Head to head: From the early 1900s to today, there's no comparison in the safety features in football helmets

By: TERRY MONAHAN - Staff Writer | Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:08 AM PDT ∞

In the old days, when a football player suffered a blow to the head and was knocked woozy, it was just called "getting your bell rung.'' No big deal. Just wait a few minutes and then go right back into the game.

Now, though, it's a bit more serious. The growing awareness of the dangers of head injuries in general and concussions and their repercussions in particular has become a major issue for football at all levels.

Scott Eveland, a Mission Hills High senior, suffered a severe head injury during a Sept. 14 game and lapsed into a coma. Eveland, who is now breathing on his own, is still receiving treatment in the intermediate care unit at Palomar Medical Center after he was moved out of the critical care ward last week.

While no one has been able to pinpoint the moment Eveland was hurt or how he was injured, it has brought helmet safety into focus for teenagers who never gave it much thought.

"The first day of practice, coach would get us together and we'd have to read the safety label on the back of our helmets out loud,'' said Jordan Garcia, 16, a Carlsbad junior linebacker. "I used to think that was a rest period during practice. You know, why are we reading this?

"Since he played the same position as me, I went back to my locker and made sure my helmet was totally safe to use.

"I feel safe and, for the most part, I am safe, but my helmet is now more important to me than it was.''

Carlsbad's Steven Simpson, a senior offensive tackle, did the same thing.

"I got more air in my padding so it fit tighter,'' said Simpson, 17. "Last year my chin strap broke during a game and I let it go. When that happened the other day I went out of the game to get it fixed.

"I never used to think about getting hurt. The head? That's just crazy. I check my helmet every day now.''

As more head injuries occur, more attention is placed squarely on the players' helmets and how to make them safer.

According to a study conducted by both the NFL Subcommittee on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and the Biokinetics & Associates, it is estimated there are 150,000-250,000 football-related concussions suffered each year in the United States.

That's why the helmet is a player's most important piece of equipment.

"From when I played high school football to the current helmet is like going from the Wright brothers to the space age,'' said former Torrey Pines High coach Ed Burke, 71. "The first helmet I used had no face mask. I came out of the service, I went to college and told them I didn't want one.

"After I took a cleat to the face in a game and the dentist fixed me up, I had them put on a face mask.''

According to the Official NFL Encyclopedia, before 1939 helmets were not required to be worn in games. Former President Gerald Ford played center at Michigan without one.

Leather helmets -- nothing much more than what pilots wore during World War I -- were introduced in the early 1900s to protect players from too many violent hits to the head and face. Helmets were not required in the NFL until 1943.

Chin straps and face masks were added a year later, but face masks, which had a habit of shattering on contact, were later banned until the BT-5 model came along in 1955.

Plastic was introduced as the major component of helmets in 1944 when Army, with running backs Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis, began using them.

The guts of the helmet changed, too. From suspension systems in the 1950s that kept the helmet on straight, the technology went to padding, to fluid-filled padding to today's air-inflated padding. All were designed to protect the player from concussions.

"I wore those stupid water helmets,'' said Escondido coach Paul Gomes, 57. "Those fluid pads would burst all the time, and we would get dinged up all the time. I had about three concussions and I got dinged up about 25 times.

"I was the first to get one of the old Bike air helmets, and that was much better. By all rights, I should be smarter than I am.''

Vista coach Dan Williams, 42, suffered a concussion or two as a Panthers player in the early 1980s.

"One time I caught a pass on our sideline and got tagged pretty good,'' he said. "I landed right in front of Coach (Dick) Haines and I wasn't sure where I was, but coach told me I was fine and to get up off the ground.

"No one knew the symptoms back then. No one thought I was hurt. I was.''

Today, only three companies -- Riddell, Schutt and Adams -- supply helmets to high schools. In the 1970s, the industry included 18-20 companies.

Companies such as Spalding, Rawlings, Wilson, Kelly, MaxPro, Bike and Hutch stopped helmet production after the first guidelines for helmet safety were adopted in 1976, according to an official at Schutt.

"Most of those companies elected to get out of the field,'' said Ken Nimmons, Schutt's executive vice president and director of product development. "It was suddenly more productive for them to concentrate on their other equipment lines.''

Based in Chicago, Riddell sold more than 300,000 helmets last year with its Revolution model. The Revolution IQ model is ready to debut next year with the Revolution IQ HITS already being tested at the collegiate level.

The HITS model, which stands for Head Impact Telemetry System, introduced sensors into the quest to reduce the risk of serious head injuries.

HITS helmets, which cost nearly $1,000 each, can detect a major blow to the head and transmit data on where the blow was taken and how severe it was to either a computer on the sideline or to the trainer's pager.

"You have kids paying $300 for baseball bats these days, why wouldn't a parent want their child to have the latest in safety equipment?'' said Thad Ide, Riddell's vice president of research and development. "The parent could even monitor their son's helmet activity just like the trainer can. Any Windows computer or a little wireless plug in your PC and you're ready to go.

"In the earlier stages of development, the whole thing was too bulky. There was a big antenna on the sidelines. Now technology has made it easier to use.''

Riddell has been perfecting this technology for more than a decade, according to Ide.

In a study conducted the past three years by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, concussions decreased 31-41 percent at five colleges using HITS helmets -- Oklahoma, North Carolina, Illinois, Minnesota and Virginia Tech.

"We knew we were on to something in the lab when we started this project,'' said Ide, who has worked at Riddell for seven years after leaving Schutt. "We weren't sure how it would transfer on to the field, though.

"When the results came in, we got the word out to everyone as soon as we could.''

Ide thinks being able to monitor a player's core body temperature during a game -- especially helpful in cold-weather venues -- through sensors in the new helmet is close at hand.

"We're in the business of protecting players, and the Revolution helmet is a great step,'' Ide said. "I doubt there will ever be a concussion-proof helmet, but we're reducing that risk.''

Schutt, based in Litchfield, Ill., about 52 miles east of St. Louis, is the biggest manufacturer of football helmets in the world, according to Glenn Beckmann, the company's marketing and communications manager.

Company policy prohibits releasing sales figures, according to Beckman.

Schutt, the official producer of helmets for the Arena Football League, got into the helmet-producing business in 1986 when it purchased the molds for helmets from Bike.

Before that purchase, Schutt was the nation's largest producer of face masks.

The Schutt helmet, according to Nimmons, weighs approximately 4 pounds with a face mask.

Adams, which is based in Cookeville, Tenn., sold more than 120,000 helmets last year. It boasts the lightest helmet on the market. It weighs 2 pounds, 3.49 ounces without a face mask and 3 pounds, 3 ounces with one.

The A4 and A2000 models are being sold to Pop Warner, high school, college and pro teams.

Until 1999, Adams was not a helmet manufacturer, specializing instead in equipment such as shoulder pads, thigh pads and knee pads.

"The only helmets we'd done were baseball helmets,'' said John Bartlett, Adams sales manager. "We got into the football helmet business because our customers asked us to.''

So Adams purchased the molds from the old Bike helmets and entered the market.

"There is so much on the drawing board right now I can't even tell you,'' Bartlett said. "There is a lot happening right now, and most of it deals with the weight of the helmet and safety.''

Once the football season ends, helmets are not immediately stored until spring practice. They're shipped back to companies for mandatory reconditioning and recertification. Williams said it cost Vista about $30 per helmet for reconditioning.

No helmet can be used the following season without a recertification sticker that it still meets safety requirements from the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment.

Each helmet, including ones that weren't used at all during the season or were still in their original wrapper from the manufacturer, is cleaned, sanitized and inspected. Even face masks receive an inspection.

Riddell rejects any helmet that is 10 years old.

"If you got 10 years out of one helmet, it's like getting 10 years from a car,'' Ide said. "You've gotten your money's worth.''

That's why teams purchase at least a few new helmets every year.

Vista, for instance, had 19 helmets rejected last year, costing more than $3,500 to replace. Escondido buys about 20 new ones every year. Carlsbad gets 12 new ones each year. Santa Fe Christian, a smaller school with only about 75-80 helmets compared to Vista's 250, orders 14 new helmets each offseason.

"We never buy the cheapest helmets,'' said Santa Fe Christian coach Brian Sipe, a former Cleveland Browns quarterback who also played at San Diego State. "When I started playing in '63 at Grossmont High they still had leather helmets on the shelves.

"We want state of the art. That's what our parents say they want on their kids' heads.''

-- Contact staff writer Terry Monahan at (760) 739-6648 or tmonahan@nctimes.com.

Helmet sticker

This warning appears on a sticker on the back of Carlsbad's football helmets:

Keep your head up. Do not butt, ram, or strike an opponent with any part of this helmet or faceguard. This is a violation of football rules and may cause you to suffer severe brain or neck injury, including paralysis or death and possible injury to your opponent. Contact in football may result in Concussion/Brain Injury which no helmet can prevent. Symptoms include: loss of consciousness or memory, dizziness, headache, nausea or confusion. If you have symptoms, immediately stop and report them to your coach, trainer, and parents. Do not return to a game or practice until all symptoms are gone and you receive medical clearance. Ignoring this warning may lead to another and more serious or fatal brain injury.

NO HELMET SYSTEM CAN PROTECT YOU FROM SERIOUS BRAIN AND/OR NECK INJURIES INCLUDING PARALYSIS OR DEATH. TO AVOID THESE RISKS, DO NOT ENGAGE IN THE SPORT OF FOOTBALL.

PREVENT SERIOUS HEAD OR NECK INJURIES A PLAYER MIGHT RECEIVE WHILE PARTICIPATING IN FOOTBALL.

Do not use this helmet to butt, ram or spear an opposing player. This is in violation of the football rules and such use can result in severe head or neck injuries, paralysis or death to you and possible injury to your opponent.

Contact in football may result in CONCUSSION-BRAIN INJURY which no helmet can prevent. Symptoms include: loss of Consciousness or memory, dizziness, headache, nausea or confusion. If you have symptoms, immediately stop playing and report them to your coach, trainer or parents.

Do not return to a game or practice until all symptoms are gone and you have received MEDICAL CLEARANCE. Ignoring this warning may lead to another and more serious or fatal brain injury.

Helmet companies

Riddell

Established: 1939

Based: Chicago

2006 helmet sales: 300,000

Models: Revolution, Revolution IQ, Revolution HITS

Level: Pop Warner, high school, college, NFL

Schutt Sports

Established: 1918

Based: Litchfield, Ill.

2006 helmet sales: Not released

Models: DNA Pro, Air Advantage, Pro-Air II

Level: Pop Warner, high school, college, NFL, Arena Football League

Adams USA

Established: 1950

Based: Cookeville, Tenn.

2006 helmet sales: 120,000

Models: A4, A2000

Level: Pop Warner, high school, college, pro

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