Pac-10 Helmets, Logos, History, and Musings

I'm not sure why I haven't mentioned it before, but as someone who takes an interest in uniforms, helmets, design, and so on, I am a frequent visitor to The Helmet Project, which describes itself as an "atlas" of football helmets, both current and historical, of pretty much every level of college football in both the U.S. and Canada, as well as every level of pro football beyond the semipro level.

Often, it's the historical helmets that are the most interesting. I could wax on about any of the conference or leagues provided, and perhaps I will in future columns, but I will start with the Pac-10.

The current helmets are listed at the top of the page, with the historical helmets below.

ARIZONA — This is a team with a bit of an identity crisis, with no less than four logos still in current use, and a fifth one, ostensibly retired in 2002, still in use on the McKale center floor.

However, it's one not in use since the '70s that I like best. Check out that wavy, "Heyyyy Mannnn, peace out" logo they used on their helmets from 1973-76. Love it. Bring it back.

ARIZONA STATE — We are all very familiar with Sparky, the Sun Devils logo since 1980 (but check out how creepy his eyes were from 1980-84). Where Arizona changes identities frequently, ASU has seen very little variation in how they present themselves in the last 30 years. And yet, I would not call Sparky "iconic," like I might call the Dallas Cowboys' star iconic or the intertwined "NY" of the Yankees iconic. Why? I think it's because, in order to achieve icon status, you have to be consistently good.

CAL — Color me annoyed when a team says, "Hey! Let's boring up our look a little bit." Cal is guilty of that. I didn't know until I visited the Helmet Project that the cursive "Cal" was inside a fearsome bear claw until 1987. Why take that out? They suffer from UCLA disease (ironic since they are both a part of the UC system of universities) of having a fearsome animal and doing very little to nothing with it, logo-wise. They do get partial credit for having this on their basketball court.

OREGON — Can we just skip Oregon? When it comes to logos and uniforms, I'm not sure it's appropriate to throw around words like "hate," but I hate their logos and uniforms.

If you didn't know, Phil Knight, founder of Nike, is a UO alumnus, and in return for large endowments, Oregon's unis are Nike's playground. Their monstrosities are famous and I don't think I need to detail with them here, but I will note that they have used no less than seven helmet designs since 2006, and last year, wore a different uniform for every single game.

OREGON STATE — An exercise in class, moderation, and restraint compared to their in-state rivals. The logo on their 1973 helmet was actually their primary athletic logo until 1986, and I wonder if at some point they played the University of Minnesota in any sort of "happy fun logo" showdown. I like the 1997 design, sort of an orange-striped homage to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

USC — Theirs have been more or less changeless since 1973, except in 1992, when they said, "Let's make the trojan head on our helmet more awesome!" And so it was. And then others said, "I hate awesome! Let's make it like it always was when it wasn't awesome." And so it was.

I don't get it. Unlike ASU, USC is an icon-worthy program, but no one outside of Southern California thinks of this design as iconic, I daresay. Perhaps because it's not used as a logo by any of USC's other athletic teams I am aware of. So bring back the awesome!

UCLA — I have to say, the light blue and old gold uniforms UCLA sports are one of my favorites. And I'm glad that they have gone back to a more conventional number font over the more silly one they were sporting a few years back. But I do have a couple suggestions.

1. When forced to wear your white jerseys, take out the light blue entirely, like you used to, but stopped. The light blue doesn't work as well against the white, and it makes the blue unis that much greater when the other uniform is nothing like it.

2. Go back to the less bolded helmets of 1973-1995. I am not sure why I like this better, but I do.

STANFORD — Not much to say about Stanford, which has a pretty blah but not terrible design, and they've had it forever.

Since their mascot is a tree, however, I think there is room for more creativity. I have known some pretty foreboding trees in my time. Think of the sinister looking trees in the Wizard of Oz. Or put "scary tree" into Google Images and get back to me, Stanford.

WASHINGTON — Here's another school that could be so much better if they simply put their primary logo on their helmet.

Let's take a look at the Washington primary logos over the years. First, from 1975-2000 they used a husky dog that apparently ate some poison berries and suffered a swollen face as a result.

Then in 2001, they finally took him to the vet and he looks better, although a little too realistic for a logo, for my tastes. Then, starting in 2004, they came up with a sleek, awesome design. Put this on your helmet. Put this on your helmet. Put this on your helmet.

WASHINGTON STATE — The clever makeup of W, S, and U to make up a growling cat has always been a favorite of mine. I do have one quibble, however. Note the rose they added to the design for the 2003 Rose Bowl. Purdue, and probably others, have done the same thing. Bad idea. Do not trot out "special" helmets for bowl games. Instead, act like you have been there before, even if you haven't.