Tiger Helmets

Tiger helmets worn during the 1910’s and 1920’s were of the brown leather variety in the early history of Commerce football.

However, since football was rejuvenated in 1940, the Tiger helmet has changed on a few occasions.

From 1940-1951, the Commerce helmet was basically a black one with a few yellowish-brown sections in the late 1940’s.

From 1952-1959, Commerce wore a solid silver helmet. Beginning in 1960-1966, the Tiger helmet was solid black once more. However, in 1965 there was one white stripe down the center, and in 1966….. ….. two white stripes were placed down the center of the head gear.

In 1967, when Coach Ray Lamb became the Tiger’s head mentor he had Commerce players wearing a gold helmet with a white center stripe flanked by two black ones.

The following season in 1968 a black “C” outlined in white was added to both sides of the Tiger helmet. This lasted through the 1973 season.

In 1974 for the first 6 games, Commerce wore a black helmet again with a white stripe down the center. In game seven, the Tigers added a tiger paw on each side. This pattern lasted through the 1988 season.

With the coming of Steve Savage as the Commerce head coach in 1989, Commerce went to the solid gold helmet with a center black stripe. This lasted through 1994.

In 1995 Coach Savage initiated the black helmet once more with a wide center gold stripe flanked by two white stripes and a gold Cincinnati baseball “C” on each side outlined in white. This has been the Tiger helmet through the 2009 season.