New Trier’s ‘patriotic helmet’ honoring victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
NEW TRIER — This school year, there is another reason to attend New Trier High School’s varsity football games on Friday nights. For the first time ever, all of New Trier’s historic school logos will be revived and displayed on football helmets throughout the season. Each week, varsity players will debut a new logo beginning with the Porta Nigra tonight, Friday, Aug. 26, at York and ending with the classic green and blue block “NT” on Oct. 21 at Niles West.
The throwback logos were varsity head coach Brian Doll’s idea. He has never done anything like this before at New Trier but thought it would attract some fun energy to the program.
“I wanted to get the community excited about the season,” Doll said. “This is also a great opportunity for the kids to learn about our history at New Trier. They may not understand it fully now, but these logos bring you through time, and it is fun to learn about them.”
Players will get to keep the nine different logos as season tokens. The logos were made into thick sticker decals that can be peeled from the helmets for weekly replacement.
The Porta Nigra logo – a symbol of the large Roman City gate in Trier, Germany, the hometown of early settlers of New Trier Township – will kick off the season. It was the original school logo when New Trier opened in 1901.
The next Friday, the helmets will display an arrow representing the 1948-49 school year when New Trier’s mascot became the Indians, reflecting the school’s location in the Indian Hill section of Winnetka and the roots of Native Americans in Wilmette and Winnetka.
The week after, for the Sept. 9 game, the boys will debut a patriotic block “NT” logo, honoring the fallen men and women of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A similar Trevians logo was designed by Alex Cash, Class of 2001.
The red, white and blue letters will then be peeled off for a star cowboy logo the following Friday, representing when New Trier West opened in 1965 in Northfield. West’s sports teams were known as the Cowboys. A bucking bronco, another old logo from this time, will replace the star the following week.
The Trevians logo comes next. In 1981, when New Trier East and West combined to become one high school, the new mascot of a Trevian, a Roman soldier from Trier, Germany, was chosen. The student government ran a contest to design a new logo, and the winner of the contest was an art student and graduating senior, Suzanne Coon.
Other logos displayed the rest of the season include: A spearhead from New Trier East’s history, a pink Breast Cancer ribbon and the classic blue and green “NT” block.
To teach the players about the logos, Doll called in Northfield’s Assistant Principal Peter Tragos, the school’s former archivist and a former history teacher.
“I was happy to help teach them about who and what they are representing before their season officially starts,” Tragos said.
For the team’s schedule, visit www.newtrier.k12.il.us/athletics.
Submitted by New Trier Township High School