Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, Cleveland: Old-fashioned "leatherhead" football helmets from the early 1900s are often as effective as – and sometimes better than – modern football helmets at protecting ...

Vintage leather football helmets often as protective as modern helmets in common, game-like hits. ScienceDaily . Retrieved June 2, 2025 from www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2011 / 11 ...

Sometime around 1937 when he was 12-years-old Frank Graham, Jr. received a special gift from his father, a prominent New York sports writer: a very early hard-shell football helmet. During his ...

Cleveland Clinic researchers have said that old-fashioned leatherhead football helmets from the early 1900s are often as effective as modern football helmets.

At the same time, it’s worth noting that the vintage helmets tested were each about 80 years old, so their age might have meant weaker leather fibers than if pristine leatherheads had been tested.

Football helmets used to be made of leather and weren't mandatory in the NFL until 1943. Scoreboards used to be manually operated. Football audiences dressed more formally than they do now. Visit ...