Helmet Oddities

EQUIPMENT 
By John Turney

We've posted about facemasks, but we wanted to cover the unusual lids that some players have worn. Here are a few:

Perhaps the most famous helmet modification is the top padding on Willie Lanier's helmet:

Art Shell and Gene Upshaw also had the same padding (for some years) on top of their helmets -- likely MacGregor helmet with an Absorblo crown panel—

Fullback Marv Hubbard joining in the fun with a custom center pad—

From 1971-73 Bob Brown wore the padded helmet for the Silver and Black—

Here is Norm Bulaich's helmet with padding on the back:

Daryl Sanders with the Lions in 1964 with top padding—probably a MacGregor helmet with an Absorblo crown panel but some may be Riddell padding ... which were a slightly different shape—

Frank Lasky has a wide ridge or maybe padding, it's hard to tell.

Tom Vaughn of the Lions had what looks like central padding on lid: 

Pete Case of the Eagles with a large ridge:

Lane Howell of the Eagles has a center pad:

Irv Cross, another Eagle, with the center padding.

Bob Brown with the padded lid—

Brown also wore a padded helmet with the Rams, though it does not look as pronounced as it did with the Eagles or Raiders—

Here is a good shot of Freeman White with the "Absorblo" helmet. 

In 1973 safety Steve Preece wore Absorblo crown in 1973 and also when he was in Denver—

Preece in Denver (left) and in Los Angeles (right)—

However, in L.A. it was not all the time. Here he is with a Riddell and no padded crown—

The Cardinals Ken Gray with his padded lid—