FRUITPORT – Back in 2019, the Fruitport football team changed the traditional look of its helmets.

The team removed the old winged design – which is very similar to the University of Michigan’s famous helmets – and opted for a block F against a blue background.

The change was made at the request of the players at the time, but it didn’t sit well with some former players and longtime fans.

Now Trojan Nation can celebrate, because the traditional winged helmets are back!  

The high school was forced to purchase brand new helmets for this season, due to a snag with a previous contractor.

The helmets that Fruitport had been using in recent years were manufactured by a company that was sold after the helmets were purchased, according to varsity football coach Nate Smith.

The new management declined to recondition those helmets, which is required every two years, forcing school administrators to go shopping for new ones.

The school came to an agreement with a company called Riddell to purchase a line of helmets called Axiom, which are state of the art in terms of technology and player safety.  

Since new helmets were ordered, school officials started talking about the possibility of bringing the old winged design back. They finally decided that it would make a great connection between the winning history of the Fruitport football team and the current program, which is on the upswing after going 8-3 last season and winning a share of the O-K Blue conference championship.

Coach Smith said the original decision to switch to the block F design “was a touchy subject around Fruitport.”

Now he’s thrilled to be making the reconnection with a great era of Trojan football history.

The winged helmet debuted back in 1972 when the legendary Tom Holden was the Trojans’ head coach, and the team went on to have a lot of great seasons with the classic design.   

That first season, 1972, Fruitport went 9-0. The Trojans were 8-1 in 1973 and 1975 and went on to have 11 more seasons when they won at least seven games during the winged-helmet era.

That included 2001, when Fruitport was 13-1 and advanced all the way to the state finals.

“I think things are going back to the way they should be,” Smith said. “The players all understand what the wings represent – they represent tradition.

“This is more about the teams that played before that did have the wings. It’s a visually unifying thing. When these guys put these helmets on, they will be making a connection with history, and there’s a level of honor to that.   

“The new direction is the old direction, getting back to what we were. It’s time to embrace this and lock into this. We all decided that right now was the right time to bring this back.”

Several players say they are honored and excited to be playing this season with the traditional look.

“I like that we brought them back,” said senior Daiton Campbell. “A lot of older people who played before us can be in the stands and get to enjoy the wings again and see that the younger kids are wearing them. It will probably bring back a lot of good memories for them.”

“I really love them,” added senior Ricky Wiggins. “It’s really nice for the community. I think a lot of people are excited about this.”  

The best part about the new winged helmets are their extra safety features. The number of player concussions has decreased dramatically at Fruitport in recent years, according to Smith, and the technology used in the new helmets should continue that trend, he said.

The “impact sensing and reporting system” installed inside the helmets will produce a weekly report for Fruitport coaches, telling them how many hits to the head a player took and the spots on the helmet where the hits occurred. A coach on the sideline will also have a handheld device that will report helmet impacts instantly, so the staff can be aware of potential injuries.

The data that the technology provides, and the fact that the helmets were custom designed to fit individual Fruitport football players, should add a lot to the safety aspect for the Trojans, Smith said.

Fruitport is the first school in the area to employ the helmet technology, but others are very likely to follow, the coach said. The helmets have already been in use in pro and college football for several years, he said.   

“This is going to be a game changer,” Smith said. “These helmets will be across high school football in a few years. They are going to give us great data from a safety and football standpoint, telling us what the players are doing physically, who’s tackling with the proper technique, things like that.”

Smith said the new helmets required a significant investment by the school district, but it was more than worth it.

“Our financial guy saw me at a basketball game and jokingly said, ‘You’re killing me with the new helmets,’ but he also said he didn’t see how we couldn’t do it. We owe it to the players to give this back to them.”