Helmet Clash on ESPN - Today: Oregon v. TAMU

[Brutalis]

because of the tradition that goes into them- painting them each week with actual gold in the paint is pretty cool

True. Gold plated.

[RonMexico]

ND wasn't the 1st team to have all gold helmets. 3 B12 teams did before they did.

Do they still have them now? That's called a "tradition," Michael.

Which Big 12 teams had it? I'm sure it wasn't called the Big 12 back then either.

[MajorMike]

Tradition? They didn't start doing the gold flake thing until the 70s.

[RonMexico]

Tradition? They didn't start doing the gold flake thing until the 70s.

http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/1Aind.htm

"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-A colleges (Alabama has occasionally used white helmets during this period)."

So they had the all-gold, then they went to small helmet designs and went back to all-gold. They currently have the "longest-running unchanged helmet design." Not that it's traditional or anything. It can't be nearly as traditional as wannabe-Texas burnt orange in "action" letters against an all-white background.

[RonMexico]

http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/

So apparently, Baylor has never used an all-gold and Iowa State and Colorado used them briefly in the 60s and 70s. However, no do entation exists that "3 Big 12 schools used the all-gold before Notre Dame." In fact, I would guess that Iowa State and Colorado were copycats.

[MajorMike]

I still find it silly to think everyone thinks the helmet in the pics is one of the best ever.

[RonMexico]

I still find it silly to think everyone thinks the helmet in the pics is one of the best ever.

For which school(s)?

[MajorMike]

How does everyone always think ND's helmets are so classic?

So no final comments for the ND helmet?

[RonMexico]

Everyone thinks it is classic. In fact, when you look at the sheer number of schools that have utilized the all-gold design, I think it points to how classic it is.

As does the fact that they've used it unchanged since 1964.

[IronMexican]

the ND helmet, and i say this because i am a SC fan

[MajorMike]

and how long has navy used their gold helmets for anyway?

they look different from notre dames

Well it took darn near a week for someone to figure out that the oh so traditional and one of the best helmets that was posted was actually Navy's, not NDs.

[RonMexico]

You posted Navy's? Crap, whatever hosting site you used for the photo was blocked at work, so I just got a huge "x" after your post... I assumed it was some kind of pic of Brady Quinn looking dumb and not a subterfuge.