Mid-American Conference - Eastern Division

AKRON BUFFALO BOWLING GREEN
"Zips" "Bulls" "Falcons"
Akron, OH Buffalo, NY Bowling Green, OH
KENT STATE MIAMI OHIO
"Golden Flashes" "RedHawks" "Bobcats"
Kent, OH Oxford, OH Athens, OH
TEMPLE
"Owls"
Philadelphia, PA

Comments

No new helmet designs were reported for any of these teams in 2008.

Historical Helmets

AKRON

c.mid 1960s 1966 1967 - 1969
c.1975 - 1980 1981 - 1982 1983 - 1985
1986 - 1987 1988 - ? ? - Sep. 8, 2001
Sep. 22, 2001 -
end of 2001		 2002 November 24, 2005
*see note 1 below *see note 2 below
2003 -

*1 This design was first used during Akron's game at Purdue on September 22, 2001, which was the team's second game during the 2001 season. The red central stripe was added "in support of the 'Fire Truck Fund', an effort to raise money...in the Greater Akron area to purchase a new fire truck for the City of New York", following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (source: the Official Athletic Site of the University of Akron, Sep. 20, 2001). The red stripe was to remain for the rest of the 2001 season, according to the article.

*2 This special helmet design was worn during a home game against Kent State during the 2005 season.

BOWLING GREEN

1960 1963 1961; 1964 - 1967
*see note 1 below *see note 1 below
1968 1969 1970
*see note 2 below
1962; 1971 - 1975 1977 1978
1976; 1979 1980 1981 - 2003
2004 - 2006 2007 -

This set is believed to be complete for the period covered by this site (1960 to present); if you are aware of any other designs used by Bowling Green during this period, please let me know.

*1 These two are among the more unusual helmet designs I have encountered while working on this site. From the photographs of these that I have seen, it appears that an irregular area of white spray paint was applied to each helmet, and then a template was used to apply an orange falcon over the white area (or, just as likely, perhaps a template in the falcon shape was applied to the helmet first, then peeled off after the white paint was sprayed over it). The white areas had "blurry edges" and varied in size and shape considerably from one helmet to the next, but all appeared to be centered above the helmets' ear hole regions.

*2 Note that the football-shaped logo on this design was blue, rather than brown.

BUFFALO

c.1960 - 1962 1963 - 1965 1966
1967 1968 1969 - 1970
1977 1978 - 1979 1980
1981 - 1983 1984 - 1989 1990 - 1994
1995 - 1996 1997 1998 - 1999
2000 2001 - 2005 2006 -

Buffalo dropped its football program following the 1970 season, at which time it was classified as a "major" football college by the NCAA. The program was reinstated at the Division III level in 1977; it moved up to Division II in 1988 and to Division I-AA in 1993. Buffalo entered Division I-A in 1999, having been invited to join the Mid-American Conference several years earlier.

KENT STATE

1960 - 1963 1964 - 1965 1966
1967 - 1968 1969 - 1970 1973
*see note 1 below *see note 2 below
1971 - 1972; 1974 - 1975 1976 - 1978 1980 - 1986
1987 - 1988 1990 1990
*see note 3 below *see note 3 below
1989 - 1992 1993 1994 - 1997
September 4, 2004 2000 - present
*see note 4 below

In 1979, Kent State used helmets that I think were probably yellow rather than gold, though I am not sure about this. A blue football-shaped decal containing the word "Kent" in a script font was worn apparently on only the right sides of these helmets, which also featured a blue-white-blue sequence of stripes and facemasks of an unknown color (I think probably blue rather than gray).

*1 Kent State used a version of the "100" logo during at least part of the 1969 season. The decal was placed at the bottom rear of the helmet and consisted of a dark-colored football shape with a white outline and with the numerals "100" in white.

*2 All photographs I have seen of the 1973 helmets appear to show the "KSU" logo as having an elliptical shape, as opposed to the football-shape of the logo used during the rest of the 1971-1975 period.

*3 At least three different stripe variations were used during the 1990 season. Photographs from game #2 vs Akron show helmets with no stripes; two yellow stripes bordered by very narrow blue stripes can be seen on the helmets in photographs from game #7 vs Ohio; and for game #3 vs Western Michigan, the helmets appear to be the same as those used in 1989, 1991, and 1992 (with a single blue stripe). I would appreciate hearing from anybody who can clarify which design was used during Kent State's other games in 1990.

*4 Plain blue helmet were used during the September 4, 2004 game at Iowa. Iowa also used a "throwback" helmet design during this game.

MIAMI

1960 1963 - 1964 1965
1966 - 1971 1972 - 1973 1974 - 1977
*see note 1 below
1979 1980 1981 - 1982
1983 - 1985 1986 1987 - 1989
1990 - 1992 1978; 1993 1994 - 1996
1997 1998 - present

Miami's team was known as the "Redskins" prior to the 1997 season.

*1 The front of this design featured two identical decals, one on each side of center, facing each other; the decal represents an Indian holding a small tomahawk.

OHIO

1960 - 1961 1964 - 1965 1966
*see note 1 below
1967 - 1972 1973 - 1976 1977
*see note 2 below
1978 1979 - 1990 1991 - 1994
1995 2003 November 8, 2008
*see note 3 below
1996 - 2002; 2004 -

I do not have information yet for the years 1962 and 1963, but I believe the helmets shown above form a complete set for the period 1964 to present.

*1 I believe that the wide "stripe" on this helmet actually consisted of some extra padding on the outside of the helmet; and so, to be precise, the green area on this helmet should be illustrated as being slightly raised above the rest of the helmet shell. Depicting such a physical difference is beyond both my present artistic abilities and the current scope of this web site, but I may revisit this matter at some point in the future. I am presently aware of only four other colleges (Ohio State, Harvard, Fresno State, and Duke) that used this helmet style briefly during the 1960s.

*2 During the 1969 season, a version of the "100"/football shaped-logo was worn at the bottom rear of the helmet. The football shape was some dark color, and the numerals were apparently white.

*3 This design was used during the 2008 home game against Bowling Green, apparently as a tribute to the 1968 Mid-American Conference champion Ohio team, who were recognized at halftime of the game.

TEMPLE

1960 - 1965 1966 1967 - 1969
1970 - 1971 1972 - 1979 1994 - 1995
1996 - 1997 1998 - 1999 2000 - 2003
1989 - 1993; 2004 - 2006 1980 - 1988; 2007 -

The color of Temple's football helmets was changed from what I would call "red" during the mid-1960s to a much darker color that I would refer to as "maroon" by at least the mid-1970s (though the school calls this color "cherry"). I think it is possible that the team may have used some intermediate color between these two during approximately the period 1969-1970, but I do not have enough clear color photographs from this era to say so conclusively. In particular, I believe that the helmet design labelled "1967 - 1969" above may also have been used with helmet shells of a somewhat darker color of red, though not so dark as the design used beginning in 1972. I do have a rather clear photo of the 1967 - 1969 decal being used on helmets that are quite clearly red during the 1967 season.

A couple of people have sent me a photograph from Playboy Magazine showing that publication's 1972 All-American team; the photograph shows Temple player Skip Singletary with a white helmet with a dark red "T" logo. I do not think this design was ever actually used by Temple, as I have seen no photographs from game situations showing such a design in use; the photographs that I do have from 1972 show the team using the maroon helmet with "TEMPLE" in white letters.