For the Iowa State football team, the helmet is the second most important part of a football game, besides the football itself.

In 1940, the football world saw the introduction of the first plastic helmet developed by John T. Riddell. Since then, it’s evolved and grown into more than just a protective headpiece. 

As football modernizes, so do the designs of the uniform and the helmet, and Iowa State is included. 

Because of the growing fashion trends in football and new and unique helmets being more and more prevalent, I wanted to take a trip into the past and discuss the evolution of the helmet in terms of Iowa State football.

The early days (1947-1966)

The Cyclone helmet history started in 1947 with a gold helmet with a cardinal stripe down the middle, representing the Iowa State school colors. 

In 1952-53, the Cyclones took on a white helmet with a red stripe, and in 1954, they took on an all-gold helmet.

This trend of relatively simple helmets lasted until 1957 with the implementation of numbers on the side of an all-gold helmet.

In 1962, they took away those numbers, leaving an all-gold helmet until the end of the 1966 season.

The addition of logos (1967-1980)

1967 saw a great change in the way helmets were designed for Iowa State football. A walking Cy logo, which is still seen often at Iowa State, was implemented onto the side of a cardinal colored helmet.

The following season, the Cyclones took it up another step, with two separate helmets. These helmets both had an interlocking ‘ISU’ on the side, with one helmet in gold for home games and another in cardinal for away games. 

In 1975, the logo on the helmet was changed. A letter ‘I’ in bold with ‘ISU’ inside the letter, this was used until 1978.

1979 sees another new logo, a very 80s styled ‘ISU’ in gold on a cardinal helmet, until a change back in 1980.

The end of the century (1981-1994)

The beginning of the 80s was a big time, with video games, cassette tapes and a Cyclone helmet in all red with ‘ISU’ on the side and two yellow stripes shooting towards the back. 

From 1983 to 1986, the trend of new logos continued. The Cyclones used a yellow helmet with a red tornado on the side.

Something unique that you would likely never see today was the Cyclone award helmets. During this time, two players per game got to wear a red helmet with a yellow cyclone on the side, inverting the helmet seen for the rest of the team. This wouldn’t be allowed in modern football anymore, as every player on a team needs to wear the same colored helmet. 

In 1987, the Cyclones introduced a logo that many current Cyclone fans would be familiar with. A yellow helmet with the Cyclone script on each side.

Surprisingly, this helmet stuck for eight total seasons, the longest a helmet has stuck until this point. 

Y2K and the beginning of the 2000s (1995-2007)

In 1995, the Cyclones took a more modern look, with Cy, the mascot, as a tornado holding the letters ‘ISU.’ This helmet broke the trend of new helmets once again, sticking around for 13 total seasons until a change in 2008.

In 2007, the Cyclones took a trip to the past with a one-off helmet versus Iowa, bringing back the letter ‘I’ design with the ‘ISU’ in the middle.

The beginning of block ‘I’ (2008-2023)

The 2008 season saw the start of the longest-lasting helmet decal in Iowa State history. This helmet consisted of a block ‘I’ in cardinal with the word ‘STATE’ in gold going across the front. 

This helmet logo is quite unpopular among Cyclone fans and represents a trend of modernizing logos in corporate brands. 

Since the introduction of the block ‘I,’ there have been a couple of one-off designs. In 2013, the Cyclones replaced the logo with numbers for a single game versus Iowa, and for several games in 2014 and 2015, the base cardinal was made matte. 

In 2016, the Cyclones introduced a white base helmet against Oklahoma State, which stuck until 2024. 

A couple more one-off helmets appeared. In 2017 versus Akron, the block was hollowed out with a glossy red outline of the logo.

Against Texas in 2017, the helmet replaced the block with a Cyclone logo, which has only ever been seen in this game. 

2018 brought in the blackout uniform for the Cyclones, which includes an all black helmet and a black and white block logo on the sides. 

2023 saw a unique and stylish helmet against TCU for the Jack Trice game, with an all white helmet with a red stripe down the middle and ‘AMES’ script on each side of the helmet.

The modern era, with a nod to the past (2024-Present)

2024 was a big year for Iowa State fans. Nike brought forward four new uniforms for the Cyclones with a common cardinal home and a white away uniform, while also bringing in all black and all white alternate uniforms.

This all white uniform brought forth an inverted all black helmet, with a white base and a white logo with a black outline. 

The fifth game of the season saw a change and the beginning of a new era for the Cyclones, with the reintroduction of the Cyclone script. 

For three more games after the Baylor game, Iowa State inverted the colors of the helmet and the script for the all black uniforms.

What really did it for lots of Iowa State fans, though, was the introduction of the colored script helmet versus Utah. 

This helmet saw an all white base with a cardinal stripe and a cardinal script outlined in gold. This helmet was reutilized versus Arizona State in the Big 12 Championship.

The 2025 season saw the introduction of the Cyclone script on a cardinal base and a white script on the side. 

Coming into the game against the Kansas Jayhawks, the Cyclones have worn scripts for every single game this season, showing a change in design for the primary helmet for the first time since 2008.