Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

Charley Leo, who played guard for the AFL’s Boston Patriots and Buffalo Bills from 1960 to 1963, passed away on October 7. Leo made the 2nd Team All-AFL in 1960 and 1st Team All-AFL in 1961. I found a photo of the 1961 team on the Patriots web site; Leo is number 63, on the left end of the middle row.

Leo appeared on two cards: a 1961 Fleer card, pictured here, and a 1961 Topps. 1961 was the only year that two card companies printed cards of AFL players, and Leo appeared in both the Fleer and Topps sets. He also appeared on a 1961 Fleer Wallet Picture, a black-and-white version of the 1961 Fleer card, cut from a magazine. (See my previous blog article on the 1961 Fleer Wallet Pictures.)

Ralph Kercheval, who had been the oldest living pro football player, passed away on October 6. He was 98 years and 10 months old. I wrote a short article about Kercheval and his football cards last year.

With Kercheval’s passing, Ace Parker, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, became the oldest living pro football player. According to his Wikipedia page, Parker is 98 years and 5 months old. To my knowledge, the 1955 Topps All-American card pictured here is Parker’s only vintage card, though he appeared in a few modern tribute sets, as well. You can find many of his tribute cards on eBay.

Parker also played two seasons for baseball’s Philadelphia Athletics, but I don’t know if he is also the oldest living major league baseball player. I did a quick net search for Ace Parker baseball cards, but I didn’t turn any up.

The Oldest Living Pro Football Players web site has a long, long list of the current oldest living pro players. Glancing through the first couple dozen players on the list, I see that only a few them appeared on football cards. Most of the oldest players played in the 1930s and 1940s, and only a few sets of football cards were printed during those decades.

Woody Peoples, a guard for thirteen seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles, passed away on Tuesday. Peoples made the Pro Bowl twice for the 49ers, in 1972 and 1973, and he was a member of the Eagles’ 1980 NFC Championship team. A tribute to Peoples at lehighvalleylive.com includes a nice photo of him warming up for Super Bowl XV.

Peoples appeared on a few cards during his long career. The card pictured here is his rookie card, a 1970 Topps. He also appeared on a 1973 Topps card, a 1981 Topps card, and a 1972 Sunoco stamp. His 1981 Topps card, his only card with the Eagles, was actually issued the year after he retired.

Don Doll, who played safety from 1949 to 1954 for the Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins, and Los Angeles Rams, passed away on September 22. Doll had 41 career interceptions, and he made the Pro Bowl in four of his six seasons. According to a tribute on the Lions web site, he is the only NFL player to have intercepted at least ten passes in three different seasons. After his playing career, he coached in college and in the NFL for 34 years.

Despite his stellar play, Doll appeared on only two football cards. This was not unusual: defensive players were often under-represented in football card sets of the 1950s and 1960s. (Also see D is for Defensive Players.) The card shown here is Doll’s rookie card, a 1950 Bowman. He also appeared on a 1951 Bowman card with the Lions.

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.

Ron Kramer, who played tight end for the Packers and Lions from 1957 to 1967, passed away today. Kramer made the Pro Bowl in 1962 for the Packers, and he is a member of the Packers Hall of Fame. There is a nice article about Kramer’s career on the Pro Football Researchers web site.

My favorite Ron Kramer card is the one pictured here, a 1963 Topps card. The Packers cards in the 1963 set have green-and-gold borders, so the borders match the Packers’ uniforms. This appears to have been a coincidence, since the border colors Topps used for the other teams’ cards don’t match their uniform colors.

Kramer’s rookie card is a 1958 Topps, which I featured in a previous article. He also appeared on a 1961 Lake to Lake Packers card and on two Topps cards with the Lions. You can see all of Ron Kramer’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Steve DeLong, who played defensive end and defensive tackle from 1965 to 1972 for the San Diego Chargers and Chicago Bears, passed away on Wednesday. DeLong made the Pro Bowl once, in 1969, with the Chargers. Prior to his pro career, DeLong was a standout at Tennessee, and he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993. His obituary at knoxnews.com includes some nice photos from his college days.

DeLong appeared on a lot of football cards for a lineman. Pictured here is his rookie card, a 1965 Topps “tallboy.” Topps apparently liked this image, because they used it on his cards for the next four years, also. On one of them, his 1966 card, Topps airbrushed DeLong’s left shoulder off, making for a strange picture.

You can see all of Steve DeLong’s football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Dom Moselle, who played halfback and defensive back from 1950 to 1954 for the Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, and Philadelphia Eagles, passed away yesterday. He was a rookie on the Browns team that won the NFL Championship in 1950, their first year in the league. Moselle also spent one season, 1955, with the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL.

Moselle is pictured here on his 1952 Bowman Small card. He also appeared on a 1952 Bowman Large card, identical except for its size.

Jack Tatum, who played safety for ten seasons with the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers, passed away today. Tatum was a three-time Pro Bowler and a member of the Raiders team that won the Super Bowl in 1976. He was also a member of two national championship teams at Ohio State, and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. His obituary on the ESPN web site includes a recent photo.

Pictured here is Tatum’s rookie card, a 1973 Topps. He appeared on numerous cards after 1973, as well. You can see Tatum’s early cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery, and you can find his later cards on eBay.

Milt Morin, who played tight end for ten seasons with the Cleveland Browns, passed away on July 9. Morin was selected for the Pro Bowl twice, in 1968 and 1971. He played college football at the University of Massachusetts, and he is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2010.

Pictured here is Morin’s rookie card, a 1971 Topps, issued in his sixth year in the league–and three years after his first Pro Bowl. Topps compensated for their omission by including a card of Morin in each of their sets from 1971 to 1975. He also appeared on a 1972 Sunoco Stamp.