|
PHOTO |
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DESCRIPTION |
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YEARS
USED |
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COMMENTS |
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PHOTO
UNAVAILABLE |
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Tan/gold
leather helmet with blue piping stripes |
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1930s |
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Rice's
early-leather helmet era helmet. Dates are uncertain. |
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Gray
leather helmet |
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1930s-1938 |
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Rice
wore this helmet through the 1930s. Dates are uncertain. |
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Blue
leather helmet |
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1939-1947 |
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Rice
wore this helmet through the mid to late 1940s. Dates are uncertain. Blue
leather helmets were worn for certain beginning in 1939. |
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Blue
shell with silver stripe |
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1948-1955 |
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Helmet
worn by Dick Maegle. Helmet shell is Riddell RK. |
|
 |
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Blue
shell with silver stripe, white player numbers on side, gray facemasks. |
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1956-1965 |
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Addition
of the gray (mostly two-bar) facemask. Helmet shells are predominately Riddell
RK. |
  |
 |
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Blue
shell with silver stripe, white and blue flying owl, gray facemasks. |
|
1966 |
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This
was Rice's first year to have a helmet decal. Helmet shells are Riddell
RK and TK. |
  |
 |
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White
shell with royal blue stripe, football shaped royal blue oval with white
"R" on sides, gray facemasks. |
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1967-1970 |
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This
look, as well as the uniforms at this time, were remniscent of the Baltimore
Colts. Helmet shells are Riddell TK. |
 |
 |
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Silver/gray
shell with blue-white-blue stripes, flying owl in white and blue, outlined
in blue on sides, gray facemasks. |
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1971-1975 |
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Nice
design that lasted five seasons, no doubt a "bow" to the look
of the Dallas Cowboys. Helmet shells are Riddell. |
  |
 |
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White
shell with blue-white-blue stripes, "Rice" in blue script on sides,
blue facemask. |
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1976 |
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This
helmet was worn for only one year, the first year of Homer Rice's two-year
coaching stint. Overall a nice looking helmet. Helmet shells are Rawlings
and Riddell. |
  |
 |
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Dark
royal blue shell with white-blue-white stripes, white number on sides, white
facemasks. |
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1977 |
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Another
one-year experiment. I have no idea why Rice changed from the 1976 look,
which is a good looking helmet. Although these helmets are pretty bad, I
do have a fondness for them, as Rice wore these during my dad's first year
as a SWC official. Helmet shells are Rawlings and Riddell. |
  |
 |
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Dark
royal blue shell with white-blue-white stripes, old flying owl logo from
the 1971-75 period in white and blue outlined in white, white facemasks. |
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1978 |
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I
consider this helmet a transitional helmet during the first year of Coach
Ray Alborn, as it is the same helmet as the previous year, with the addition
of the flying owl, and the subtraction of the player numbers. A much better
helmet than the previous year. Helmet shells are Rawlings. |
  |
 |
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Silver/Gray
shell with blue-white-blue stripes, new blue flying owl on sides, gray facemasks. |
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1979-1981 |
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This
helmet ushered in the new flying owl logo that Rice would use on their helmets
for the remainder of Ray Alborn's tenure. Fairly nice helmet design, and
the new owl design was interesting, as it was a departure from any Rice
logo up until that time. Rice had its best season in years with this helmet
in 1980 when they went 5-6. Helmet shells are Rawlings. |
 |
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Navy
shell with thin white-navy-white stripes and large white flying owl logo
on sides, white facemasks. |
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1982 |
|
Not
real sure why Rice went to this helmet, as a coach doesn't usually change
helmets during his tenure after selecting a "look." Perhaps Alborn
was harkening back to the championship Owl teams of the 1950s that wore
blue helmets. Helmet shells are Bike Air. |
  |
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Navy
shell with large white flying owl logo on sides, white facemasks. |
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1983 |
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Same
helmet as the previous year with the subtraction of the stripes. Unfortunately,
it was to be Ray Alborn's last year as coach. Helmet shells are Bike Air. |
   |
 |
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Silver
shell with navy-white-navy stripes and silver diamond outlined in navy-white-navy
with navy "R" in white circle outlined in navy in interior of
diamond (interior diamond is CLEAR so that silver of football helmet showed
through), gray facemasks. |
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1984* |
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These
helmets made their debut under Watson Brown, who was obviously influenced
by the "star-V" of his Vanderbilt roots. Helmet shells are Bike
Air. |
   |
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Silver
shell with navy-white-navy stripes and navy diamond outlined in white with
white "R" in navy circle outlined in white in interior of diamond,
gray facemasks. |
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1984* |
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In
mid-season of 1984, the helmet logo was changed because the diamond and
the "R" were too hard to read. Helmet shells are Bike Air. |
   |
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Silver
shell with navy-white-navy stripes and navy diamond outlined in white and
thin navy with white "R" in navy circle outlined in white in interior
of diamond, white facemasks. |
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1985 |
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Same
helmet as mid-season on in 1984, with the addition of a white facemask and
thin navy outline around diamond "R" logo. Although finishing
2-8-1, Rice was very competitive, and things were looking up for the program.
Helmet shells are Bike Air. |
   |
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Silver
shell with navy-white-navy stripes, divided white and navy "R"
with navy outline, navy facemasks. |
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1986-1989 |
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Another
helmet change in 1986 when Jerry Berndt became Athletic Director and head
football coach. A nice look, but the divided "R" was copied from
the divided "P" look of Penn, where Jerry came from to Rice. This
look was also used during Fred Goldsmith's first year as coach. Helmet shells
are Riddell. |
   |
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Navy
shell with silver/gray owls wings on front of helmet extended to sides outlined
in white with navy detail, navy facemasks. |
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1990-1993 |
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A
drastic and excellent change to the Rice football helmets occurred in Fred
Goldsmith's second year. This look was a classic. Helmet shells are Riddell. |
   |
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Navy
shell with silver/gray owls wings on front of helmet extended to sides outlined
in white with navy detail, gray facemasks. |
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1994-1996 |
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Same
helmets as above, but Coach Ken Hatfield replaced the navy mask with a gray
mask. Personally, I like the navy mask better, although the gray mask looks
okay, as it is one of Rice's school colors. Helmet shells are mostly Riddell. |
 |
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Navy
metallic shell with silver/gray owls wings on front of helmet extended to
sides with white, navy and yellow detail, gray facemasks. |
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1997-2005 |
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The
only change was that the wings of the logo design underwent a change to
reflect the school's new Rice Owl logo introduced this year. Helmet shells are Schutt and Riddell. |
 |
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Silver
metallic shells with stylized flying owl logo (school logo) with "R"
under feet, navy facemasks. |
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2006 |
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First
time since 1989 season that Rice wore silver helmets. Helmet shells are
Schutt and Riddell. |
 |
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Navy
metallic shells with white Old English "R", navy facemasks. |
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2007-2012* |
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Rice
goes back to a simple, vintage style helmet, using the same "R"
as on the Rice baseball caps. Worn halfway through 2012 season until throwback game (see below). Helmet shells are Schutt and Riddell. |
 |
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Navy
metallic shells with pink Old English "R", navy facemasks. |
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2010 Special |
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Special "one-time" helmet worn on October 23 for Breast Cancer awareness. |
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Navy
metallic shells with American Flag style Old English "R", navy facemasks. |
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2011 Special |
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Worn to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9-1-1 weekend. |
 |
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Navy metallic shells, silver/gray stripe, white numbers on sides, gray facmasks. |
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2012 Special |
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Throwback style helmet (and uniforms) commemorate historical Rice Teams and helmets from 1956-65 era and Tommy Kramer's induction into the College HOF. |
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Navy metallic shells, Old English "R", gray facmasks. |
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2012*-Current |
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Worn after throwback game (above) and through current. For throwback game, equipment manager changed the masks to gray from navy and decision was to keep gray masks. |
 |
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Navy
metallic shells with pink Old English "R", gray facemasks. |
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2012-Current |
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Worn to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness. Differs from the 2010 version because of the gray mask. |
 |
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White shells with navy stylized owl wings on sides, navy Old English "R" on backs of helmets, navy facemasks. |
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2014 Bowl |
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Worn for first time in 2014 Liberty Bowl. Fantastic look and improvement over "bland" Old English R look. |
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Navy metallic shells, patriotic stars and stripes large stripe, patriotic stars and strpes Old English "R", gray facmasks. |
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2012, 2015 |
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Worn in Armed Forces Bowl in 2012 and again in 2015. |
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Matte white shells with navy Old English "R", navy facemasks |
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2015-Current |
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Worn in the Texas game, neat look for Rice, first in-season white helmet since 1976. |
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Navy metallic shells, Old English "R" in white on left side, Old English "R" in white on right side superimposed on state of Texas with Texas flag design, gray facmasks. |
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2017 |
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Worn in the Houston game to commemorate Hurricane Harvey. |
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White shells, new stylized owl head logo in gray and navy on sides, patriotic blue-white-red-stars stripe (same as worn in the Armed Forces Bowl in 2012 and 2015), navy facmasks. |
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2018 |
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Worn in the Old Dominion game. Only worn for one game in the 2018 season. Also premiered new dark gray uniforms. |
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White shells, navy stylized owl wings on sides, navy facmasks. |
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2018 |
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Worn in UTSA game. Simplified version of the 2014 bowl game helmet. |
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Navy shells, Old English R in white superimposed on white outline state of Texas, gray facemasks. |
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2019-Current |
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Addition of state of Texas graphic behind the Old English "R" decal is an improvement. |
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Navy shells, navy stylized owl wings from the 1997-2005 era return (albeit in reverse style), gray facmasks. |
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2019-Current |
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100 aniversary wing decals. Decent look but should have been like the wing decals from 1997-2005 in silver which would stand out more. |
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Silver shells, navy-white-navy stripes, stylized Old English R in white with navy ouline on patriotic colors on state of Texas with American flag superimposed, gray facemasks. |
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2022 |
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Silver shell, navy-white-navy stripes, vintage 1971-75 flying owl decal, gray facemasks. |
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2022 |
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A modern-day interpretation of the classic helmet worn from 1971-75. I think this looks SO much better than the boring Old English "R" that Rice currently wears. Plus, Rice seems to have a branding problem, as the new font and owl logo adopted in 2018 does not match the Old English R decal. |
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Thanks to Greg Bond for supplying the 1938 Rice photo |