Every once in a while, hardly every, a game worn helmet comes along that we have not seen before.  A helmet so awesome that it tells a story, and we have to have it.   Such is the case with this helmet - how awesome is it?  Game Worn Utah Utes very early BIKE AiR Power model helmet.   The helmet was manufactured in 1977 making it one of the first BIKE helmets produced, and is all original and complete. 

The helmet has extreme wear to the exterior with deep gouges, paint transfers, damage to both logos, and damage to the center stripes and award decals on the rear.  The helmet has cracking to the shell on the right side crown as shown in the photos below - the reason it was taken out of service prior to its normal expiration date. Additionally, the mask shows significant wear with it coating ripped off from countless blows to the mask from a season(s) of games in the trenches. 

The AiR Power was a popular helmet in College Football after its introduction in 1977 and continues to be a popular helmet today with helmet collectors.   This helmet is a very early example with the blue BIKE name on the front bumper, the blank individual tooth rear sizer, and the very rare squared/sharp sides on the eight (8) bladder blocks.  The helmet is complete with all of the padding, the double air bladder, mask, chin strap, and jaw pads.  The jaw pads are a mismatched pair - one Riddell, and one handed original BIKE jaw pad.  The original well worn 1970s Schutt NJOP is secured to the helmet with reproduction clips as the original clips were brittle and broken. The helmet retains its original hardware to mount the mask. 

The helmet is a regular size. There is a player identifier #70 written on one of the bladder cubes as well as written above the earhole of the helmet.   The logo decals are proper and original to the helmet. They are positioned properly and adhered to the helmet well, with no lifting and exhibit heavy wear with damage and paint transfers.  As mentioned above there is some cracking at the crown of the right side and down under the right side logo as shown by the cracking to the logo decal itself.  A great helmet, in a rare very desirable early model, to display for your collection, at a great price. An awesome helmet for the fan or the helmet collector.