May 8th, 2013 |
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Halls of Fame
Two players in the Vintage Football Card Gallery, Steve Meilinger and Don Trull, were elected this week to the College Football Hall of Fame. You can see the announcement and the rest of the new Hall of Famers on the National Football Foundation web site.
Meilinger, an end at the University of Kentucky, went on to play five seasons for the Washington Redskins, Green Bay Packers, and Pittsburgh Steelers. He is pictured here on his 1957 Topps football card.
Trull, a quarterback at Baylor, played six seasons for the Houston Oilers and Boston Patriots in the AFL, then moved to the CFL and played two seasons for the Edmonton Eskimos. He is shown here on his 1966 Topps football card.
As seniors in college, both Meilinger and Trull placed in the top ten in Heisman Trophy voting. You can see them and the other top vote-getters on my page of football cards of Heisman Trophy candidates.
April 30th, 2013 |
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Milestone Birthdays
Two players in the Vintage Football Card Gallery are celebrating milestone birthdays today: Elbert Drungo and Brian Schweda are both 70.
Elbert Drungo was an offensive lineman from 1969 to 1978 for the Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills. He is pictured here on his rookie card, a 1974 Topps. He also appeared on a 1975 Topps card and a 1972 Sunoco stamp.
Brian Schweda played defensive end from 1966 to 1968 for the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints. He was one of the original Saints, obtained from the Bears in the 1967 NFL Expansion draft. As far as I know, Schweda never appeared on a card, but he did appear on a 1969 Saints Doubloon, pictured here.
Happy birthday, Messrs. Drungo and Schweda!
April 8th, 2013 |
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Brothers, Milestone Birthdays
Former AFL, NFL, and WFL defensive back Miller Farr is celebrating his 70th birthday today. Farr played from 1965 to 1973 for the Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, Houston Oilers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Detroit Lions, and he finished his career in 1974 with the WFL’s Florida Blazers. His best seasons were his three with the Oilers, 1967-1969. He led the AFL with 10 interceptions in 1967, he was voted First Team All-AFL in 1967 and 1968, and he was an AFL All-Star all three years.
Farr’s younger brother, Mel, also played in the NFL. The two brothers were teammates with the Lions in 1973. Their cards from that season are featured on the Teammate Brothers page of the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
Farr is pictured here on his 1969 Topps football card. He appeared on several other cards and stamps, as well.
Happy birthday, Mr. Farr!
February 7th, 2013 |
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Milestone Birthdays
We have two milestone birthdays today: Rudy Kuechenberg is 70, and Robert Brazile is 60. Kuechenberg played linebacker from 1967 to 1971 for the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns, and Atlanta Falcons. He also played for the Chicago Fire of the World Football League, in 1974. Kuechenberg’s younger brother, Bob, was a guard for fourteen seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Rudy Kuechenberg appeared on one football card, the 1969 Topps card pictured below.
Robert Brazile played linebacker from 1975 to 1984 for the Houston Oilers. He was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1975, and he made the Pro Bowl seven consecutive seasons after that. (The Corpus Christi Caller-Times web site has a nice summary of his career.) Brazile is pictured below on his 1978 Topps football card, and there are a couple more of his cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
Happy birthday, Messrs. Kuechenberg and Brazile!
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.
August 25th, 2012 |
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Halls of Fame
Dave Robinson and Curley Culp were named yesterday as the 2013 senior finalists for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You can read the announcement and see the players’ biographies on the Hall of Fame web site. This is the first time that either player has been chosen as a Hall of Fame finalist.
Robinson, a linebacker, played for the Packers from 1963 to 1972, and for the Washington Redskins in 1973 and 1974. He made the Pro Bowl three times, and he was a member of the Packers’ NFL Championship teams of 1965-1967. Robinson’s rookie card, a 1967 Philadelphia, is pictured here. He appeared on a number of other cards and stamps, as well.
Culp, a defensive tackle, played from 1968 to 1981 for the Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Oilers, and Detroit Lions. He made the Pro Bowl 6 times in his 14 seasons, and he played on the Chiefs team that won Super Bowl IV. Culp’s rookie card, a 1973 Topps, is pictured here. Prior to his rookie card, Culp appeared on a 1971 Kellogg’s card and a 1972 Sunoco stamp, and he appeared on numerous Topps cards later in his career.
Chances are good that at least one of the two nominees will be elected to the Hall. The Senior Nominees page of the Hall of Fame web site shows that at least one senior candidate has been elected each year since 1998.
February 3rd, 2012 |
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Player Deaths
John Guzik, who played linebacker from 1959 to 1961 for the Los Angeles Rams and Houston Oilers, passed away on January 22. Guzik was a first team All-American guard at the University of Pittsburgh, but his pro career was shortened by injuries. There is an interview with Guzik and a summary of his career on the NFL Former Players blog.
Guzik never appeared on a regular issue football card, but he did appear on the 1959 and 1960 Bell Brand Rams cards pictured here. These scarce cards were distributed regionally in bags of Bell Brand potato chips and corn chips; you can read more about them in my article about regional sets. You can see that Guzik switched from number 60 to number 65 in 1960. He apparently gave number 60 to rookie Jerry Stalcup, who had worn number 60 at the University of Wisconsin.
August 5th, 2011 |
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Brothers, Player Deaths, Players Who Became Actors
By now, most NFL fans have heard that Bubba Smith passed away. Smith was a defensive end from 1967 to 1976 for the Baltimore Colts, Oakland Raiders, and Houston Oilers. He made the Pro Bowl twice, and he played in two Super Bowls: Super Bowl III, which the Colts lost to the Jets, and Super Bowl V, in which the Colts beat Cowboys. A New York Times article from earlier this week has a summary of Smith’s career, along with a few photos.
After football, Smith appeared in many films and television shows, most notably the Police Academy movies. I had no idea how many until I checked out his IMDB page.
Smith’s brother, Tody, also played in the NFL. You can see the family resemblance in one of my earlier articles.
Smith appeared on numerous football cards in the 1970s, and most of them showed the same image. Pictured here are his rookie card, a 1970 Topps, and his last card, a 1976 Topps. You can see the rest in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
July 17th, 2011 |
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Football Card Oddities
You have probably seen 1970s Topps football cards on which the team logos have been airbrushed from the players’ helmets. (For a couple of examples, see my article about airbrushing on 1972 Topps San Diego Chargers cards.) Well, apparently Topps couldn’t show the NFL logo on football cards, either. Last week, while scanning this 1976 Topps C.L. Whittington card, I noticed that someone had traced over the NFL on Whittington’s football and changed it to WPD. At first I thought it was only on my card, but the C.L. Whittington cards on eBay all have WPD on the football, too.
It seems like it would have been preferable to cover the logo with a dab of brown, but changing the letters was definitely better than how they handled Bob Hayes’s 1970 Topps Super and 1970 Topps Super Glossy cards. On those cards it looks like they burned the logo off the ball!
June 4th, 2011 |
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Player Deaths
John Henry Johnson, who played fullback from 1954 to 1966 for the San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Houston Oilers, passed away on June 3. Johnson also played one season, 1953, with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders.
Johnson was a four-time Pro Bowler, once with the 49ers and three times with the Steelers. He was also a member of the Lions NFL Championship team in 1957. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
The card pictured here is Johnson’s rookie card, a 1955 Bowman. Topps used the same image, recolored, on his 1957 Topps card. (See them side-by-side in an earlier blog article.) Johnson appeared on many other cards during his long career, as well.
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