Football Southern Conference

Western Carolina To Sport New Helmet Design

Cullowhee, N.C. - Before the annual Western Carolina annual Purple-Gold Spring Game on Saturday (April 13), Catamount head football coach Kent Briggs unveiled a new helmet design for the 2002 season which combines elements of the past, the present and the future of the team.

As the Catamount football program prepares to kickoff the Kent Briggs era in the fall of 2002, the look of the football helmets will also begin a new era. "The Cats" mark has been reborn with a look that reflects the significance of the past, a feel for the present and a look to the future. The new helmet mark displays the progressiveness of Western Carolina University, the Department of Athletics and the surrounding community.

"The new mark symbolizes the importance of the tradition from the past with 'The Cats' being brought back to the helmet," Briggs said. "But this new design adds the 'cat eyes' which reflects the vision and our current direction, while the fangs in 'The Cats' represent the attacking mentality of the football program. We wanted to incorporate the past, the present and the future. One by itself would not have been as strong or as important as all three are together."

Prior to the 1971 season, Coach Bob Waters and his staff decided that the football helmets needed a new look. The Catamount football teams through the years had worn plain, purple helmets that adorned no logos or marks. It had to be simple, but different from what others had. It needed to set Western apart. "The Cats" written in script became the choice and, over time, the tradition of Western Carolina football. Although it changed in color - going from white to gold - "The Cats" remained on the Catamount football helmets for 27 of the next 28 years, until it was dropped in favor of the block "W" that has been worn during the past three seasons. (In 1989, the helmets resembled the current Louisiana State helmet as it the shell was gold with "WCU" arched over a Catamount head in purple.)

Western Carolina will open the 2002 football season with a 3:30 game at Liberty on August 31. The home opener of the Catamounts will be Sept. 14 versus West Virginia Tech.