1998 Ricky Williams Game Worn University of Texas Longhorns Helmet - Multiple Photo Matches to Heisman Season!...

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Worn as Williams broke NCAA rushing record!

1998 Ricky Williams Game Worn University of Texas Longhorns Helmet - Multiple Photo Matches to Heisman Season! Was it his ambition to earn the Heisman after finishing fifth in 1997 balloting, or was it the $2.8 million insurance policy purchased by the University of Texas to mitigate the risk of an injury that might lower his position in the NFL draft? Whatever the reason, Ricky Williams' announcement that he intended to return to Austin in 1998 to play his senior season rather than entering the professional ranks was met with no shortage of jubilation among Longhorn faithful who were anxious to reestablish the Lone Star State as the center of the collegiate football world.

We must also consider the strong possibility that a desire to lay claim to one of NCAA athletics' most precious records factored heavily into Williams' decision to delay a multi-million payday, having completed the 1997 season just 1,434 yards short of the college rushing record, a title held by another legend of the Texas gridiron, Tony Dorsett. That Hall of Fame running back for the Dallas Cowboys was on the sidelines for the Texas vs. Texas A&M grudge match on November 27, 1998 in the expectation that his record would fall, as Williams began the day with 6,020 yards, just sixty-two short of the record Dorsett had set during his 1976 Heisman campaign.

Late in the first quarter, Williams glanced at the scoreboard. "I remember looking up and needing eleven yards to go and there was this moment, one of those numbers moments," Williams told reporters. "Earlier in the year I'd changed my uniform from 11 to 34 and I'm looking up and I had this sense that I'm going to do it on this play. It was just a sense."

Every Longhorns fan old enough to have watched the game knows what happened next. The ball is snapped at the Texas forty and Williams takes the handoff three yards behind the line of scrimmage. He breaks an arm tackle as he gathers speed and snakes through a narrow gap in the line. Two Aggies converge up him just short of midfield but he surges past and enters the open field with the sideline to his left and one blocker to his right. By the time he's finally brought to the ground, he's in the orange paint of the end zone. It's one of the most dramatic broken records in American sports history.

This is the helmet Williams was wearing for that legendary scamper to paydirt and immortality, definitively photo matched to the contest and seven other games, as follows: 9/19 vs. Kansas State, 9/26 vs. Rice, 10/3 vs. Iowa State, 10/31 vs. Nebraska, 11/7 vs. Oklahoma State, 11/14 vs. Texas Tech and 1/1/99 vs. Mississippi State (Cotton Bowl).

It's impossible to miss the fact that the helmet is coated with an array of different college logo decals, and that's because Williams last wore the helmet in the 1999 Hula Bowl where players trade those decals after the game. We're confident that the helmet could be restored to its original appearance but we're leaving it as is to allow the next owner to make that decision.

The "Riddell" brand helmet exhibits a fine array of scuffs and scrapes that were part of the data utilized by the photo matchers, along with the positioning of the Doak Walker memorial number "37" and NCAA decals on rear exterior shell. Original chin strap, jaw pads and interior padding remain in place. "VSR-4" label is present at interior beside right ear hole. Photo match LOA from Davious Sports. LOA from Heritage Auctions.