Ludington's Todd Hansen has more than 100 high school football helmets in his basement collection.
LUDINGTON, Mich. (WZZM) - Todd "Scoop" Hansen spends his days calling bingo games as entertainment director aboard the S.S. Badger and spends his Friday nights calling football games for Ludington High School on WMOM radio. In his spare time, he feeds his obsession. Collecting high school football helmets.
With 110 (and growing) in his collection, Hansen has a set of helmets that makes the WZZM "13 On Your Sidelines" crew envious. In fact, it was the "Sidelines" set that first inspired Hansen to start contacting school athletic directors from across the state back in 2010. "I watch the show religiously on Friday nights in the fall. And the helmets that are on the set are fantastic. There are a few of them on your set that are on my wish list."
Hansen says the first school to grant him his wish of a rejected helmet was East Grand Rapids. 109 helmets later, he has collected them from the Upper Peninsula, to West Michigan, to the Detroit area. He says each one is special and each has its own story. He says some schools have told him they cannot accommodate his wish for various reasons. Others have gone out of their way to help him. He currently lists Rockford, Lowell, Zeeland East, and Zeeland West as the biggest priorities on his "wish list."
"Coach Munger at Rockford, coach Dean at Lowell," Hansen says with a smile, "I'm always looking to add helmets to my collection."