George Blanda, Bears, Oilers, and Raiders Quarterback and Kicker
September 27th, 2010 | Published in Player Deaths | 1 Comment
Most NFL fans have heard by now that George Blanda passed away today. The first notice I read was on the San Francisco Chronicle web site. The news is sad for me: I was a Raiders fan in the late 60s and 70s, so I watched Blanda play on many Sunday afternoons. I remember well his heroics in 1970, especially the game against the Browns, which I watched with my grandmother. She jumped out of her seat when he kicked a 52-yarder in the waning seconds to win the game.
The sports pages and TV shows will undoubtedly cover Blanda’s career in detail over the next few days, so I won’t attempt to do that here. Instead I’ll just show you his cards. He played for 26 years, so he appeared on a lot of them. I have most of them, but I am missing a couple from the end of his career. Pick any thumbnail image to see a larger version.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:38 PM (#)
I’m very sad about Blanda’s passing. I rooted for him back in the 70’s. One of my all time favorite cards is his 72′ Topps. The back is filled with all the years he played to the point where Topps couldn’t put anything else about him. I guess that says it all.