of these helmet designs included a white stripe in the middle, flanked by a blue stripe on the left side and by a red stripe on the right side.

*4 Used during the Holiday Bowl game against Nebraska at the end of the 2009 season.

ARIZONA STATE

1959 - 1960 1961 - 1968;
1970 - 1974		 1969
1975 1976 - 1979 1980 - 1984
1985 - 1991 1992 - 1995 2003 (away games)
November 15, 2008 1996 -

CALIFORNIA

c.1960 c.1962 c.1966 - 1971
1972 - 1975 1976 - 1977;
November 10, 2007		 1978 - 1980
*see note 1 below
1981 1982 1984
*see note 2 below
1985 1983; 1986 1987 - 2007
*see note 3 below
2008 -

During at least parts of the 1962 and 1963 seasons, California used blue helmets with light-colored (probably gold or yellow) numerals on the sides; color photographs of actual helmets (not "replica" helmets) would be appreciated. Below is a photograph from 1962:

It is possible, though I suspect unlikely, that there are other historical helmet designs for this team from the 1960s. I do not have any photographs from '61, '64, '65, or '67.

*1 This design was brought back for a home game against Southern California during the 2007 season.

*2 The logo on this helmet included a small "100" - perhaps it is safe to assume this was in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the first rugby team at California?

*3 From 1987 to 1989, the "Cal" decal was worn only on the right side of the helmet, with the left side left "blank".

OREGON

c.1961 1963? - 1966? 1967 only?
1968 1969 - 1971 1972 - ?
c.mid 1970s 1978 - 1983 1984 - 1994
1995 1996 - 1998;
September 26, 2009		 December 21, 2006
*see note 1 below *see note 2 below
October 20, 2007;
additional games 2007-2009		 December 1, 2007;
September 6, 2008;
September 20, 2008		 November 15, 2008;
October 3, 2009;
October 24, 2009
*see note 3 below *see note 4 below *see note 5 below
December 4, 2009 1999 -
*see note 6 below

In 2009, Oregon used five different helmet designs: the green helmet with yellow "O" was used during games #2,6,8,9, and 11; the white helmet with green "O" was used during games #1 and 3; the black helmet with yellow "O" was used during games #5, 7, and 10; the yellow helmet with green "UO" was used during game #4, and the yellow helmet with green "O" was used during game #12. Here's a link to a web site that attempts to document Oregon's helmet and uniform combinations from one week to the next.

In 1968 Oregon used green helmets with a logo consisting of the letters "UO" in green, inside a white oval shape. The letters either had yellow outlines or yellow "shadows" around them; I would appreciate a photograph large and clear enough to show the detail within the helmet logo. Other than this one design, the helmets represented above may be a complete set for Oregon for the period 1960 to present.

Prior to the 2009 season, yet another new helmet design was announced by the team for use during some games; the color of this one was referred to as "carbon" and it appeared in photographs to be more or less a dark grayish or silver color with a narrow stripe pattern over the entire helmet shell. This design was apparently never used during the 2009 regular season (and I have no intention of adding it to this web site until it is actually used during a game).

*1 This design was brought back for use during the home game against California during the 2009 season.

*2 This design was worn during the Las Vegas Bowl game against BYU at the end of the 2006 season. A small green "O" decal was worn at the back of the helmet in a position not visible from the "vantage point" used at this web site.

*3 When first used, this design featured a subtle "flame" pattern which was even less prominent than that on the greenish-yellow helmets used recently by Oregon, and I have not attempted to represent the "flames" in this depiction (indeed they may not have even been present after the first or second use of the white helmets). First used at Washington on October 20, 2007; subsequently used November 24, 2007 (at UCLA), September 13, 2008 (at Purdue), October 25, 2008 (at Arizona State), November 1, 2008 (at California), September 3, 2009 (at Boise State), September 19, 2009 (vs Utah), and January 1, 2010 (Vs Ohio State in the Rose Bowl game). A couple of people have reported detecting no trace of the "flames" during the 2008 Purdue game, while another reported that they may have been very faintly visible.

*4 This design was first worn during the home game against Oregon State late in the 2007 season. Also used September 6, 2008 (vs Utah State) and September 20, 2008 (vs Boise State).

*5 Oregon first used black helmets during the 2008 home game against Arizona, and then used them again during games in 2009 vs Washington State (October 3) and at Washington (October 24).

*6 Worn during the home game against Oregon State at the end of the 2009 season.

OREGON STATE

c.early 1960s 1965 - 1972 1969
1973 1974 1975 - ?
? - 1978 1978 1979
1980 - 1982 1983 - 1984 1985
1986 - 1990 1991 - 1994 1994 - 1996
*see note 1 below *see note 1 below
1997 1998 1999 -

Oregon State has three known historical helmet designs (used since 1960) which I have not yet been able to add to the web site; below are photographs of these:

In 1969, the "100" decal was added to the 1965-1972 design. I have no color photographs of this version, but it appears to have featured dark-colored numerals with white outlines, against a lighter-colored football shape. Black on orange would be the natural assumption, but a color photograph would be necessary to verify this.

For at least some games during the 1975 season, an "OSU" logo was worn on black helmet shells; the letters were slanted and colored orange, with black and white outlines. I have several decent photographs of this design, but I have not yet been able to obtain a copy of the helmet logo itself.

In 1979, a script "Beavers" logo in white, outlined in black, was worn on orange helmets. The logo is quite similar to, but slightly different from, the one used in recent years, and I need a copy of it also before I can represent this helmet here.

*1 A switch from the decal with orange letters to the one with black letters was apparently made at some point during the 1993 season, though I do not know precisely when. The black version was is use by at least the Oregon game.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

1969 1964 - 1968;
1970 - 1971		 1992
*see note 1 below
1988 - 1991;
1993 - 2000		 1972 - 1987;
2001 -

The only photographs I have found from the years prior to 1964 are not in color, but they all appear to show USC using dark-colored helmets, which are presumably similar in color to the ones used later by the team. Numerals of some light color (probably white or gold) were worn on these helmets during at least one year during the early 1960s.

*1 USC apparently used this decal on only the left sides of the helmets, with the right sides left "blank".

STANFORD

? - 1964 1965 - ? ? - 1976
*see note 1 below
1977 - 1978 1979 1980 - 1991
2002 - 2007 1992 - 2001; 2008 -

Stanford has apparently used white helmet shells throughout the period covered by this web site (1960 to present).

*1 The "S" was apparently first used in either 1967 or 1968.

UCLA

1969 ? - 1968; 1970 - 1972;
November 7, 2009		 1973 - 1995
*see note 1 below
2000 - 2003 1996 - 1999; 2004 -

UCLA was using plain gold helmets at least as early as 1962; I do not have any photographs from 1960 or 1961, but I would think that the helmets used during those years were in all probability plain gold. Therefore, I believe that the five helmet designs shown above should constitute a complete set for UCLA for the period covered by this web site.

*1 This design was brought back for use during the 2009 home game against Washington, during which UCLA wore "throwback" uniforms as a tribute to Gary Beban, who became UCLA's only Heisman Trophy recipient in 1967. The throwback uniforms were similar to those worn by Beban and his teammates that year.

WASHINGTON

1960 - 1971 (regular design);
September 29, 2007		 1972 - 1974 (regular)
c.1962 - 1971 (award)		 1969
*see notes 1 & 2 below *see note 1 below
1975 - 1989 1995 1996 - 1998
1990 - 1994;
1999 -

During the 1969 season, Washington used a version of the "100" decal that many teams used that year; Washington's version appears to have included a yellow football-shape with a white outline, and with numerals of some dark color outlined in white. Based on color photographs that I have seen of other teams' versions of these decals, I think it is not necessarily safe to assume that Washington's version featured purple numerals, and that blue or black were perhaps just as likely.

*1 According to information I have received from visitors to this web site, Washington's default helmet shell color was gold from at least 1960 through 1971, and purple from 1972 through 1974. However, during both of these periods, certain players were "awarded" with alternate helmet designs for good performances. At least as early as 1962 and up through 1971, some players were awarded with plain purple helmets. Site visitor Rick O. reports that, in 1970 and 1971, the purple helmets were awarded only to "defensive players that gave 110% effort at all times", and that the number of players awarded with such helmets was twelve in 1970 and eleven in 1971. The criteria by which these helmets were awarded prior to 1970 is unknown to me at present.

With the change from gold helmets to purple ones at some point in 1972 (whether at the beginning of the season or some time later remains unknown), a change in the "award helmet" scheme was also made. Players were now awarded with a gold "W", similar in shape to that which appeared regularly on Washington's helmets beginning in 1975. Fifteen players were given the gold "W" in 1972 (four on the offensive team, eleven on defense). In 1973, only three players (all defensive) were awarded with the gold "W"; these players were also allowed to wear two gold stripes on their helmets. The "award helmet" program may have been discontinued in 1974.

*2 This design was brought back for a home game against USC in 2007.

WASHINGTON STATE

1964 - 1967 1969 1970 - 1975
1976 - 1977? 1978? - 1987? 1995 (game #5)
*see note 1 below
1995 (last six games) January 1, 1998 January 1, 2003
*see note 2 below *see note 4 below
November 22, 2008 1988 - 1995 (first four games); 1996 - 1999;
All games vs. Washington 2004-2007, 2009;
2008 (home games) 		2000 - (away games)
*see note 6 below *see notes 3 and 5 below *see note 5 below
1999 - 2007;
2009 - (home games)
*see note 5 below

Two earlier Washington State helmets for which I have only partial information are shown in the photographs below:

The first was used during at least the years 1962 and 1963. These helmets were white or perhaps silver in color, but I am unsure about the color of the numerals (red would be just a guess). A color photograph from these years would be appreciated.

The other helmet featured a white leaping cougar logo worn on red helmet shells, and was used during at least parts of the 1968 and 1969 seasons; I need a flat copy of this cougar logo in order to add this one to the site.

*1 This helmet design was used only during the game against Oregon State in 1995, in observance of the team's 100th anniversary. Two white stripes were added to the helmet for its remaining games in 1995.

*2 A rose was incorporated into the "Cougars" decal for WSU's appearance in the Jan. 1, 1998 Rose Bowl game against Michigan.

*3 This design was used continuously from 1988 through 1995 with the exception of the last seven games in 1995; it has also been used during each game against Washington during the years 2004 through 2007.

*4 Washington State used a special decal for its January 1, 2003 appearance in the Rose Bowl game against Oklahoma.

*5 Beginning with the 2000 season, WSU introduced a two-helmet scheme; the crimson helmet with white "WSC"/cougar head logo was used during road games, and the gray helmet with the same logo in crimson was used for home games. The design for the gray helmet had also been used for some games during the 1999 season (specific dates would be appreciated). This scheme was in place through the 2007 season with occasional exceptions, particularly for the annual games against Washington (see other notes in this section).

Beginning with the 2008 season, the same scheme was retained, with the exception that a different logo - the team name "Cougars" in crimson - was used on the gray home helmets.

For the 2009 season, the same scheme will again be in place, except that the "WSC"/cougar head logo will again replace the script "Cougars" logo on the gray home helmets.

*6 This design was used during the home game against Washington in 2008.