Ever wonder why 49ers tried to change helmet logo design in 1991?

Editor's note: Twice a week during this sports hiatus, we'll answer questions that Bay Area sports fans long have debated in "Ever Wonder?" This Thursday: Why did the 49ers try to change their helmet logo design?

There are certain fashion faux pas you don’t commit. You don’t wear white socks with dress shoes. You always leave the bottom button of a suit jacket open. And you don’t wear white after Labor Day. Well, if you’re an iconic NFL franchise, you don’t change your helmet logo.

And no, we're not talking about the Los Angeles Rams, whose new helmets and uniforms were roasted by fans on Twitter -- and even by the 49ers -- on Wednesday. We're talking about the iconic 49ers "SF" helmet design, which was proposed back in 1991.

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Have you ever wondered what exactly the 49ers were thinking with this change?

As with most changes, this question has a corporate answer.

“Every now and then NFL Properties puts a little burr under your saddle to change a logo or change your uniform,” said Jerry Walker, who was the 49ers Public Relations Director from 1983-93. “I think we went a little bit too far from the ‘SF’ to the ‘49ers.' ”

The logo was designed by a gentleman named Stevens Wright, who had previously created new helmet logos for the Patriots, Chiefs, and Bills.

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“They were all very successful, very happy with them,” Walker said. “But ours was kind of a disaster.”

The helmets were unveiled at a press conference in February of 1991. The design was universally panned.

“It was blah,” Bill Williamson said, who was covering the press conference for the now-defunct Peninsula Times-Tribune. “It reminded me of a USFL helmet. It was kind of a weird thing.”

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The fans rejected the design immediately. In an age before social media or the Internet, they complained the old-fashioned way. They wrote letters to newspapers and flooded the organization with phone calls.

“It was not accepted very well,” Walker said. “The phones were ringing off the hook. Thank God it was before Facebook and Instagram so we didn’t get raked over the coals in that area. But a lot of the newspapers carried stories about the change. And the next day there was a revolt by the fans.”

Recognizing the overwhelmingly negative reaction, members of the 49ers organization tried to convince then-owner Eddie DeBartolo that they had made a mistake.

“As George Seifert would say, ‘All hell broke loose,’” Walker said with a laugh. “We sent (DeBartolo) faxes of the story and he called the next day and said, ‘What’s going on?’ He asked my opinion and I said, ‘Mr. D, I think we should change back.

"It’s the fans who are revolting. We should have a statement from you saying our fans are our livelihood. They’re who we play for.’ The very next day he called and said, ‘We’re changing back.’”

Within a week, the 49ers sent out a press release announcing they were reverting back to the old interlocking "SF" logo.

“Had we been a new team, just joining the league, I think people would have thought that our helmets were cool,” said Walker. “But compared to our traditional, old, historic "SF" logo, they pale in comparison.”

The 49ers remain one of the most storied franchises in NFL history, but their proposed helmet design ranks among their biggest gaffes.

“It was the New Coke, old Coke thing. It was so quick,” Williamson said. “It was a classic helmet from a classic team. They had a lot of success in that helmet. They were still a dynasty. Why change it? It had no chance and it probably deserved no chance. Give them credit. They tried something, they listened to the fans. They made a mistake. They fumbled that, they fixed it, and they moved on.”