Football Helmet Fails Venom Inspection

Animal control had to submerge a high-school football helmet in water to persuade its least coachable occupant to come out: a venomous cottonmouth snake tucked behind the padding.

The helmet belonged to a teenage student in Maumelle, Arkansas, who had already been wearing it during football practice for about an hour. Only after completing that impressively long and intimate warm-up with a cottonmouth did the player take the helmet to his coach and explain that it felt “unusual.”

This was accurate, if understated. Most unusual sensations inside football helmets can be blamed on sweat, a loose strap or the general inconvenience of having one’s head wrapped in protective equipment. On this occasion, an examination revealed a venomous snake hiding behind the padding, presumably having failed to appear on the team sheet.

Animal control was called to deal with the unexpected squad member. Getting it out was not simply a matter of tipping the helmet upside down and asking firmly. Officers had to submerge the helmet in water before the cottonmouth finally emerged.

Chris Davis, director of Maumelle Animal Services, said even his varied professional experience had not prepared him for quite this location.

“I’ve removed a snake out of a car vent, in the engine, purses, backpacks — in a helmet? Never,” Davis said.

The incident occurred during a recent high-school practice and was reported on Aug. 12 by WBAL-TV 11. Precisely how the snake got behind the helmet padding was not explained. Nor was there any indication of what, if anything, the player initially thought was causing the helmet to feel strange as he continued practising in it for roughly an hour.

What is clear is that the discovery was not merely an absurd equipment problem. Davis said a bite from the cottonmouth could have been fatal. The snake had been concealed close to the student’s head, separated from him by the helmet’s interior padding and, apparently, an extraordinary amount of luck.

The episode ended with animal control removing the cottonmouth after the helmet was placed underwater. No further plans for the snake were included in the report, and there was no suggestion that it would be returning to practice.

The helmet, meanwhile, has now undergone a level of inspection unlikely to be covered by the ordinary pre-season checklist. For future sessions, “check padding for venomous reptiles” may no longer seem excessively cautious.