California

1981 Golden Bears
(Authentic Reproduction)

After the poor 3-8 1980 season, Coach Theder made changes. A small one was exchanging the yellow face masks on the Cal helmets for masks that were royal blue. Theder first promoted secondary coach Ron Lynn to defensive coordinator and then in what some saw as an act of desperation, hired Portland State head coach Darrel "Mouse" Davis as his offensive coordinator. Davis, who refined the Run And Shoot offense to a science, had developed June Jones and Neil Lomax as record-breaking quarterbacks at Portland State but his unorthodox approach was not fully accepted in football circles. The experiment was immediately disrupted when QB Gale Gilbert went down with a season-ending knee injury in the opener. Torchio took over but was not mobile enough to avoid a strong rush and the resultant 2-9 record was the Bears' worst since the 1-9 of 1962. Among the defeats was what was termed "an embarrassing loss" to lower level San Jose State by a 27-24 score and the 42-21 thrashing by Stanford brought the most points the Cardinal had ever scored against Cal. Even with fine play by JC transfer noseguard Gary Plummer, the year was a washout. Offensive tackle Harvey Salem led a contingent of players to the administration the day after the Big Game finale to support Theder but the coach was fired that afternoon. Theder went on to earn a reputation as a guru for quarterbacks, plying his trade for a number of NFL clubs.

If interested in any of these Cal helmets please click on the photos below.

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