VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, [7], 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 02:30:49 10/11/19 Fri
Author: Andy
Author Host/IP: 24.117.48.140
Subject: Idaho State specialty helmet from 1968 possibly dug up

https://twitter.com/davesouthorn/status/1182493386357395458

A local Boise sportswriter tweeted this out today. It's believed to be from Idaho State @ Boise State from 11/02/1968. There seems to be a good amount of corroborating evidence - both teams wore light helmets that year (an occurrence that only happens that one year between those two teams), the away team definitely has black in their team colors and no helmet stripe, and 1968 was the first time those two programs had met which meant it was a brand-new in-state rivalry. Also it just seems very unlikely someone would go to the effort of a "Beat Boise" helmet aside from an in-state rival like Idaho State or Idaho (and Boise didn't even start playing Idaho until 1971, after they had switched to dark blue unstriped helmets). So it is almost certainly Idaho State in 1968.

This is interesting because Idaho State's helmet history was believed to be complete up until now. But it seems like one specialty helmet may have snuck past us until now.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Re: Idaho State specialty helmet from 1968 possibly dug up -- charles arey, 19:58:19 10/11/19 Fri (173.184.33.38)

>A local Boise sportswriter tweeted this out today.
>It's believed to be from Idaho State @ Boise State
>from 11/02/1968.

Thanks, that's an interesting photograph, and I had not seen that one before. My initial reaction is to be skeptical that that's an Idaho State helmet, for the following reasons:

- the appearance of the "BEAT BOISE" helmet leads me to think that the helmet color is probably either gold or silver (for some reason these two colors look similar to each other, but different from every other color, in monochrome photographs). It doesn't look the way either white helmets or orange helmets usually look in non-color photographs.

- the information sent to me previously about Idaho State helmets, and on which the images at the website are based, indicated that ISU used orange helmets in 1968 and white helmets in 1969; to the best of my knowledge, ISU has never used gold or silver helmets. I should note that this information was sent to me at least 16 or 17 years ago, but as I recall it was sent by someone in the sports information office at the university, who presumably had access to the best information in existence for that team (I did not independently verify what was provided).

- ISU has digitized the university's yearbooks and published them online; here's the 1969 yearbook (which should contain photos from the 1968 football season):

http://libpublic2.eol.isu.edu/wickiup/1969/1969wick.htm

If you go down to page 41 in the yearbook there's a photograph showing a team in plain light-colored (but not white) helmets (which I think is ISU) playing against a team in light-colored helmets with a circular logo on the sides - which appears to match up well with the photograph I put up at the website for the 1968 Boise State design.

So in my opinion the "BEAT BOISE" team must be somebody other than Idaho State. I would suggest College of Idaho, which played at Boise State in 1969, and played against Boise State in 1968 (not sure if home or away). One of College of Idaho's school colors is gold, which could account for the "gold-looking" helmet (though I do not know if the school colors were the same in the 1960s as they are now). Unfortunately I have never received any information about College of Idaho's 1977 and earlier helmet designs, and the school yearbooks have not been digitized, to the best of my knowledge.

I would dispute that the dark color in the "BEAT BOISE" team's uniforms is necessarily black; I think that could be any dark color, including purple (College of Idaho's other current team color).

In 1969 Boise also played home games against Whitworth, Colorado College, and Hiram Scott - I could not rule out any of these teams, either, since I have no information for them for the late 1960s. Likewise for Central Washington, which Boise played at a neutral site in 1969 (apparently as the "home" team). I am assuming here that Boise is the home team in that photograph since they are wearing dark uniforms, and ignoring their road games.

College of Idaho seems most likely to me, based on no conflicting information already available, apparent helmet color, and "in-state rivalry", as you mentioned. But I am by no means certain!

It is my suspicion that there are lots more of these single-game designs waiting to be "rediscovered" - I just hope there are surviving photographs for all of them, and that they will turn up somewhere, someday.


[ Edit | View ]

[> [> Re: Idaho State specialty helmet from 1968 possibly dug up -- No name, 23:57:05 10/11/19 Fri (71.211.185.74)

After some thorough research this photo is actually from a 1966 Boise State game Vs....

Taft Junior College. The Cougars, with the colors of black and gold, crushed the Broncos 41-5. It was BSU's only loss that year.


[ Edit | View ]

[> [> [> Taft '66 is correct, nice find! -- Andy, 01:20:56 11/03/19 Sun (24.117.48.140)

Sorry about the relatively late reply...

I did more research right after my initial post and discovered some inconsistencies that made ISU '68 unlikely. I should've done more to verify - sorry for jumping to conclusions.

To the guy above me - you nailed it! Check out page 225 from the 1967 Boise Junior College yearbook (which features the '66 season). It's got a pic of these helmets with a caption confirming the team: Taft Junior College. Nice digging!

http://digitalcollections.boisestate.edu/jsp/RcWebImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=cd08171c-a787-4566-94eb-f34a46ff7//digitalcollections.boisestate.edu/jsp/RcWebImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=cd08171c-a787-4566-94eb-f34a46ff7274%2fidbb0000%2f20140401%2f00000031