Harris

We feel honored to feature a helmet from a player that was such a major contributor to the success achieved by "America's Team" in the 1970s which included two Super Bowl victories and five appearances. Cliff's ten year career spanned the entire decade (1970-79) and he was a five time Pro Bowl player. The hard hitting "tough guy" was an integral part of the Cowboy's immortal "Doomsday" defense. If an opposing receiver was lucky enough to break away from the team's great cornerback Mr. Waters he knew he would soon be meeting with their hard hitting safety Mr. Harris.

Cliff was one of several Cowboy players who switched to the Marietta "Maxpro" helmet in the 1970s. Cataloged as model "Kineomatic-21" this helmet featured leather jaw pads and seven independent leather padded sections attached to the shell by Velcro strips. The shell was molded in clear plastic. The Cowboy's star logos and striping were made from thin waterslide decal material and applied from the inside of the helmet. After the decals were applied, the inside surface of the helmet was painted silver (unfortunately the team switched away from the beautiful Cowboy blue/silver hue that was used in the 1960s). The decals and paint, protected behind the interior surface of the helmet, did not require maintenance between games. This type of helmet was usually not replaced until the shell cracked or acquired extreme scratches on the exterior surface which distorted the presentation of the underlying logos and paint. According to Don Beitter, a former Marrietta executive, the Cowboys replaced only the shell portion of the "Maxpro" helmet. The used leather padding sections, now "broken in" and more comfortable to the player, were recycled into his unmarred replacement shell. Cliff's helmet has the familiar Cowboy style dymo tape nameplate affixed to the rear of the helmet. The red (right side) vinyl stripe on his helmet was adopted by the Cowboys for just the 1976 season to commemorate the nation's Bicentennial year. An interesting feature of this helmet involves the other two vinyl stripes. For unknown reasons these two traditional colored vinyl stripes were redundantly applied over the preexisting factory installed inside surface striping. Most other 1976 Cowboy "Maxpro" type helmets were modified by covering just the preexisting navy (right side) stripe with a red vinyl stripe and leaving the other two preexisting factory installed stripes unchanged. This helmet saw much of its post playing days in a smoke filled restaurant which caused serious discoloration and darkening of the outer stripes. Cliff had a Riddell model "BD-9" plastic two bar face mask attached to this helmet. The introduction of the clear shell "Maxpro" helmet in the mid 1970s was a significant event in the football helmet history and this regal Cliff Harris helmet is a great representation of that style and period.