Vintage Ohio State Gem (Helmet)...

[Huron]

Aeneas01 & buckeyegamers, I'm a long time reader of the forum but haven't participated in discussions until now. I recently acquired a piece that Robert mentioned a few months ago and wanted to share it with the group; Archie's Sophomore/Junior year helmet. Are there additional Buckeye pieces out there?

[princip]

Welcome aboard Huron, and thanks for sharing these exceptional photos of your Archie Griffin helmet.

[Jake51]

Hi Huron,

That is an amazing piece, thanks for sharing!!! Always nice to see another football collector here!

Tom

[buckeyegamers]

Beautiful helmet Huron!!! I have not seen many OSU helmets on the market over the years but lately as Robert pointed out there have been a couple very nice ones, including yours. I picked mine up a few years back from a guy just outside of Marysville. He couldn't tell me much about it's history other than it had been in his family for a number of years.

[aeneas01]

guys, great looking helmets... buckeyegamers, what's the name that appears on the suspension webbing of your helmet? it looks like jack - "something" tatum? what's the scratched out name, looks like "yor..."

huron, i've always liked that griffin helmet and imo it matches perfectly to his 1974 gamer (see below). i know karey at "heismanheros.com" had that helmet listed at his site for some time, did you purchase it from him? btw, his herschel walker looks to be the real deal as well and passes all of the date code tests, the only hw i have looked at (and i've seen quite a few) that does.

griffin clearly wore more than one gladiator helmet while with ohio and from what i can tell it's clear that his 1974 and 1975 helmets were not the same, that he switched to a new helmet in 1975.... below i've circled what i believe to be common impact/wear marks, the most notable being the large cut across the center stripe which, unfortunately, blurred when i enlarged the game photo. nonetheless it is present and matches perfectly. btw the game photos are from 1974.



here's a look at the other side of the helmet - i believe the most notable marks can be found in the large circle, two verticle scuff marks...



here's griffin in 1974 (left) and 1975 (right) - clearly two different gladiator helmets. among other things, the positioning of the side facemask clip in relation to the ear hole is quite different and the lower chinstrap snap (near the facemask) is positioned differently as well when compared to the bottom rivet...



...

[Huron]

The documentation that accompanied the helmet confirmed that it was used in both 73 & 74, his Sophomore and Junior years...I guess you're allowed a new one at OSU if you win the Heisman.

Robert, It is the same piece that you saw on Karey's site and I was fortunate enough to meet with him when I made the purchase. A very nice person with an amazing collection. As you've (expertly) shown, the helmet can be photo matched and that gouge across the center stripe is pretty impressive. Here's a closer look...


Any more buckeye helmet images to share?

[buckeyegamers]

aeneas01 I will try to take some more pictures and post them. What is written in the helmet is Jack Bear Tatum. I've never heard of the nickname Bear for Tatum. Then it also has 58 written on another part of the webbing. The scratched out name appears to be York. Again I will try to get some clear pictures. Here is another Buckeyes helmet that I have had for a few years...don't know much about this one either.