What an awesome college football job to have!

Did you ever wonder how the Notre Dame football team got those helmets looking so good? Well I recently read about how they do it and it’s a great story. I didn’t know it before, but that is probably because I don’t follow the Fighting Irish football program that closely.

The Notre Dame football helmets are repainted every week. Yes, that’s right, every week. Every Monday the helmets are lined up and await about 100 student managers who spend about 5-7 hours of labor to give the Irish that golden shine for Saturday afternoons.

It’s a painstakingly detailed job. They tape the helmets, cover the face masks in Saran Wrap (or remove some of them), then buff the rough parts off the helmets to prepare them for painting. All of this prep work every week for both home and away games. For home games, they have 105 helmets, for away games only 60 (ha, only 60).

According to the student managers who perform the work, just the painting of the first coat alone takes about 4-5 hours. Then the final coat must be applied and the helmets then are carried to a room underneath the football stadium to dry overnight.

The neat thing about this process is what goes into the final coat. The final coat is actually a clear gloss with an extra ingredient—three to four teaspoons of actual gold dust. Where do they get this dust? When Notre Dame periodically re-gilds its Golden Dome, the gold dust that is left over is socked away for the football helmets. The clear gloss with the gold dust is what gives the helmets their shine.

A neat story, especially when you consider that these student managers return each week for their labor of love. Recent years have brought a return of glory and recognition to Notre Dame football. But apparently, in South Bend, the mystique and allure of the Fighting Irish football team has always been alive and well.