The 30 Most Menacing Masks in Sports History

There really isn't much of a difference between sports and theater. Both are dramatic, cathartic, and emotional. Practice is to rehearsal as costumes are to uniforms and the players, like actors, live for the cheering crowds. The theatrical tradition of wearing masks was started to exaggerate expression, athletes use them —well —for everything.

Whether it's for injury, allergy, intimidation, or style, these players take masquerading to a whole other level. The most prominent recent example comes from Kobe Bryant, who's ordered three masks since breaking his nose in the All-Star Game. But the history of athletes wearing masks dates back over 50 years and includes legends like Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, and the late Pelle Lindbergh donning various forms of headgear. So, let's pull the curtain, hit the lights, and start the show: here are The 30 Most Menacing Masks in Sports History.

Sport: Wrestling
Year of the Mask: 1992-2001
The Mexican wrestler turned WWE champ needed this creepy, flamboyant mask to compete at 5-foot-6. And if you're saying wrestlers aren't athletes, FOH. It's still real to us dammit!

Sport: Basketball
Year of the Mask: 1999
Although his time in the league wasn't particularly superhuman (only played in a total of 18 games), Brandon Williams at least looked heroic rocking his Zorro mask after a facial fracture.

Sport: Basketball
Year of the Mask: 2004
We don't care what Denny Colt claims, Rip Hamilton is the original masked man. After fracturing his nose a handful of times during the 03-04 season, Hamilton began wearing a protective shield. Almost a decade later Hamilton's still rocking his face window like it'll never go out of style.

Sport: Soccer
Year of the Mask: 2003
After suffering a cracked cheekbone during a match against Malta, Djokaeff was rushed to a specialist in France to customize a protective cover. He came back with this creepy, flesh colored sleep mask that made him look more Freddy Krueger than soccer player.

Sport: Basketball
Year of the Mask: 2005
Lebron James may feel uncomfortable playing the villain, but he certainly looked the part after Dikembe Mutombo rearranged his face with an elbow. The King used his newly acquired evil powers to put this nasty flush on the Knicks back in in '05.

Sport: Football
Year of the Mask: 2008
LT angled the face mask bars and tinted the visor to go for a Darth Vader look as he amassed over 13,000 rushing yards, mostly in San Diego. The mask didn't do him a whole lot of good when he started playing for the Jets, but it's kinda hard to look tough when you're taking handoffs from this guy.

Sport: Basketball
Year of the Mask: 2007
Psycho T looked especially wild after getting thugged by Duke's Gerald Henderson. UNC's possessed hustler bled on the court with a broken nose and returned to the team with a plastic face.

Sport: Basketball
Year of the Mask: 1960
Wilt Chamberlain's rocked your garden variety face plate after an injury that broke his nose and knocked out a couple teeth. While "The Stilt" had a pretty basic three strap cover, it's what he did with the mask on that's especially frightening. Chamberlain snagged an NBA record 55 rebounds in one game against the Celtics behind his protective curtain.

Sport: Hockey
Year of the Mask: 1976
Ridley's career was brief in the NHL, but he played long enough to make an impression with his famously disconcerting mask. The "X" across his face marked a psycho in the crease for the Canucks.

Sport: Football
Year of the Mask: 2011
Fed up with offensive linemen clowning his Subway commercials and using his face mask like a steering wheel, Justin Tuck turned his helmet into a shark cage. Now the 6-foot-5 freak comes off the edge looking like a Cadillac grill—get out the way!

Sport: Basketball
Year of the Mask: 1990
Unless you were a fan of the Bad Boys Pistons of the '80s, Bill Laimbeer was most likely the type of player you loved to loathe. His repulsive attitude on the hardwood often led to fights and injuries such as the broken eye socket suffered in 1990 which required this mask. The only thing more annoying than Bill Laimbeer was Bill Laimbeer in a ridiculous mask.

Sport: Soccer
Year of the Mask: 2011
One of Newcastle's best defenders was fitted for his face box after suffering a broken nose. We're guessing dude isn't claustrophobic.

Sport: Basketball
Year of the Mask: 1996
Will Purdue's silver mask was especially disturbing because it seemed to be more about decorating his face than protecting his broken eye socket. The always stylish seven-footer brought a bit of posh to the paint.

Sport: Soccer
Year of the Mask: 2010
The Bayern Munich defender missed three weeks with facial fractures and came back looking like a third rate superhero. Nice try, fam.

Sport: Basketball
Year of the Mask: 2012
Kobe rocked a clear mask for the first three games after breaking his nose and went off for 30-plus points in his three-game winning streak. Then he had to switch it up for the for the villain look in the Lake Show's loss to Detroit. He went back to clear and missed 22 shots in L.A.'s dissappointing loss to the Wizards last night. #masksonmasksonmasks

Sport: Boxing
Year of the Mask: 2009
Boxing is as much about intimidating your opponent as it is about being a skilled fighter. The interview theatrics and weigh-in shoving matches are all a ploy to self-promote and psychologically terrify your challenger. Bernard Hopkins brings that bullying all the way to the ring with his Executioner mask.

Sport: Soccer
Year of the Mask: 2011
The Canadian captain turned the World Cup into a masquerade ball after breaking her nose in a match against Germany. If looking like a Gladiator weren't hardcore enough, Sinclair played with the broken nose unprotected in Canada's opening match and scored the team's only goal. #KI..Oh, wait. #QUEEN

Sport: Soccer
Year of the Mask: 1993
After suffering a broken cheek when he was struck with a piece of concrete during a match, the Liverpool goalkeeper returned to the team with a rather startling zebra-print mask. Do you, homie. Do you.

Sport: Hockey
Year of the Mask: 1974
How do you take a team called the California Golden Seals and make them seem horrifying? Find a homeless drifter, paint a cobra-seal-dragon on his face, and put him in goal. Problem solved.

Sport: Track and Field
Year of the Mask: 2011
Never has a softer affliction looked so badass. Galen Rupp wears this Darth Vader mask to protect against pollen allergies.

Sport: Hockey
Year of the Mask: 1985
Hockey goaltenders have long been pioneers of dark creativity when it comes to the mask, and Warren Skorodenski's form-fitting skull mask is about as intimidating as it gets. The shadowing, detail, and realistic contours are what make this curtain especially off-putting.

Sport: Hockey
Year of the Mask: 1978
The Friday the 13th movie franchise began in 1980, two years after Pelle Lindbergh began playing hockey professionally. The Swede made his NHL debut with the Flyers in 1981 and became the first European goaltender to win the Vezina Trophy in 1985 all while rocking the mask that gave horror flick viewers nightmares for decades. Unfortunately, Lindbergh's career and life were cut short in 1985 as he died in a car accident while driving intoxicated. Though he didn't get reach is full potential, Lindbergh's mask and his skills in front of the net personified badass.

Sport: Hockey
Year of the Mask: 1978
When you combine Bromley's disturbing skull mask with the dreadfully ugly "V" sweater of the late 70s-era Canucks, you have perhaps the most menacing ensemble in the history of sports.

Sport: Soccer
Year of the Mask: 2011
Cech was already rocking a rugby helmet from a skull fracture when he busted his nose in a match against Blackburn. Cech continued his Batman transformation by adding a protective piece to his helmet and continued to play with only a handful of bones in his face that weren't broke. In the doggy position with that mask on...you're sure pic is from a soccer match and not some kind of outdoor bondage session?

Sport: Baseball
Year of the Mask: 1978
Dave Parker fractured his jaw and shattered his cheekbone during a home plate collision with Mets catcher John Stearns. When he returned to the team, he was hidden behind this horrifyingly colorful face shield. Parker later began a diet of liver and fava beans and began aiding FBI Agent Clarice Starling in catching a serial killer.

Sport: Hockey
Year of the Mask: 1968
Gratton's goalie mask could be called artistic, but we'd prefer to call it horrifying. The Rangers legend looked part tiger, part Leatherface, and mostly insane manning the crease in the late '60s.

Sport: Hockey
Year of the Mask: 1968
When Gary Cheevers was struck in the face with a puck during practice, he came up with the odd idea of illustrating stitches on each puck mark. By the end of the season Cheevers looked sewn up with the charm of a failed taxidermy experiment.

Sport: Basketball
Year of the Mask: 1967
A nasty shot to the pie-hole forced Oscar Robertson into this part protective brace, part headgear retainer in '67. Robertson was a true triple-threat: He could beat you with his shot, on the drive—or from the looks of him—with a lead pipe.

Sport: Soccer
Year of the Mask: 2008
Well first off, Cetin's nickname is "Ayibogan" which literally means "man who could choke a bear" so we're already scared of him. But after he busted his cheekbone and was fitted for a protective mask, he became a disheveled Sasquatch that had raided an S&M shop.

Sport: Hockey
Year of the Mask: 1959
There was a time in hockey's history when it was considered soft to wear a mask—even in goal. When Montreal goaltender, Jacques Plante, tore his face open with a puck, his coach was livid to see him return to the game with a crude home-made mask. Plante refused to reenter the game without a plate, so his coach begrudgingly conceded on the condition that he remove the mask when his wounds healed. The only thing more disturbing than the mask itself was the shattered face behind it. The dramatic reveal of something shocking is a movie cliche, a magicians craft, and No. 1 on our list.