Football Archaeology: Oddballs in the 1938-39 Ken-Wel Sporting Goods

This is a post from Football Archaeology, generously shared with us by Timothy Brown to highlight a recent addition here, the Ken-Wel 1938-39 catalog. You can see the catalog in its entirety at: https://www.vintagesportscatalogs.com/kenwel-1938-39-fall-win

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I've built a collection of vintage sporting goods catalogs to document the evolution of footballs, player equipment, officiating tools, and other minutiae. They cover multiple brands, but I only recently acquired my first catalog for the Ken-Wel brand.

I don't know much about the brand, though it was best known for its baseball gloves. Appropriately, the firm started in 1916 in Gloversville, New York, before moving to Utica. They produced Lou Gehrig's glove and one for Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance, the first patented glove with laces between the fingers. The company went out of business in 1960.

They made a range of football equipment, with a few oddball items we'll review shortly. Two other aspects of their equipment stand out. One was their preference for integrated equipment, such as pants with the pads sewn in, rather than being removable and interchangeable.

Another issue is that Ken-Wel showcases the latest styles and earlier generations in the same catalog. This tendency crosses industries, but this catalog has a fun example we'll cover shortly.

Starting with helmets, Ken-Wel offered a series of leather winged helmet styles...

Read the rest of the fascinating history here! See notes on how football rules then affected the safety equipment on offer and why footballs kept their laces: https://www.footballarchaeology.com/p/todays-tidbits-oddballs-in-the-1938