Years	Decal	Shell	Mask	Stripes L to R	Stripe Width	Mini
?-1950-?	none	gold	none	none
1956-1957	black? player's #	gold	gray	none
1958-1971	none	gold	gray	none
1962-1963*	none	purple	gray	none
1966-68,70-71$	none	purple	gray	none
1969$	purple "100" inside yellow gold oval w/ white ol	gold or purple	gray	none
1972-1974	none	purple	gray	none
1972-1974**	metallic gold "W" no ol	purple	gray	gold or none	1/2" or none
1975-1989	purple W w/ white ol	gold	gray	purple/ white/ purple	3/8"- 1/2"- 3/8"
1990-1994#	purple W w/ white ol	gold	purple	purple/ white/ purple	3/8"- 1/2"- 3/8"	RR, S
1995	yellow W w/ white ol	purple	purple	none		RR, S
1996-1998	gold W w/ white ol	purple	purple	none		RR
1999-current#	purple W w/ white ol	gold	purple	purple/ white/ purple	3/8"- 1/2"- 3/8"	RR, S

Notes:
*  - Purple helmet worn by the entire team on the following dates in place of the regular gold helmets :
    10/20/62 @ Stanford, 10/27/62 vs. Oregon, 11/17/62 vs. UCLA, 11/24/62 vs. Wash St. ( Spokane), & 11/16/73 @ UCLA.

$   -  Purple helmet awarded to, and worn by defensive and/or 2- way players who demonstrated outstanding performance.   The remainder of the team continued  to wear solid gold helmets during this period. (see exerpts below)

**  -  Metallic gold W's were awarded to oustanding defensive player's. Additionally gold stripes were given as further awards.  So potentially during this period many different helmet designs might appear on the field at the same time. (see exerpts below)

#  - These have the same helmet design

Exerpts from an email sent to me from Pat O., Thanks Pat

According to Sports Illus (11-Sep-72 p.63) the UW helmets were painted purple for oustanding defensive players (those who gave 110%).  The offense got tiny Husky decals for their gold helmets.  This would explain why at the end of the year, the defense was nearly all purple, while the offense was nearly all gold.  (Probably a few purples on offense, from playing both ways or special teams.)  This looks to be the scheme though from '66-71. (Seattle Times photos)

Ironically, after this pre-season article, the team changed to purple helmets in '72 for the ENTIRE team coinciding with a new style of jerseys.  So from '72-74, it appears that standouts were then rewarded with a metallic gold "W", then more rewards with center stripes. In a '73 Apple Cup photo, all 3 types of purple helmets are going for a tackle.  (Seattle Times)

Also confirmation that the familiar gold helmet (Don James') was in place at the start of the '75 season.
(Seattle Times photos: 14-Sep and 21-Sep-75)
 

Credits:
Thanks to Garry Y. and Pat O. for helmet data on this page.

Washington 1960	Washington 1962	Washington 1963	Washington 1969
Wash. 1969 (defense)	Wash. 1972 (defense)	Wash. 1973 (defense)	Washington 1974
Washington 1977-89	Washington 1990-94	Washington 1995	Washington 1996-98
Washington 1999