Princess Anne wore a custom-designed one to wear when she won the European equestrian championship with the British team in 1972. Prince Charles played polo wearing one. Secretariat, the wonder horse and winner of racing’s coveted triple crown, also worn a specially designed one to reduce the danger of head injury when flown from one race track to another. Rock climbers were wearing them and so did hockey players, all sizes and ages.

     Mississauga’s Charlie Patterson has won recognition and fame – if not financial fortune – as Canada’s “Helmet Man,” the inventor of protective head gear. For his considerable contribution to making sports a whole lot safer to play, he also won himself a place in 1984 in Mississauga’s Sports Hall of Fame.

     Such is the fame of Patterson that he received letters from places like Hong Kong, London, Brussels and San Diego. They all had one thing in common: helmets. The one letter he remembers most (and treasures with particular tenderness) was vaguely addressed to: Charlie Patterson, Helmet Man, Canada. Canada Post delivered it to his Port Credit home – on time.

     Patterson’s interest and fascination with protective head gear started with a Mississauga Hockey League incident, when his oldest son Dan fell and hit his head on the ice during a game. Doctors diagnosed the injury as severe concussion and Dan was in hospital for two days. “That was a damned close call,” said Patterson. “It wouldn’t have happened if we has a decent helmet available.”

Since helmetry was still in a primitive stage in those days back in the late 1950s, the cold realization hit him like a frozen puck that there was not one model on the market to offer suitable protection for hockey players, Charlie set out to design and create a “decent helmet,” embarking on a long (and often slippery) road that would eventually earn this York University researcher little money, lots of fame and the nickname “The Helmet Man.” He set up shop in his family room to produce an early prototype (a crude cry from today’s state-of-the-art models) and conned the odd neighbourhood kids into trying it out and risking being labeled a “sissy.”

     “Helmets have always been a labour of love with me, all along,” Patterson said. A creative designer rather than a financial tycoon, Charlie never made a financial killing on the lucrative helmet market, losing out to what he called “big business” interests. But his expertise gained recognition far and wide. He fondly recalls that Queen Elizabeth thanked him through Speaker of the House for the special helmets sent to her son, Prince Charles, and daughter Princess Anne. Jockeys were among Charlie’s best (and most grateful) clients: Ronnie Turcott wore a Patterson, when he guided “wonder horse” Secretariat to the triple crown; Sandy Hawley, too, when he made sports history by becoming first rider to crack the magic mark of 500 wins in a single year. He also designed helmets for Canada’s equestrian team. The list is long and illustrious and a tribute to Charlie Patterson, Mississauga’s Helmet Man.