One thing not mentioned in the article: While it’s true that hockey masks took off because Jacques Plante was immensely popular and if /he’d/ wear a mask then it was ok, there is more to the story.

His coach, upon seeing the mask, thought that it’d limit his vision too greatly to continue playing at a high level. As it so happened, the day Jacques Plante put on the mask he won the first game. And many more in a row after that. He not only proved it was ‘manly’, but that it wasn’t a detriment to his vision.

Off hand I don’t recall how many consecutive wins he racked up, but I can tell you that the popularity of the mask wouldn’t have taken off so quickly if he started off with several losses.