Welcome back to Peculiar Side of Sports. Every so often something in sports perplexes me, and I just hate not knowing something. So, I do what any normal, sane sports fan does – I search ad nauseam for the answer by any means necessary. The good news is that I take all my hard work and relay the results to you. If you are a fan of Sports History, check out the other articles I have written – “Sports History” covering virtually all major sports.
Having watched a phenomenal game between FSU and Auburn, at one point I questioned whether I truly knew why Seminole players have tomahawk stickers on their helmets. After some thought, I realized I didn’t, and nor did I know why Clemson and Ohio State (amongst many others) practiced a similar exercise. What exactly was it a reward for? When did this start? Who started it? How many schools have adopted it? Today I hope to answer some of my own questions, and hope to shed some light on an interesting tradition amongst many colleges and high schools.
Before we look at the history of college football helmet stickers, let’s quickly answer who wears them, so we get an idea of the breadth of the practice:
Division I schools who currently reward their football players with helmet stickers:
Akron, Buffalo, BYU, Central Michigan, Clemson, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Kent State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, South Florida, Stanford, Tennessee, Toledo, UNLV, Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky
Origins
I was surprised to learn that the first school to adopt the stickers was not Ohio State as I suspected (though they used them soon after), but at least I had the state correct. The first school to reward players with stickers is credited to Miami of Ohio. Jim Young was an assistant coach at the college from 1964-1968 before moving on to University of Michigan. It was in 1965 that he came up with the idea to reward athletes with a star to put on their helmets as a means of distinction.
A few schools are synonymous with their helmet stickers today. While I haven’t included all of them, below you will find a brief description of the sticker and a short history of its origins for several schools.
BYU: Adopted in 1978 – Cougars (gold for personal goals, blue for team goals) – Coaches began rewarding players in the 1978 season with stickers to denote excellent on-field performances. 1978 was also a year of change as their entire uniform changed. Though the changes were abandoned at the end of the season before a game against Navy, the helmet stickers survived as part of BYU football. There was a period where they were abandoned before being resurrected 9 seasons ago.
Clemson – Paw prints – Originally Clemson used skull and crossbones stickers, but a more “tame” sticker was adopted in more recent years and is currently what the team awards for on-field play.
Duke: Grim Reaper (densive players only) – The practise of giving stickers to defensive players was born out of a necessity to play stronger as a unit given a string of weak performances. The hope was that the Grim Reaper stickers would instill a sense of pride on the defense, making each player accountable to the unit. The stickers were very successful, and production from the defensive unit increased soon after the policy was adopted including a significant rise in quarterback sacks.
Florida State – Tomahawk (“academic” inscribed on the handle for academic excellence) – Florida State has a very scientific way to earn, and lose, stickers. Stickers are awarded to players for outstanding plays which are broken down by type, both offensively and defensively. In addition to awarding stickers, they are also taken away for poor penalties, fumbles and other costly mishaps. FSU says the stickers have been very successful as they hold players accountable for their actions.
Georgia – Bones (white for football excellence, black for academics) – Originally, Georgia utilized stickers depicting stars as early as 1971, but the practice was abandoned until its resurrection under the current “bones” stickers in 2001. While not as scientific in their distribution as other big schools, Georgia leaves it to the coaches to determine which big plays are sticker-worthy. As a sidenote, as early as 1966 Georgia players had stickers reading “GATA” (Get After Tech’s (or Their) Ass) scrolled down the center stripe.
Michigan State – “S” – MSU has used stickers for decades now, beginning with small spartan helmets, being replaced by the signature block “S”. The current helmets have two distinct stickers; the same block S as used before, but also a spartan spear which is found on the left half. The “S” is given to each player for every Spartan win, and is applied to the right half of the helmet. The spear is given for production points, which are attained for on-field excellence.
Northwestern – Wildcat – Stickers are not widely distributed at Northwestern – except during winning seasons! The school gives one sticker to every member of the team to celebrate a team victory, with stickers accumulating over a player’s college career.
Ohio State – Buckeye leaf – The Buckeyes are one of the most recognizable schools to use the helmet stickers, and it all began with trainer Ernie Biggs in 1968 looking for a way to reward the players. Coach Woody Hayes loved the idea and the team began rewarding excellent performances with a sticker depicting a Buckeye tree. In the beginning, stickers were only given sparsely, which is much different from today’s sticker-cluttered helmets. Today, the team takes pride in rewarding group victories over personal ones.
Purdue – Train – The “Boilermaker Special”, the official logo of Purdue Athletics, are awarded to athletes for on-field performance. The logo is of a train, in reference to the school’s proud tradition of engineering. As of 2006, however, the team abolished the practice until last season where memorial stickers were worn in celebration of Neil Armstrong’s life – Neil arrived at Purdue in 1947 in their aeronautical engineering department.
Stanford – Axe blades – The stickers that don the Cardinal helmets are meant to resemble the axe that is awarded to the team that wins the annual tilt between Stanford and rival Cal. The practice only began in 2009, but many fans and players have rallied around it as they have the axe. Stanford awards the stickers for excellence both in game situations as well as in practices.
Tennessee – “63” – Recently adopted is the Vols’ “63” sticker, which, according to head coach Butch Jones, means “six seconds, three great efforts” – it takes 6 seconds for each play, and 3 efforts on each play. A sticker is awarded to the player who embodies that effort each game.
Vanderbilt – Ship anchors and stars – Vanderbilt uses two different stickers: anchors and stars. Stars are awarded for outstanding special teams play, while anchors are given for defense and offense. The anchor has been used in Vanderbilt football since 2004, as a large ship anchor is carried from the locker room to the field for home games. The procession is called Star Walk (hence, star stickers) and began in the 1990’s as the team travels amongst rabid fans in a pep rally of sorts.
Thanks for reading! Please visit my column’s homepage and see the rest of my Peculiar Side of Sports articles. Have an interesting question you want answered? Feel free to leave comments below. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter – @LastWordMKovacs, as well as the site – @lastwordonsport.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? If so, check out our “Write For Us” page to find out how.
