Today's Tidbit... Beaver Cleaver's Football Gear

The Paris Olympics closed 30 minutes ago, so it’s time to focus on football and the start of youth football training camp.

Back in February, I wrote about a Pennsylvania Athletic Products comic book featuring Otto Graham and his training tips that helped a boy grow into a football star. The comic book has a Leave It To Beaver quality to it, which is quite the compliment in my eyes. So, I’ll take the opportunity to discuss football as seen in a Leave It To Beaver episode. Beaver's Team (Season 3, Episode 39) that premiered on June 25, 1960. I came across it in a 2023 tweet and watched it here on Peacock.

One could analyze the episode through various lenses, but since the story opens with Beaver requesting that his Dad buy him football gear, I thought I should analyze the episode based on the football gear the boys use.

The storyline involves the Beav forming a seven-player team called the Lightning 11 to play the Grant Avenue Tigers. Older brother Wally coaches the team and installs a secret play, the old 98, which Beaver fails to keep secret.

Setting aside the storyline, let’s look at images from the episode showing the boy’s gear. The first image shows Beaver (on the right) and a friend. Both wear period plastic helmets, though Beaver's helmet has a clear plastic face mask while his friend goes without since his parents do not love him as much as Ward and June Cleaver love the Beaver. The facemaskless lad doesn't even have his chin strap adjusted correctly.

Also, note that Beaver's helmet includes a series of stars along the front. Football's first "award stickers" were star-shaped and appeared on Cal's helmets in 1958. Since the Grant Avenue contest is the first for Beaver's team, the stars are decorative and do not recognize Beaver’s accomplishments.

The second image shows three players from the opposing team. Two boys also come from families that do not love them since they are headed into battle without face masks. However, the team captain, Ricky Rickover, likely has an overly protective mother since she outfits him with a full face mask that appears to be reinforced rebar. He also has a mouthguard, unlike the other boys. Unfortunately, the overprotective face mask limits his visibility, setting him up for injury.

Facemaskless boy #2 has a hand-painted TV number on the side of his helmet. TV numbers appeared on helmets in the latter part of the 1950s following a request by the National Photographers Association that teams put more numbers on football uniforms. This led to numbers on helmets, shoulders, and sleeves. Of course, a football game among neighborhood boys would not have appeared on TV, but since the game in question was from a primetime TV show, it sort of makes sense.

Boy #2 (but #7 in your program) also has a piece of athletic tape on the front of his helmet. The image does not reveal whether this is an example of Name on the Helmet, but we can assume that it is.

A third image shows Beaver and another teammate talking to one another. Beaver appears much as before, but this image shows his chin strap is not positioned correctly, hanging loosely under his chin. Leave it to Beaver to not strap it up properly.

His teammate Gilbert has it going on. He wears a white plastic face mask that appeared on backyard helmets for a generation or two. His helmet also has stars on the front, official TV numbers on the side, a properly positioned chin strap, and a poorly trimmed nose bumper on the helmet's edge.

The fourth image is of lower quality and shows Beaver executing Old 98 by bootlegging left while hiding the ball on his hip. The ball is white with black stripes. These balls were normally reserved for night nights, but since the show aired in the evening, I guess using a white ball makes sense in a certain way.

The final image is also of lower quality and shows Wally under center, giving the team a few pointers The team has seven players with five linemen, a quarterback, and a single halfback or fullback. It is unclear whether the tackles/ends are eligible receivers, but the most concerning aspect of the image is that Eddie Haskell serves as a coach and appears to have a whistle hanging from his neck. More disturbingly, Eddie acts as the referee for the game later in the episode. He offers to favor the Lightning 11, but goody-two-shoes Wally tells him to call them as he sees them.

I won't reveal how the game ends, but let's just say that the Beaver did not receive award stickers for his performance in the big game. Still, Beaver gave it the old Mayfield try, and that’s what matters in the end.

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