Coach Hayden Fry: Helmet Innovator

Coach Hayden Fry passed away last December at age 90.  He was a Head Coach at three universities; SMU 1962-72, North Texas 1973-78 and Iowa 1979-98.  At all three schools, he had a big impact on their helmet history.  At SMU he introduced the mustang in 1963.

The logo was altered in 1968 to the more familiar style that is still used today.

To see the entire helmet history of SMU, go to ​https://www.helmethistory.com/smu.html

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At North Texas Coach Fry changed their helmet in his first season to a lime green with a newly designed eagle.  The would wear this helmet for 10 years (6 years with gray facemask when Fry was coaching and 4 years after with white facemask.

Coach Fry is best known for two helmet innovations he did while Head Coach at Iowa.  The first was changing their helmet logo to the Tigerhawk logo that is still in use today.  In fact the entire design (black helmet, black facemask, gold stripe, gold Tigerhawk logo) is still Iowa's base helmet 41 years later.

​The second innovation was the introduction of the ANF (America Needs Farmers) logo on the top of the Iowa helmet to support farmers in Iowa and all across America.  It appeared in the 8th game of the 1985 season and stayed through the 1992 season.  A smaller version of the logo returned in 2009.

​Coach Hayden Fry will be remembered not only for his success on the field but his big contributions to helmet history!

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