Villarreal Studios pumping out helmets

By Alan Carman
The Imperial Republican
    With football season just starting, Armando Villarreal and his crew have nearly finished the first two of the six different helmets they will be painting this season.
    The first two helmets are for games that will be played on Saturday, September 12. Tulane’s Green Wave will play South Alabama’s Jaguars. The other game is Boise State and Memphis.
    For the Green Wave of Tulane, which is located in New Orleans, Villarreal painted King of Mardi Gras Helmets. The design features the Jester Wave on the sides and an Argyle stripe down the middle.
    Tulane did around 135 helmets, averaging 5-6 hours of work per helmet. That adds up to around 740 hours to get them done.
    This is the second year for the Boise State Football Helmets. This year celebrates the 40th anniversary of the famous blue turf at the Boise State Field.
    There are seven hashmarks that line the top of the helmet. These represent each different installation of the blue throughout it’s 40 year history.
    The 40, centered on the right side of the helmet,features the same numeral font that was used on the original turf in 1986.
    The Historic Idaho Bronco Logo, showcased on the left side, was the original mark at midfield when the blue debuted.
    These helmets took a little less time per helmet, but there were 180 helmets, so it was still close to 650 hours.
    Armando says he couldn’t do the work without his amazing crew. Wife Lora, Jesus Juarez, sons Jax and Benny and Ryan Wisnieski are all part of the team.
    Many hours go into the sand blasting, sanding, masking, painting, remasking, resanding, more painting, peeling off the masking and clear coating. Jesus just graduated from school to do vehicle restorations and Villarreal said his painting skill come in very handy to help take some pressure of himself.
    On Sept. 12, Armando and family will travel to the Boise State Game as special guests of the team. He and wife Lora said it is a lot of work, but when you see the finished product out on the field, it really gives you a sense of accomplishment and pride.
    This is the first year the crew will have six different helmets to do. That is about the maximum that is possible for this crew. When asked if there were any other painters that specialized in helmets for teams, Villarreal said he knows of one other man that paints for one team a year.
    He said it is a year round project now. As soon as he gets to the end of the season, he will already be designing for next years helmets.
    I asked if he had any time to do other painting to break up the helmets. During football season, it is pretty much all helmets, but in the off season, he paints things like shoes for  warrior rising.
    When asked how he keeps from burning out, he credited his wife for making sure that the family gets some breaks to enjoy the fruits of their labor, like traveling to be special guests at the Boise State Game.