Winged Helmet
The Complete History (1930 – Present)

In 1933, Indiana started wearing winged helmets under Head Coach Earle “Billy” Hayes with a victory over Miami (OH) on September 30, 1933.²

Indiana’s winged helmet consisted of a black leather helmet with a white wing and three white stripes running from front to back. A small block “I” logo was centered on the front of the wing.

In 1934, Indiana hired a new head coach, Alvin “Bo” McMillin, who began phasing out the winged helmets only one year after the helmets were debuted at Indiana. Photos of the team and games depict only half of Indiana’s players wearing winged helmets during this season, with the other half wearing the traditional leather helmet. This suggests the NCAA and Big Ten rules regarding consistency with helmets were more flexible in 1934.³

By 1935, the entire team switched back to traditional leather helmets ending their two-year stint wearing the winged helmets.

In 1933, Georgetown University wore winged helmets under new Head Coach Jack Hagerty. Georgetown’s winged helmet was not painted along its stitching like Ohio State and Indiana, but featured a small block “G” logo centered on the front of the wing, similar to Indiana’s “I” logo.⁴

For the 1939 season, the Hoyas briefly switched back to an all-gray leather helmet, but returned wearing their second-generation winged helmet from 1940-42.⁵

The second-generation winged helmet was a gray leather helmet with a black contrasting wing on the front.⁵

In 1934 during Charlie Bachman’s second season at Michigan State, he outfitted his teams in black and gold. The colors were reminiscent from Bachman’s days at Notre Dame, when he played football alongside Knute Rockne.⁵

Known as an innovator, not only did Bachman introduce new colors, he also chose for his players to wear the unique winged helmet, instead of the traditional leather helmet most football teams were wearing.

The leather, winged helmets were gold with a contrasting black wing design. A small gold block “S” logo was centered on the front of the wing with a single black stripe running from front to back.⁵

The winged helmets were worn during 12 of the 13 seasons of Charlie Bachman’s rein as head coach for Michigan State football.

Bachman’s successor, Head Coach “Biggie” Munn, returned Michigan State football back to the school colors of green and white. Munn had a new winged helmet designed. The second generation winged helmet was white with a green wing design and a small MacGregor Goldsmith logo centered on the front of the wing.⁵

On September 27, 1947, Munn’s coaching debut resulted in a 50-0 loss to arch rival University of Michigan. After the game, Munn scrapped the second generation leather winged helmets and replaced them with Riddell plastic suspension helmets. The new helmets were green with a white center stripe, which ultimately ended the winged design for Michigan State College.⁵

In 1935, Princeton’s head coach, Herbert O. “Fritz” Crisler, admired the winged helmets that were worn by a handful of college football teams and decided to duplicate them.

Princeton’s winged helmet consisted of a black leather helmet with an orange colored wings and three stripes running from front to back. Just as other college football teams were benefiting from the design, the wings acted as a highly visible emblem on the helmet which, when painted orange, assisted his quarterbacks to more readily spot their downfield receivers.⁷

This winged helmet was included in the 1937 Spalding Official Intercollegiate Football Guide. It was called the FH5 helmet and was described as “National Federation H.S.A.A. Approved.” This was a streamlined version of the helmet and consisted of:

• Tan and black leather
• Air-Lite cushion rubber padding
• Leather lining
• Six-point suspension straps in crown
• Ventilating holes in crown, back and ear pieces
• Slide chin strap

Spalding sold these helmets for $10 a piece.⁸

The very next year, the same winged helmet with three stripes graced the cover of the 1938 Spalding Official Intercollegiate Football Guide. The cover photo was taken from Princeton’s game against the University of Chicago, which was Crisler’s alma mater.⁸

When Crisler left for the University of Michigan at the end of the 1937 season, Princeton returned to the traditional leather helmets for the 1938 season.⁷

On September 19, 1998, Princeton’s football team began wearing the winged helmet once again, after taking 61 seasons off.⁷

Winged Helmet Controversy

Some people claim Princeton’s head coach, Herbert O. “Fritz” Crisler, was the inventor of the winged helmets when he had his Princeton Tigers football team wear them in 1935. Supporters of this say Crisler created the design to resemble, not wings, but a fighting tiger’s ears flared back. He painted the three stripes orange, matching the tiger striping on the Princeton jerseys.

This claim, however, is found to be false. Historical data confirms that Ohio State, Indiana and Michigan State College outfitted their football teams with a winged helmet, with Ohio State starting in 1930, five seasons prior to Crisler’s selection of the Princeton Tigers’ helmet in 1935.

In 1938, Crisler arrived as the new head coach of the University of Michigan. Just like he had done for Princeton, he ordered the FH5 winged helmets from the 1938 Spalding Official Intercollegiate Football Guide for his new team.

The University of Michigan helmet consisted of a blue leather helmet with a maize colored wing and three stripes running from front to back.

The first game in which University of Michigan football players wore the Michigan helmet was against arch rival Michigan State College on September 1, 1938.⁸ In this game, both opponents wore winged helmets.

Even though University of Michigan was not the first to debut the winged helmet, it did make it famous. During the switch from leather helmets to plastic suspension helmets, most teams changed their helmet designs as well. However, University of Michigan retained the winged design by painting the wings and stripes on the new, plastic suspension helmets and have worn the wings ever since.

It’s ironic that University of Michigan’s history with the winged helmet is the most limited, though through consistency they have turned the design into arguably the most recognizable helmets in college football.