Occasionally, we come across a helmet that is fresh to the hobby, in which it was released from the team and never made it to the public.  Such is the case with this Arizona Cardinals Game Worn helmet from the 1994 season worn by star quarterback and Super Bowl champion, Jim McMahon.  The helmet was worn by McMahon for his only season that he played in the desert, following mild success with the Vikings as their starting quarterback in 1993.  McMahon joined the Cardinals in 1994 and started the last game of his career in week 3 of the season - while wearing this helmet.  He finished the '94 season as the Cardinals third-string quarterback and left the team for Cleveland.  When the helmets were sent to their reconditioner following the season, his helmet was pulled from the lot, replaced with a new helmet, and placed on a shelf where it has sat for the last 20 plus years.  The helmet is all original, fresh to the hobby, and ready to impress your friends as part of your collection. 

The helmet is original as sourced, unaltered since released, and matches photos of McMahon during the 1994 season.  It has the original Cardinals decals on the sides, properly positioned on the helmet - matching the positioning of McMahon's helmet, and adhered to the helmet very well with no lifting.  The helmet has the famous Schutt JOP-SW model facemask, along with his trademark 20% dark Z-Leader shield that McMahon wore due to a childhood eye injury in which his right eye was extremely sensitive to light.  The mask is secured to the helmet with the original conventional Schutt clips at the top mounts and Riddell clips at the side mounts of the mask.  The Riddell clips at the side were often used by the Cardinals equipment staff due to the two holes in the clips which offered a bit of flexibility with the positioning of the mask. The helmet has a chinstrap, the same style as worn by McMahon, but appears to be a replacement as it shows little to no wear and does not have McMahon's number 9 written on it. 

The helmet has light to moderate quarterback wear to the outside and inside, consistent with the three games that McMahon played for the Cardinals.   The helmet has the athletic tape that the Cardinals equipment staff has used for years, as the player identifier but also with the year of the helmet and the facemask model.  The helmet has the XL team applied black on clear warning label, NFL shield, and McMahon's #9 on the rear of the helmet.   What a helmet! It does not get any better!