1977 Pro Bowl Helmet - Louie Wright

Back when the Pro Bowl was actually not only a football game, but one where the players played to win, the guys would show up to the game with their helmet and hand it off to the equipment manager to be painted.  

That’s right, the helmet they wore during the season would be painted red if you were a member of the AFC team and blue if you were a member for the NFC.

This took place from 1971 to 1978, however in 1979 the guys would still wear their helmet from the season but there was no paint job applied once they arrived.  A change that teams and equipment managers appreciated as it cut down on the number of helmets that had to be replaced because they had been spraypainted for the Pro Bowl!

An example of this can be seen here with Louie Wright’s Pro Bowl helmet following the 1977 season.  

Louie wore this helmet throughout this magical season including the Broncos first appearance in the playoffs and Super Bowl.  Here you can see Louie wearing the helmet after making an interception in that amazing 1977 win on the road vs the Raiders and also, that same year, about to pick off the Chiefs at Mile High Stadium.   

Once he arrived in Tampa for the Pro Bowl he handed his helmet to the equipment manager and when he got it back it was painted red with a white ‘A’ decal on each side to indicate he was playing for the AFC.  

The paint jobs were quick and not overly sophisticated.  While they did take the time to take the facemask off before spray painting, they didn’t bother with snaps for the chin straps and instead just painted right over them.  The inside of the helmet is still the dark blue that the Broncos wore throughout the late 1960s and into the early 1980s before switching to the slightly lighter shade of blue in the mid 80s.

Another unique aspect of these early Pro Bowl games was the fact that you weren’t guaranteed to wear your regular number.  If someone more seasoned had the same number, you wore a different one for the game.  In this instance Louie wore 22 rather than his normal 20 and you can see the remnants of the 22 decals on the back.