It's really cool to see the old pics of football. I remember as a kid the school I went to had the old leather pads and helmets stored away in a damp musty smelling storage room. Oh the blood and sweat those pads must have seen.

It is fun seeing those old football pics. Brings back memories of stories my dad told of his football days.

I hear tell that OBK still has the leather helmet he wore back in his playing days.

We had gone to plastic by then, but the Drifter has his still. Smokey still wears his to bed.....

Didn't HPD make the first leather helmet?

It is not a picture, but a link to some old six man football plays from Kansas.

http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/210579

yes I did, as a matter of fact. It was made out of mastadon hide. Ha I still remember the Riddell's with the suspensions. You put on a size two or so smaller than you wore because they stretched. Headaches for days. The helmet coming loose and hitting you on the bridge of the nose. The using of the head in tackling was stressed. Wow, wonder anyone survived. I know I have mentioned this but the football season of 1967, Riddell came out with a plastic piece that went on the back of the helmet. It was supposed to be a protective device, but that season saw the most deaths in Texas ever.

I have some pictures of teammates with the facemasks upside down, in junior high we had some helmets with wide plastic strips for facemasks and a couple of helmets without facemasks. Ha We had a teammate paint a horse's head on our helmets, each was different and unique.

Have a story about a teammate who took the suspension out of his helmet. Funny, but luckily he didn't die or get seriously hurt.

Tell us some of your old stories. It's cold outside so I need something to do.

You twisted my arm. By the way, just got back from my two mile plus trek in the cold. Ha

Back in the day, (again for Doggie), there was no 4 days of shorts, etc. you showed up and bam you were full pads and banging heads. I was a freshman, weighed about buck thirty, and in all my glory. We went in and got our equipment, pretty much fitted ourselves ( and yepper did not know squat). Our main concern was getting a helmet that someone else had the year before and was all dinged and painted up. (They were maroon). Anyway, one of my class mates was about 6'0 and 175. There was a helmet that a "killer" had the year before (no reconditioning in those days). It had the first t-bar I had ever seen. It was taped to face mask. Anyway, we got suited up and went outside. The first drill was tackling (probably did some jumping jacks etc to warm up) and I was matched up against my fellow freshman. He was ball carrier and we met and down he went, out like a light. I jumped up like a banty rooster all puffed up with my hard hit. Ha The coach came over and took his helmet off and he had taken the suspension out to make it fit, it was his skull and a think plastic shell. My hit was not quite the thunder hit I thought. The coach shook his head and we moved to another part of field and left him laying there until he came too. Ha How many lawsuits do you think all that would cause today. Ha

There would be more lawsuits than you could count, but I love the story. Kids would still pick helmets that way if allowed.

I know you were saying that in jest, but my first "Football" helmet actually was leather. I kept bugging my dad for gear when I was 5 or 6 and he went to the Army Surplus Store and found me a Smoke Jumpers helmet with the wire full-face mask on it. Needless to say I was a Holy Terror playing with that thing on. I was indestructable and probably caused some damage to the neighbor kids as well........

I bet if they played with those type of helmets now...or better yet no helmets... it would force people to tackle differently, more form with wrapping up and less powerful hits, which would reduce concussions. Yes I am saying that LESS protection would help reduce head injuries...thoughts please!

Unfortunately some view helmets not as protection but as weapons. How many times have you heard the phrase,"Put your hat on the ball"? or "Stick him good"? I guess there has been some rule changes regarding this ( can't hit with the crown of the helmet, etc.)
You are probably correct that there would be less "serious" injuries but there would certainly be an increase in dental cases.......

Less head injuries, but more shoulder seperations and coller bones broken.

Reading articles from the 1920's to the early 1950's, most football injuries were broken legs/arms and collarbones.