Niche Biz: Painting Goalie Helmets

Duluth News Tribune:

Jeff “Pappy” Early of Hermantown started putting pinstripes on buddies’ cars on weekends in the 1970s, admittedly, he said, to earn a little beer money.

Now, most of Early’s work isn’t done on hot rods, but on hockey goalie masks.

“That’s primarily because of geography,” said Early, who never played anything more than pond hockey growing up in Duluth. “You do work that lends itself to where you live, and, of course, this is hockey country.”

Early, 57, has painted masks for clients from Southern California to upstate New York, from Duluth, Minn., to Duluth, Ga. He has done work for the likes of former Minnesota Duluth goalies Isaac Reichmuth and Josh Johnson, and he is an authorized painter for a company out of Huron, Mich., that he hopes could lead to work for NHL goalies.

With old-school techniques learned years ago and airbrush technology that allows him to paint colors fading in and out, Early said he can paint just about anything. He said goalies are generally looking for three types of masks:

• A full face mask that features an intimidating look, with the cage of the mask serving as the open mouth of a team mascot.
• A pictorial that allows for more variety and generally features a theme. Early, for instance, did an Arabic mask for a Muslim player that featured various holy sites of the Islamic world such as Mecca.
• A memorial meant in remembrance of someone or something.

Photo by AirkraftStudios.

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