Portland Thunder Wfl Helmet

[hblakewolf]

As a collector of Portland, Oregon equipment (Primary focus being Trail Blazers, Beavers), the following WFL PORTLAND THUNDER helmet would make a great addition to the collection:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:B:ONA:US:1123

Although I'm familiar with Blazers and Beavers jerseys, I have no idea if the offerd helmet is a legit gamer, or a replica. In summary, can a helmet expert on this Forum please share their thoughts? Can it be repaired (clips)?

I've purchased a few items fromt he Ebay seller, and all have been great.

Any insight is appreciated.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@comcast.net

[ironmanfan]

Howard:

If it were me, I'd contact the guys at www.helmethut.com to garner their opinion.

Bill

[aeneas01]

Howard:

If it were me, I'd contact the guys at www.helmethut.com to garner their opinion.

Bill

i second that. the guys at helmet hut are tremendous and are single-handedly responsible for bringing the rich history of football helmets to the collecting public. heck, you don't even have to be a fan of football helmets to enjoy their incredible website - if you are simply a fan of football i highly recommend pouring yourself a cup of your favorite beverage, pulling up a comfortable seat and spending time at their special corner of cyberspace. when you visit make it a point to read through the "ask dr. del rye" section and the "helmet news" section. and, of course, make sure to browse through what can only be described as their fantastic virtual museum - the tons of great photos they've made available!

as far as the ebay lid is concerned, it appears to be an early pac-3 which is correct and the side "t" decals look authentic - but the center decal stripes appear to be wrong...


http://www.helmethut.com/WFL/Inman.html

http://www.helmethut.com/WFL/WFLThunder.html

http://www.helmethut.com/WFL/WFLThunder1.html



...

[hblakewolf]

Robert-
Thak you for the info. and links. Clearly, the offered helmet is different than the gamer #79 you note. Combined with the odd looking stripes, It's enough to make me pass.

Thanks again.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[G1X]

As a collector of World Football League uniforms since the mid-1970s, I always get excited whenever someone brings up the topic of the my all-time favorite football league as it seems that there are fewer and fewer collectors who are interested in the WFL.

For a little background on the 1975 Portland Thunder helmets, they started the season with the stripes touching - a middle blue stripe trimmed with thinner green stripes - which was similar to Portland's 1974 helmets when they were known as the Storm. At some point during the 1975 season, the Thunder decided to "separate" the stripes.

All of the photos on the Helmet Hut site are from their first preseason game against Birmingham. It appears that Helmet Hut is basing its replica on the early-season version, but the color scheme of the stripes appears to be reversed, and the "trim" stripes on the Helmet Hut replica actually appears black (although this could be a result of lighting in the photo). It is difficult to tell from the photos on Helmet Hut's website, but the middle stripe is blue, and I confirmed this in looking at a color newspaper photo published in The Birmingham News from that game.

Below are two black & white photos of the Thunder when they met Birmingham once again in Game 6 of the regular season. Notice the difference in stripe design of the Portland players' helmets in both photos when compared to the photos from the preseason game on Helmet Hut's website. Also notice that #79-Jerry Inman is prominent in one of the photos. It's obvious that the stripe pattern is different than the #79-Inman game-worn helmet shown on Helmet Hut.

This brings us back to the ebay helmet which differs from both the Helmet Hut replica and their helmet of #79-Inman. I am not stating a comment on the ebay helmet other than to say that the "separated" stripes should not be a concern as it is correct. The only thing that caught my eye was the shade of the blue stripe - that could be due to the lighting, camera flash, etc. - plus, I was never sure of the color scheme once they changed the stripe pattern. (I always assumed that the middle stripe remained blue, but I don't have any color photos with Portland wearing the "separated" stripes.)

I am not by any means intending to criticize Helmet Hut on the accuracy of its Portland Thunder replica helmet or questioning the authenticity of their Inman helmet in this post. I am merely trying to point out that the "separated" stripe design should not raise a concern on the ebay helmet.

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

[aeneas01]

great stuff mark! your post is exactly why this forum is second to none, a community effort. given the photos you were able to locate, i would say the stripes are nothing to worry about as well. even the color of the stripes are most likely correct given they match the side logos so well and the difference between the black & white photos and color photos could easily be due to lighting. as i mentioned in my first post, there's a lot to like about this lid including the early pac-3 shell and vintage mask...

i'm surprised it's only at $72 with 8 hours left - wfl collectors and canadian football league collectors aren't shy about shelling out for such items! i'm sure there will be quite a bit of action during the waning minutes...

[hblakewolf]

great stuff mark! your post is exactly why this forum is second to none, a community effort. given the photos you were able to locate, i would say the stripes are nothing to worry about as well. even the color of the stripes are most likely correct given they match the side logos so well and the difference between the black & white photos and color photos could easily be due to lighting. as i mentioned in my first post, there's a lot to like about this lid including the early pac-3 shell and vintage mask...

i'm surprised it's only at $72 with 8 hours left - wfl collectors and canadian football league collectors aren't shy about shelling out for such items! i'm sure there will be quite a bit of action during the waning minutes...

Not shy at all! Final price-$681.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@comcast.net