Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

Former NFL quarterback Jim Hardy is celebrating his 90th birthday today. Hardy played from 1946 to 1952 for the Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Cardinals, and Detroit Lions. He played in the first Pro Bowl, after the 1950 season, and he was a member of the Lions team that won the NFL Championship in 1952.

Hardy played college football at USC, leading the Trojans to Rose Bowl wins in 1944 and 1945. He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.

According to oldestprofootball.com, Hardy is the 66th oldest living American pro football player. He is pictured here on his 1948 Bowman football card.

Happy birthday, Mr. Hardy!

Chuck Cherundolo, who played center from 1937 to 1948 for the Cleveland Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, and Pittsburgh Steelers, passed away on December 22. Cherundolo was a Pro Bowler for the Steelers in 1941 and 1942. After retiring, Cherundolo coached for 22 years in the NFL, according to the Scranton Times Tribune. At 96, he had been the fourth oldest living pro football player, behind Clarence “Ace” Parker, Johnny Kovatch, and Bill Glassford. (See oldestlivingprofootball.com for a list of the oldest 500 living pro football players.)

Cherundolo appeared on one football card, the 1948 Bowman card pictured here. Cherundolo’s last season, 1948, happened to be the first year since 1935 that a major card company issued football cards. Leaf also released a set of football cards in 1948.

Merv Pregulman, who played from 1946 to 1949 for the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, and New York Bulldogs, passed away on November 29. There is a story about Pregulman, along with a few photos, on Chattanooga’s WRCBtv.com web site. Pregulman received All-America honors at the University of Michigan, and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982. Between college and the NFL, he served in World War II.

Pregulman appeared on one football card, the 1948 Bowman card pictured here.

It’s Trivia Tuesday! Just pick the “Answer” links to see the answers.

1. The quarterback pictured on this 1948 Bowman football card holds the NFL record for most interceptions thrown in a game. Who is he, and what is the record? Answer
2. What defensive back holds the NFL record for career interceptions? Answer
3. What University of Nebraska head coach was a receiver for the Washington Redskins in 1960 and 1961? Answer
4. What Dallas Cowboy married actress Joey Heaterton in 1969? Answer
5. What member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame has been an Associate Justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court since 1992? Answer
6. Who were the first two Heisman Trophy winners to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Answer
7. Which two teams were the participants in the longest NFL game ever played? Answer

Like these? See my trivia questions from past weeks.

Bill “Red” Moore, a guard for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1947 to 1949, passed away on December 14. The Beaver County (Pennsylvania) Times web site has a report.

Moore appeared on one football card, the 1948 Bowman card pictured here.

Nolan Luhn, an end for the Green Bay Packers from 1945 to 1949, passed away on November 27. The whiotv.com web site has a short report.

To my knowledge, Luhn appeared on just one football card, the 1948 Bowman card pictured here. 1948 Bowman cards with numbers divisible by 3 were short-printed, and Luhn’s card, number 9, is one of the scarcest cards in the set. See my 1948 Bowman virtual uncut sheet page for details.

Bill Gray, an offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins in 1947 and 1948, passed away on August 18. OregonLive.com has an account of his life.

Gray appeared on one football card, the 1948 Bowman card pictured here.

You can see Gray’s career NFL statistics at pro-football-reference.com.

Pete Pihos, Hall of Fame end for the Philadelphia Eagles, passed away this morning, according to the team’s web site. Pihos played nine seasons for the Eagles, from 1947 to 1955, and he made the Pro Bowl the last six of those seasons. He was also a member of the Eagles’ 1948 and 1949 NFL Championship teams. Pihos’s page on the Pro Football Hall of Fame web site has a summary of his career.

Pihos had two rookie cards, the 1948 Leaf and 1948 Bowman cards pictured below. The 1948 Leaf card shown here is the variation with yellow numerals; there is also a rare variation with blue numerals. You can see all of Pete Pihos’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

I noticed this week that eBay seller bmw_cards2 has a bunch of 1948 Bowman wrong-back cards for sale. Pictured here is one of them, a Joe Muha card with a Harry Gilmer back.

I was curious about how the cards got the wrong backs, so I looked at where they were positioned on the uncut sheets. (See my 1948 Bowman virtual uncut sheet page.) It turns out that the fronts of all of BMW’s cards are from the first sheet, and the backs are all from the corresponding positions on the third sheet. (The Muha card is fourth from the right in the bottom row.) I don’t know much about printing, but it looks to me like the printer printed the front of the sheet, then used the wrong plate when printing the back.

Searching eBay further, I found a 1948 Bowman Art Faircloth card with a similar problem, only the Faircloth card has both the correct back and an incorrect back printed on it. Again, the front of the card is from the first sheet, and the incorrect back is from the corresponding position on the third sheet.

Duke Iversen, a back and linebacker from 1947 to 1951 for the New York Giants and New York Yanks, has passed away. He was 91. There is a recent article about Iversen’s career at petaluma360.com.

Iversen appeared on one football card, the 1948 Bowman card pictured here.

You can see Duke Iversen’s NFL career statistics at pro-football-reference.com.