November 6th, 2012 |
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Player Deaths
Terry Owens, a tackle for the San Diego Chargers from 1966 to 1975, passed away on October 27. His obituary on the Shelton Funeral Home web site includes a recent photo and a summary of his career. Owens suffered from dementia, which his wife, Alison, described on Dave Pear’s blog.
At Jacksonville State University, Owens starred at both football and basketball. He was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1975.
The two cards pictured here are Owens’s rookie card, a 1973 Topps, and his 1975 Wonder Bread card. He also appeared on a 1972 Sunoco stamp, a 1974 Topps card, and a 1975 Topps card.
November 5th, 2012 |
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New in the Gallery, Oddball
Last week I added 1972 University of Alabama playing cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The key card in the deck is a pre-rookie card of John Hannah, who went on to a 13-year, Hall of Fame career with the New England Patriots. See the Gallery for more details on the set.
This is the eighth set of college playing cards I have added to the Gallery. You can see the rest on the Gallery’s Playing Card page.
October 31st, 2012 |
Published in
Silly Stuff
For Halloween I thought I’d feature a couple of ghosts. First is a 1933 Sport Kings card of Red “The Galloping Ghost” Grange. This is Grange’s rookie card, one of three football cards in the multi-sport set. You can see the other 1933 Sport Kings football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
Grange also appeared in cards earlier than this: in 1926, the Shotwell Candy Company distributed two sets of cards featuring just him. I added one of the sets, 1926 Shotwell Red Grange Ad Back cards, to the Gallery earlier this year. Though the Shotwell cards were the first cards of Grange, they are not considered his rookie cards because they are a minor issue.
The second card pictured here is Dave “The Ghost” Casper’s rookie card, a 1977 Topps. Seeing Casper reminded me of the Raiders’ famous “Holy Roller” play against the Chargers in 1978. I found the play on YouTube; if you haven’t seen it recently, it’s worth a look.
For some scary football cards, check out my Halloween posts from 2009, 2010, and 2011. Happy trick-or-treating!
October 25th, 2012 |
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New in the Gallery
Last week I added 1973 Alabama playing cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. Eleven of the players in the deck went on to play in the NFL or CFL. Woodrow Lowe, pictured here, had the longest pro career, eleven seasons with the San Diego Chargers. Lowe was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. See the Gallery for more details on the set.
October 14th, 2012 |
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New in the Gallery
Yesterday I added 1973 Colorado State University cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. One of the cards, Jimmie Kennedy, is pictured here. Kennedy is one of three players in the set who later played in the NFL. Visit the Gallery to see the rest of the cards and a description of the set.
October 13th, 2012 |
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New in the Gallery
Yesterday I found two more clues as to how uncut sheets of 1965, 1966, and 1967 Philadelphia football cards were configured. From looking at miscut cards, I have determined that uncut sheets from those three sets all had the same numbering scheme, so finding a piece of one helps me with all three. See the last section of my sheets in progress page for details.
Here are the new clues: a Saints team card with a sliver of Sonny Jurgensen’s card showing on the left, and a Bears insignia card with a sliver of a St. Louis Cardinals insignia card showing on the left.
October 11th, 2012 |
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error cards, Player Deaths
Sam Gruneisen, an offensive lineman from 1962 to 1973 for the San Diego Chargers and Houston Oilers, passed away on September 28. There is a picture of Gruneisen and a summary of his career on the Chargers web site. Gruneisen played in two AFL championship games with the Chargers, in 1964 and 1965, both losses to the Bills. At Villanova, Gruneisen was a tight end, linebacker, and kicker. He was elected to the Villanova Wall of Fame in 2000.
Pictured here is Gruneisen’s rookie card, a 1964 Topps. His name, unfortunately, is misspelled “Gruniesen” on the card. He also appeared on a 1966 Topps card–with his name spelled correctly–and on a 1969 Glendale stamp.
October 10th, 2012 |
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Halls of Fame, New in the Gallery
In honor of Alex Karras, who passed away this morning, today I identified all of the cards of Outland Trophy winners in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The Outland Trophy is awarded annually to the nation’s outstanding college interior lineman; Karras won it in 1957. You can see the all-time list of winners on the sportswriters.net site.
Pictured here are cards of two other winners, a 1960 Mayrose Cardinals Mike McGee, and a 1974 Wonder Bread Mike Reid. Click here to see the rest, or use the Gallery’s advanced search page to do more complex searches.
October 7th, 2012 |
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Football Card Trivia, New in the Gallery
Did you know that Alex Karras finished second in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1957? I didn’t, until I saw his name on the Heisman Trophy web site. While browsing the Heisman site, I also found other players whose cards I have, but whom I hadn’t known were Heisman candidates. I thought that a page featuring these candidates and their cards would be interesting, so I assembled one and added it to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. Have a look!
October 3rd, 2012 |
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Silly Stuff | 1 Comment
I have always thought that this 1968 Topps Frank Emanuel card was the worst rookie card ever. As you can see, the image on the front is awful: Emanuel’s helmet is askew, and you can’t even see his eyes. The back of the card doesn’t help. It happens to be a piece of a Len Dawson puzzle, so Emanuel didn’t even get the customary bio and stats. Topps atoned a bit in 1969, giving him a good looking card, complete with stats on the back.
Any other nominations for worst rookie card ever?
