Helmet Tracker

Inventory management platform for all sports

Helmet Bowl

Kennesaw State Owls are new and successful on the field-and in HB1

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Dan Glynn admits being somewhat surprised at the Owl’s success in Helmet Bowl I.

Kennesaw State defeated the Bridgewater Eagles by more than 700 votes in the first round of the National bracket after winning the Big South by a wide margin. Then defeated the Lyon Scots by less than 100, the favorited Mississippi State Golden Eagles by more than 500, and the Georgia State Panthers by less than 50.

Now they face the Gallaudet Bison, who have mustered the nation’s deaf community to vote for their helmet. The winner faces the San Diego State Aztecs or the Central Michigan Chippewas for the Helmet Bowl National Championship.

Success on every level so far, yet Glynn wonders how at times.

“That gold to some people can be pretty ugly,” he admits.

The golden yellow helmet supports an interlocking K and S for the Owls, and it’s relatively new.

In fact, football at Kennesaw State is relatively new. Legendary Georgia Bulldogs Coach Vince Dooley helped to create the feasibility study. Then, three years ago, the Owls took the field for the first time.

Now, they contend. This year they made it to the FCS quarter-finals, losing to Sam Houston State, finishing 12-2.

The K and S is meant to mimic the classic Notre Dame N and D logo, Dan tells us. A student body vote pushed the design to the top.

He first heard about Helmet Bowl at the AEMA Convention in Atlanta, and as the Owls started making waves in the Conference play, he ramped up the social media to build the vote. Now, the coaches, staff, team, and even his Mom Coleen regularly push the vote.

After being hurt his senior year of football in high school, Dan enrolled at nearby Grand Valley State in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He studied sports management, but along the way got a hold of Coach Chuck Martin (now at Miami of Ohio) and asked to work in the equipment room. “I wanted to stay involved in football and found out that this is what I wanted to do.”

“This is my thing now” he says. “I truly love what I do.”

Dan serves the AEMA as the Division III president.

“The opportunity to relate to the kids, to help them grow and be better people in the world—not just football players, that is why I do what I do.”

Dan works with 12 student managers and a full-time Olympic sports’ equipment manager at KSU.

He interned for the Jacksonville Jaguars and worked at Georgia State before landing with the Owls.

When he is not working, you can find Dan outside fishing, hiking, and camping. When inside, it’s jigsaw puzzles and video games. Now though, he’s getting out the Owl vote, hoping for a Helmet Bowl I Championship.

“Please keep voting for the Owls—we are new but making a splash!”

SDSU’s Sonny Sanfilippo is no ordinary Equipment Manager

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Prepare to be amazed (We weren't prepared).

This is an amazing story.

San Diego State has put their Aztec helmet into the Fantastic Four finalists in Helmet Bowl I. We reached out to Sonny Sanfilippo, the Assistant Director of Athletic Equipment Services and could hardly believe what he told us.

“When you walk on campus here, you pass this thing, it’s the gift the class of ’97 gave—a big circular stone Aztec calendar. It’s four to five feet in diameter,” Sony told us.

“I walk by it every day and thought it would be cool to put on a helmet and complement it on the jersey and pants.”

Equipment managers bring design ideas forward often. Nothing too spectacular there.

But wait.

“I created a design and brought it to the coach. I thought it would be really neat to wear once a year and then create a sort of mystique about it. It would have its own legend and the players and fans and community to look forward to.”

Did you catch that? Sonny actually designed the San Diego State Aztec helmet himself.

“He liked it so much he gave me the go-ahead. I took it to Nike and they liked it. They loved it.”

“At that time I really liked what we were wearing—it was the Marshall Faulk look.

“But Coach didn’t like one game spinoffs,” Sonny told us. “He (Head Coach Rocky Long) said the players should be excited to wear what they are wearing every week.”

“I went to Hydrographics up in Oregon and they made it happen.”

Sonny Sanfilippo is the designer of the popular San Diego State Aztecs helmet.

“The Aztec calendar has now worked its way into other SDSU uniforms—lacrosse, basketball, volleyball. It’s gratifying to see it take off.”

“I designed it myself.”

Equipment managers never seem to cease amazing us.

Sony just finished his 10th season in the equipment room—three as a student, and seven full time.

He grew up nearby and can’t imagine being anywhere else.

“I take a lot of pride in everything we do,” he says. “It would be really, really weird to go somewhere else.”

“I don’t have any reason to leave.”

In high school, he played baseball, and still loves the game, particularly the Brewers as he spent summers at his grandparents’ in Wisconsin.

Even then, he had what he calls a “nerdy passion” for uniforms.

He went to San Diego State, studied media studies with an aim to be a play by play announcer until he realized his path would take him to the backroads for years of paying dues. He shifted gears, decided to stay in the equipment room, and now is AEMA certified.

“I’ve been in love with uniforms since I was a kid and the opportunity to work in this environment and to expand on that—that captured me as a student and kept me on full time.

“We are really happy here.”

The program, Sonny says, is improving and the equipment staff is supportive, growing, and cohesive.

“It’s a good situation.”

Now is the best time of year, Sonny tells us, the time between semesters when the facilities are still, the students are home, the staff is sparse. Now, the candy apple red helmet with the Aztec calendar is poised to enter the final matchup if they can get past an undefeated Central Michigan Chippewas’ helmet.

“We first heard about Helmet Bowl through Twitter, sent a better image in, and started spreading the word.

“We haven’t seen anything like what you guys are doing. It’s really cool.”

 

Gallaudet Bison and Equipment Manager Kris Gould look to Earn a National Championship

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The Gallaudet Bison now battle in the Fantastic Four of the Helmet Bowl I after sweeping through the Eastern Collegiate Football in the Conference Championships to earn a spot in the National Bracket.

Gallaudet, in Washington, DC, is the nation’s deaf and hard of hearing university. The football team had a tough year on the field, going 3-7, but are marching through Helmet Bowl I with an eye to be the first Helmet Bowl National Champion.

First, they pushed past the Cheyney Wolves by 300+ votes, then rocketed past Ohio State (yes, the Buckeyes) by an astounding 600+ votes before battling through a tough Colgate squad by just over 100 votes to face a powerful Army contingent. The Bison beat the Black Knights by more than 600 votes and now face a surprisingly strong Kennesaw Owl voting block to get into the final match.

We contacted Sam Atkinson, Associate Athletic Director for Communications, to set up an interview with Equipment Manager Kris Gould. Gould was a student-athlete from ’82-’85, playing on the university’s soccer, baseball (he hit .441 in ’83-a school record at the time), and basketball teams. He joined the athletic department in 1991 and has coached, trained, managed, and been a mainstay in GU athletics. He currently serves as Facility and Equipment Coordinator.

Here’s our interview:

Q: How did you get interested in Equipment Management?

A: I have always wanted to be involved in athletics. Being around athletic equipment has always been an area that I knew I would be more involved with.  

Q: What high school sports did you play?

A: I played three sports: one year of football, two years of basketball, and three years of baseball.

Q: Are you part of the AEMA (Athletic Equipment Management Association)? Why?

A: Being involved with the AEMA keeps us up to date with new regulations, new products, new care, new equipment, and with all the equipment related issues for all sports. It’s a good organization to be involved with.

Q: How big is your staff?

A: Being a small Division III school, we have one person full time. We use a lot of student managers for teams and at times we have a couple of part-time workers for our academic year. At times we try to use college work-study student/athletes to help.

Q: What challenges do you face at your school?

A: Our school is in the heart of Washington, DC. Not only do we have our athletic teams, but we also have outside groups that we rent our facilities to. This adds a lot more work for us, from contracts, liability issues, and of course set up and cleaning crews.  

Q: What are the joys of your job?

A: The joys of the job are different each academic year with new student/athletes. Every day presents a different set of tasks, which makes our job more interesting. We get to serve in many areas of campus.

For me, it’s a joy to see each of our student-athletes develop as they go through our programs. Each of our teams has their own characters and it’s very interesting to see them develop into fine young student/athletes. We enjoy each of the teams that are on our campus. 

Q: What do you enjoy doing when you aren't around the equipment room/football?

A: On a personal level, I really enjoy the outdoors. For me, it’s an opportunity to get away from team sports.

Being away from work is a nice feeling. We all need to regroup and get thoughts back in check—whether we’ve had a great day or a bad day. All in all, it’s nice to have a little downtime before the next sports or even before the next fall season begins.

Q: Why stay at Gallaudet for so long? What do you especially like about it?

A: Our student/athletes are the reasons why I am here for the long haul. It’s been great being involved with Gallaudet for my career. The experience of seeing these student/athletes develop and grow into fine individuals has been a joy. I just hope we do enough to help them lead successful careers down the road.

Q: How do you deal with the different levels of hearing abilities on the team?

A: We strive to keep our communication open as much as we can and at the same time try to accommodate each student-athletes abilities. We aim to build into each team as a whole. It’s been a real challenge with each level of hearing abilities. The joy is when they all meld into one solid team once we work out a way of communicating with each student-athlete. 

But, I believe good communication is a big challenge for any team—whether they are hearing or hearing impaired.

Helmet Tracker’s interview with Kris Gould was done through a series of email exchanges. It has been edited for clarity. Any errors are ours.

Central Michigan Chippewas Battle for a Place in the Helmet Bowl I National Championship

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The Chipps were the only team to finish the Conference Championships undefeated as they battered through the MidAmerica Conference. Now, they battle the San Diego State Aztecs in the Helmet Bowl I National Championship Semi-finals after defeating the Coe Koehawks, Stout Blue Devils, Greenville Panthers, and the Wayne State Warriors. They are the only #1 Seeded team to make it so far in the National bracket.

In November, Helmet Bowl interviewed Central Michigan Equipment Coordinator Michael McPike. Here is that story.

Central Michigan Chippewas field a team of 115 players in the Maroon and Gold and its up to Equipment Coordinator Michael McPike to make sure each have the gear they need.

“I love getting to work with the student athletes—helping them out to reach their goals every day,” Michael tells Helmet Tracker. “For me, it’s the opportunity to continue to be a part of a team and help the coaches out as well. That’s fun.”

Michael has served four head coaches at CMU since arriving in 2005. He now leads a team of 13 student managers. Past student manages have graduated to begin their own careers in the equipment rooms of college programs across the nation. Michael says he introduces those who are interested in building a career to the Athletic Equipment Managers Association (AEMA), where he earned his certification in 2000.

Other former student managers under McPike work in marketing, logistics, and other businesses.

“I’ve had quite a few successful in coaching and administration.”

For Michael, it started during the filming of a used car advertisement.

After playing high school football, he enrolled at Bowling Green University and looked to somehow continue his involvement in the sport. Head coach Gary Blackney was shooting the ad when Michael wandered into the area during freshmen orientation. “He told me some of the opportunities there were with the football program and I wanted to work with the equipment,” Michael said. “From there, the biggest thing is that I have gotten a chance to work with some great equipment guys, learn things, and pass them along.”

Michael mentions Joe Sharp at Bowling Green, where he earned a degree in Business Administration, and Lester Karlin at Virginia Tech, where he earned a Masters of Science in Education with an emphasis on health promotion.

“I consider them, and those who work for me, family.”

Michael worked at Florida International University, then moved closer to home 12 years ago to work at CMU.

“It’s been a great ride here!”

Fantastic Four and Great8 Recap

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And now there is the Fantastic Four.

We started with all 777 college football helmets and now sit a week away from the National Championship matchup.

Will it be the Gallaudet Bison or Kennesaw State Owls?

The Bison bring a bronze helmet with a charging bison over a blue capital G and U against the bright yellow lid of the Owls emblazoned with an interlocking K and S. No birds in sight!

The winner of the match faces either the Central Michigan Chippewas or the San Diego State Aztecs.

The Chipps ride a maroon hat with a rushing Italian block C against the artistic Aztec bright red helmet embossed by the Aztec calendar in a careful black design.

Who wins is up to you, the voters.

Highest Vote

The Aztecs brought in about 70 more votes in Round 4 than the Bison.

The low vote? Central Michigan, about 200 fewer tallies than Kennesaw State.

Doing the math, it looks like a Bison/Aztec Championship. Will the Owls or Chipps break the odds?

Round 4

Four three of the four matches, advancement was possible for any of the six teams. With just a couple hours left, less than a couple dozen votes separated Georgia State and Kennesaw State, College of Idaho (!) and San Diego State, and Central Michigan and Wayne State.

 

As noon Central crept closer, the Owls sneaked ahead, the Coyotes could not keep pace, and Wayne State ran out of steam.

Congratulations to the Owls, Coyotes, Army Black Knights, and Warriors for a great Helmet Bowl I showing. See you next year!