Tennessee-Style ‘T’ To Return To Trenton Helmet In ’13

When Head Coach Wes Croy first took the reigns of his alma mater’s football program in 2005, one of his first instalments was dressing up the football helmet worn by the Bulldogs.
Trenton had worn solid Vegas Gold helmets in the seasons prior to Croy taking over and when he took over he put a “T” on the helmet. The “T” was in the style of that worn by the Tennessee Volunteers at the college level. In doing so, Croy wasn’t necessarily putting the Tennessee-style “T” on the helmet so much as returning it to Trenton’s helmet.
In the early-to-mid 80’s, when Croy was a fullback for the Bulldogs, Trenton wore black helmets and on those black helmets was a white, Tennessee-style “T.” Trenton’s helmets would remain Vegas Gold when Croy took over as head coach in 2005, a tribute to the helmets Trenton wore when it captured its only state championship in 1966. Adding a black Tennessee-style “T” gave the current helmet the perfect mix of tradition.
Trenton’s helmet would change prior to the 2010 football season, however, as Tennessee cracked down on other programs using the school’s logo when Lane Kiffin took over as the Volunteers head coach. Trenton never inquired about the use of the “T” when Derek Dooley took over in Knoxville. This past spring, however, with Dooley’s firing and Butch Jones taking over at Tennessee, Croy communicated via email with Tennessee’s director of high school relations. Croy received word that Tennessee saw no issue with Trenton once again placing the icon on the side of their Vegas Gold helmets.
“I remember back when Coach (Larry) Chapman brought the Tennessee “T” to the Trenton helmets in the early 80’s,” Croy said. “It was something that you really took pride in and it was a big deal for us. When I had the opportunity to come to Trenton in 2005, it was one of the first things I wanted to do – get identity back with that ‘T’ on the side of the helmet. It’s something that we really enjoyed through those first five years and we were disappointed when we had to take it off. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to put it back on and have it as part of our uniform again.”
Unlike 2005-2009, however, Trenton’s helmets will now feature the addition of stripes going over the top of the helmet. The stripes were put on an existing Trenton helmet with athletic and electrical tape, but the mock-up caught the eye of the coaching staff and actual helmet sticker stripes were ordered to make the look permanent on the Trenton helmets for the upcoming season.
The Bulldogs will debut the new helmet in week one of the season as they play host to the Carrollton Trojans at C.F. Russell Stadium in Trenton on Friday, Aug. 30. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Aside from the helmet, Trenton’s uniforms will remain the same with black jerseys with white numbers for home games and white jerseys with black numbers for road games. The Bulldogs will still have the ability to pair black or gold pants with either jersey, creating a total of four possible uniform combinations.