New Illini Football Helmets Tell a Story About the Program’s History - University of Illinois Athletics (2024)

By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

As the Bret Bielema Era begins on Saturday, Fighting Illini football helmets and uniforms will feature a new yet very traditional appearance.

Determining how his team was going to dress on game day was one of the new University of Illinois head coach's first priorities.

"I've been watching Illinois over the years and have looked at all of the different uniform combinations," Bielema said. "One of the first areas I wanted to attack was our helmet. I looked at all of the helmets of the past and thought about what we could do in the future. Three things jumped out to me. I love the colors orange and blue. Ever since my wife and I have known each other, she'll tell you that I've always wanted an orange room in our home. I love the color orange. It's been something that's always jumped out to me. I think we have such a unique opportunity here at the University of Illinois to showcase a color that not a lot of people get to do. There's no other orange in the Big Ten; it's very rare in college football, so I wanted to maximize that. That drove me to the orange helmet. I love the Illini helmets of the past and I've seen some striping down the middle of the helmet. It just makes everything pop a little bit. I love the Block I, so that made us go to the Block I with the white trim. And the white facemask was something that I remembered when I played and coached against Illinois was how much it popped."

Bielema is reaching into Illinois football's archives to return other features which harken back to the successful campaigns of John Mackovic and Ron Turner's respective championship teams of 20 and 31 years ago. Besides the return of clean, white face masks, a more streamlined one-inch navy stripe bordered by two quarter-inch white stripes stretches down the center of the helmet. On the front "snubber" of the helmet, replacing the Big Ten logo, is the unique emblem that displays Bielema's new "FamILLy" theme.

"(Illini equipment manager) Trent (Chestnut) and his staff have been absolutely awesome with the uniform design," Bielema said. "We could do a lot of things with the helmet, but I couldn't touch the uniform. Within the time frame that I've been here, Nike wouldn't let us do much, but I did ask to put the Block I on the pants. I think that's really dressed up our uniform."

To accentuate the redesigned helmet, navy jersey (with orange numerals) and orange pants, Illini players will be attired in white gloves, white socks and white shoes.

While the majority of the Illini players wear "Riddell" helmets, some prefer the headgear of companies such as Schutt, Vicis and Xenith. All are five-star, safety-rated helmets.

In the 131-year history of Fighting Illini football, there have been great advancements in protective headgear. In 1890, Illinois' maiden season, men played bareheaded. By 1898, archive photographs depict crude apparatus that primarily protected one's ears. In the early 1900s, soft leather skull caps began appearing. By the '20s, hardened leather helmets were popular. The 1946 Big Ten champion Illini donned the very first hard plastic helmets.

The first evidence of decoration on University of Illinois helmets appeared in 1955 when the players' numbers became prominent. It wasn't until the Bob Blackman Era in 1971 that the word "Illini" initially appeared. That evolved into "Illinois" in 1990 and continued that way until 2012 when the popular Block "I" logo materialized.

Enthusiastically approved by Illini players when the uniforms were introduced to them for the first time on Wednesday, a Block "I" helmet is featured for the tenth straight year. However, instead of the chrome decal of the past few years, the distinctive orange helmets feature a bold navy "I" trimmed in white.

Tweeted long snapper Ethan Tabel on Wednesday, "These look so good, I might just wear mine to class."

Bielema reminded his troops that the new helmets and uniforms come with a responsibility.

"I just told our guys that I can do certain things with the uniform, but they have to take care of the uniform," he said. "I gave it to them, now they've got to represent it. Now, they're going to go out on the field and hopefully make everybody understand what that uniform represents."