This auction came and went on eBay, with buyers perhaps scared off by the nearly $4,000 asking price. The seller claims, backed up by a letter of authenticity, that this is a Bike helmet that once belonged to the great Anthony Carter:
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Is it the real deal? Paging Dr. Sap!
Coincidentally this ties in two recent posts on these pages. First off, the Michigan Bike helmet was the offspring of the research performed by Elwyn Gooding and the team from U-M. And while we’re on the topic of Carter, AC is featured in one of Dr. Sap’s throwback NCAA Football covers. Also featured is a gent I described as the most interesting man in the world:
Thanks to notes from his nephew and his son, we now know that this man is Jerry Wright, who worked at the Ann Arbor police department. Mr. Wright passed away in ‘99 but he lives on in Michigan lore!
Update: Great comments below on the analysis, and Dr. Sap sent over this collage of AC photos:
Update #2. An anonymous former player weighs in:
Just as a side note the helmet may have well been Anthony’s but the claim that he wore it for three years is probably not accurate. We were issued new game helmets every year and quite often our previous year’s game helmet became our practice helmet the following fall. Unless Anthony asked for the same game helmet for some reason I don’t know that he would have had the same helmet for three years. Plus there are no blemishes or scratches on the helmet that he would undoubtedly would have received even as a receiver. And, if I recall, AC won a gold football or two during his years there. It may very well be his helmet but probably a practice helmet.
4 Comments
Brian
Greg,
every pic of AC has navy blue facemask clips. This one has clear. This helmet has nice distinguishing marks; it should be easy to photo match this lid if it is authentic or not.
Dan
The award decals are also missing. I contacted the seller and he said that the team had changed out the clips and that AC had removed the decals.
I tried and was unable to photo match the helmet.
Dennis
I scanned thru all the AC action game photos that I have and this helmet on eBay does not appear to be the one worn in 1982, as AC had those bright white foam pads inside the helmet just below the ears and this helmet for auction has the tan leather pads. Also noticed what Brian said above that all facemask clips were blue. In the 1980 wire photos I have, AC has multiple decals in some picks and no decals in others – maybe early in the year. Also appears the 1980 picks i have the wing on the below did not slightly turn up as it appears in the 1982 pics…Maybe the wings were slightly different. Bottom line, this may have been a 1980 or 81 gamer, but most likely not 1982. Nice item if it is a real AC game helmet. I know many of this awards, jerseys, watches, warmups and equipment went on eBay a couple years back….keep up the great stories. GO BLUE
guanxi
“AC had those bright white foam pads inside the helmet just below the ears and this helmet for auction has the tan leather pads.”
They could be the same pads, with 30 years of aging.