Darrell Royal, Oklahoma’s “Rapid Quarterback”
November 7th, 2012 | Published in Player Deaths
Before he became a famous coach, Darrell Royal was an All-American football player at the University of Oklahoma. An article at soonersports.com describes his college playing career. According to the article, Royal is still the record holder for career interceptions at Oklahoma.
Topps honored Royal in 1950 by putting him on a football card–or two, if you count variations. As I wrote in an earlier article, 1950 Topps Felt Back cards are tiny and homely, but the set contains the rookie cards of Royal, Joe Paterno, and two Pro Football Hall of Famers, Ernie Stautner and Lou Creekmur. The Topps Archives blog has a nice description of the set, also.
Royal’s card, like 24 others in the set, was issued in both yellow and brown. The price guides list the yellow variations at higher prices, but in reality it appears that the brown variations are scarcer. Both variations of Royal’s card–which describes him as a “Rapid Quarterback”–are shown here.
