Sports Design Blog

Remembering the USFL

I just got a chance to watch ESPN's 30 for 30 show about the USFL. I had really forgotten a lot of the details about the league that were presented in that documentary. Watching it brought back so many great memories of the USFL that I had really forgotten about over the years.

I was a teenage sports fan at the time the USFL began and I remember how cool it seemed back then that a new league was going to take a legitimate shot at the NFL. Even then, I was a uniform and logo junkie, so the league's logos and uniforms fascinated me. It had been a long time since I had seen video of that many teams from the league and the great designs they had.

Some of my favorites were the Denver Gold, Oakland Invaders and Arizona Wranglers. All those teams had cool uniforms and logos. (plus, it supports my football and yellow theory I wrote about last week) The league also featured one of my favorite helmet designs of all-time, that of the Boston Breakers. Though I was not a fan of their unusual colors, the Michigan Panthers also had a unique helmet design.

I had forgotten about the league's totally cool championship trophy. I don't think I had seen a picture of it since it was last hoisted over a head in 1985, but it is one of the greatest sports trophy designs. The metallic helmet on top of the trophy was about as cool as a trophy can get.

It is too bad that the league ended the way it did. It had so much going for it, top name players, cool logos and uniforms, and an exciting brand of football. The ESPN show documented all that led to the demise of the league. It also took a look at the involvement the Donald Trump as the owner of the New Jersey Generals and how it impacted the league's future. Much of the detail the show presented had escaped me so many years ago. It is a shame the league went away. How great would it be for all of us sports design folks to have this league around now, 25 years after it's founding?

If you haven't seen the show yet, search it out. It will bring back some great memories from the league that tried to do something extraordinary, and almost succeeded.

Old School Design: USFL Helmets

Today's Old School Design column takes a look at a true slice of sports design history. We all remember the USFL, taking on the NFL, signing players like Herschel Walker and Jim Kelly. It is a shame that the USFL only lasted a few years, because it featured some truly great logo, uniform and helmet designs in its short existence.

The helmets pictured above were from the mid 1980's and were created by a company called Orange Products. All of us remember collecting these gumball helmets for our favorite NFL teams, but these USFL examples are much less known. The set includes some classic teams like the New Jersey Generals, Oakland Invaders, Arizona Wranglers, Denver Gold, Michigan Panthers, Washington Federals and many others. These helmets showcase some of the classic logos and color combinations that made the league famous.

These helmets were a part of a special project that my Dad and I worked on in the mid 1980's. This project was an early look at my future as a sports products designer. We ordered several sets of these helmets from the manufacturer and my Dad hand crafted a set of shadow boxes to display them in. We made a dozen or so of the sets and would sell them at craft shows and at sports collectibles events.

I don't remember making much money off of them, but really enjoyed the time spent with my Dad and the creative energy we both put into the project. I knew then that my future was in the sports products business.