When did kids stop wearing cowboy collars?

I'm sure it's different everywhere, but my current program doesn't even have a cowboy collar in our inventory. The last school I was at had one and it was used every year. It makes me wonder if inventory isn't one of the biggest reasons.

Can't speak about the collars but I know why the forearm pads went away. Around 1980, give or take, forearm pads started phasing out after hand blocking was legalized. It eventually dawned on people that forearm shivers got you too close to blockers and gave them something to grab onto. 

I think better tackling techniques have contributed especially keeping the head out of it and head behind on tackles instead of head in front. Also, get a Kerr collar if they need stinger protection.

Forearm pads went away when you could start using hands on offense.

Jockstraps went away with compression short and compression girdles.

Showering went away but is now back. Of course this is different by team.

Salt tablets are alive and well. The last three schools and last 15 years we have heavily used salt tablets. And we rarely cramp. I truly believe that cramping is more of a function of electrolyte imbalance that it is a lack of water. In fact, too much water helps create that imbalance. Kids nowadays stay mostly hydrated and still cramp. Add in the salt tablets and that can vastly improve. Play in Alabama where it is hot and humid.

Axe went away around 10 years ago at the schools I coach. THANK THE GOOD LORD.

We have a whole box of old cowboy collars in the equipment room...inevitably one kid wears one then like 10 kids want to wear them.

After like the third kid I always consider hiding the box.

A cup is a hard no for me for football. A coach I used to work for had a friend lose his manhood in a broken cup accident as a kid.

When I played 10-15 years ago, everybody showered after practice and we weren't getting on a bus back from a road game without taking a shower. Nowadays, I don't think I could pay our kids to shower before an hour and a half bus ride home.

I see the occasional cowboy collar but it is rare. Back in the day, the way they were fastened/tied to the shoulder pads (or the jersey itself) it seemed like it was for "looks" (meaner, intimidation factor, I don't know) rather than for functional (health-related or injury-related) purposes.

As for forearm pads, not only did use of hands become more common and legal, I was seeing a lot of players being penalized and/or ejected from games for an illegal forearm or alleged "slugging."

I couldn't run with a cup in. Wore one as a catcher but it was out when I was up to bat. Always wore a jock. Swimming, basketball, football and wrestling. I loved the jpad that covered the knuckles and forearm. Neck rolls came out toward the end of my career. We always had to take showers. Had to do push-ups naked in 9th grade pe because someone didn't take a shower.

Never wore a cup.  Wore a jockstrap under my athletic shorts (think Larry Bird length).  Wore standard issue gray t-shirt under the shoulder pads...old shoulder pads with only two slide-on straps.  Wore a girdle (tight) with hip/tail pads in the pockets.  Wore pants (practice and game) with pockets for thigh pads and knee pads with a tie-up front and cotton belt.  The thigh pads would always shift around.  Wore knee length game socks and a pair of cotton socks over.  Wore Riddell cleats.  Wore a cotton practice jersey (short sleeved), and a short-sleeved cotton game jersey w/twill numbers that buttoned between the legs.  Wore a Riddell suspension helmet in HS, and a MacGregor plastic helmet w/full padding inside in college.  After practices and games we ALL took showers.  Some longer than others!  I played in the late 60's early 70's.

Every once in a while I wonder if shin guards would/should be a piece of equipment for football players. I still have some scars on my shins from playing days. Getting cleated in the shin hurt like a mother!

Dating myself here:

Girdle? I had a belt worn inside the lace up pants with butt and hip pads.
Thigh and knee pads worn in pockets in the pants.

I wore a jock under whitey tighties. I tried a cup, that looked like a recycled oxygen mask, but it rubbed me raw along my groin. Not a lot of fun.

Lace up front shoulder pads

Forearm pads. Yeah I had them and wore them. I was a center and a two handed snapper, my arms took a beating. I played in the era when extending your arms at more than a 45 degree angle was considered "illegal use of hands."

We were taught shoulder blocking and butt blocking. (For you younger guys the term "Butt Blocking" had nothing to do with your posterior. It meant that you aimed with your forehead at the defender, bulled your neck, and butted him.)

8 inch lace up shoes with 3/4 metal tipped cleats, just like Johnny Unitas! All games played on real dirt.

Suspension strapped two bar facemask until my senior year, when I got a padded helmet with a 4 bar cage.

Mix and mold mouthpiece. You had to mix two substances together, stick it in your mouth, and wait until they hardened. Was messy when you had the usual adolescent braces.

Sometime in the mid to late 1970's the kids stopped showering en masse after practice and games.
It was when gay kids began coming out publicly......

I do remember some shower room hijinks from my early coaching days involving kids sliding bare assed naked along the wet tile floor, until somebody slid out the locker room door into the hall.

The funny thing is Pop Warner still has a "cup check" before games, including their female athletes.

Cowboy collars? Kids these  days want to look like speed guys, not the thick necked, lantern jawed types of my youth.