Tumbleweeds and the Football Helmet Logo Whodunnit
While researching the adoption of helmet logos by NFL teams in the late 1950s and early 1960s, I came across stories indicating that one artist created the logos used by the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants, the Dallas Cowboys' "riding cowboy" alternate logo, and a Cleveland Browns logo that never saw use.
The artist was Tom K. Ryan, who passed away in 2019. He is best known for his syndicated cartoon strip, Tumbleweeds, published from 1965 to 2007.
Before Tumbleweeds' success, Ryan was a starving artist who tried various jobs before landing in commercial art and living in Muncie, Indiana. Working independently in the early 1960s, he created cartoons for the Muncie Evening News, and the story of his helmet logo designs originated in one of their columns.
The article also indicates that Muncie-based Ball State would use a Ryan-designed logo for the 1961 season, though their yearbooks show they did not use a logo in 1961 and had TV numbers on the sides of their helmets in 1962 and 1963.
The NFL logo-designing story was repeated in a story profiling Ryan when Tumbleweeds entered syndication in 1965. Later stories in Muncie and area newspapers profiling him in 1968 and 1971 also mention his helmet designs. Unfortunately, I found no information confirming his role with the designs, though my untrained eye is open to accepting the Dallas Cowboys story.
Let's look at each team in turn.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers debuted their G logo at an intrasquad scrimmage on August 5, 1961, nine days before the first Ryan profile article appeared.
All indications are that Lombardi requested that equipment manager Gerald Brashier develop a logo he created with a local art student, John Gordon. The video below tells that version of the story.
New York Giants
The Giants also adopted a helmet logo in 1961. Before that, they used a "giant quarterback" logo designed by Marie Barclay Steinmuller. She is said to have also created the lowercase "NY" logo, so absent evidence confirming Ryan's role; he does not appear to have made it there either.
Cleveland Browns
Everyone knows the Browns have never had a helmet logo, and their logolessness led NFL Properties to create a phantom logo for some merchandise in 1965. Still, I have not found another source confirming Ryan created a design for the Clevelanders, though Ryan might have designed a logo they never used.
Dallas Cowboys
Ryan's design story gets more interesting with Dallas. The Cowboys' helmet logo began life as a plain blue star in 1960 before adding the white and blue outlines in 1964.
Of course, the Ryan articles do not claim that he designed the start but indicates that he created their alternate logo, "Riding Cowboy."
Again, I found no information confirming his or anyone else's role in the "Riding Cowboy" design, but I consider this one plausible. Ryan's biography indicates he was deeply involved in researching and reading about the Old West by the late 1950s, and his drawing of Tumbleweed astride his trusty steed, Epic, resembles the Riding Cowboy. How strong is the resemblance? I'll let you be the judge.
So, the question is, why did five articles in three newspapers over a ten-year period repeat the claim that Ryan had a hand in designing four NFL logos? The claims appear incorrect for the Packers and Giants, unlikely for the Browns, while potentially having some legs for the Cowboys.
The only sports logo Tom K. Ryan designed that I could confirm was the 1968 version of Rustler Sam for Golden West College, a community college in California. Golden West did a great job updating the logo in 2021.
So, after riding the dusty logo trail for sixty years, the mystery of Tom K. Ryan's role in designing NFL logos remains unsolved. Of course, if you have information on Ryan's role in creating the logos mentioned above or have other information about the actual designers, I'm all ears or all eyes, as the case may be.
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Great story! It goes to say that by way of creating the Packers logo he also did that of the Georgia Bulldogs and Grambling as they received permission from Green Bay to use the "G" on their helmets after the Packers success in the 60s
The Cowboys might have added the white outline to the helmet star in 1964, but they didn’t add the blue outline to the white outline until 1967.