Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

The newest interactive team cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery are the 1956 Topps Baltimore Colts and New York Giants team cards. Click on the images pictured here to see the interactive versions.

Both cards show the 1955 teams. Three future Hall of Fame coaches appear on the cards: Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry are pictured on the Giants card, and Don Shula is a player on the Colts card. Leroy Vaughn, the father of major league baseball’s Mo Vaughn, also appears with the Colts.

These are my sixth and seventh interactive 1956 Topps team cards; I have five more to go. Next up: the Washington Redskins.

Over the weekend I added 1950 Bread for Health Labels to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. My favorite, Charley Conerly, is shown here. I listed the labels in the Oddball section of the Gallery. A huge thanks to my friend Jeff Payne for providing the images for this set. Check ’em out!

Former NFL defensive back Lindon Crow is celebrating his 80th birthday today. Crow played from 1955 to 1964 for the Chicago Cardinals, New York Giants, and Los Angeles Rams. In 1956, his second season, he led the league with 11 interceptions. He played in two NFL Championship games, both with the Giants, in 1958 and 1959. The Giants lost both games to the Baltimore Colts.

Crow’s younger brother, Wayne Crow, also played professional football. He was a halfback and punter for four seasons with the AFL’s Oakland Raiders and Buffalo Bills.

Crow appeared on football cards with all three of his NFL teams. My favorite, his 1962 Topps card, is pictured here. You can see the rest of his cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

According to oldestlivingprofootball.com, Crow is the 494th oldest living American pro football player.

Happy birthday, Mr. Crow!

Dick Yelvington, who played tackle from 1952 to 1957 for the New York Giants, passed away on February 24. Yelvington was a member of the Giants team that won the NFL Championship in 1956. There is a nice summary of his career at bigblueinteractive.com.

Yelvington appeared on one football card, the 1954 Bowman card pictured here.

I added a new page, called Almost Hall of Famers, to the Vintage Football Card Gallery this week. The page shows all of the players in the Gallery who have been finalists for the Hall of Fame, but who have not yet been elected. One of them, George Young, is pictured here on his 1951 Topps Magic card. Young, who was a general manager for the New York Giants for 19 years, was a finalist as a contributor in 2005.

Check out the new page and the Gallery’s other “Fun Pages“!

Allie Sherman, former NFL player and head coach, is celebrating his 90th birthday today. Sherman played from 1943 to 1947 for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he was the head coach of the New York Giants from 1961 to 1968. Sherman led the Giants to the league championship game in each of this first three seasons, and he was named NFL Coach of the Year in 1961 and 1962. He was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. According to oldestlivingprofootball.com, Sherman is the 68th oldest living pro football player.

As far as I know, Sherman never appeared on a football card of his own. There is a small photo of him, however, on the 1964 Philadelphia and 1965 Philadelphia Giants Play of the Year cards. The 1965 card is pictured here.

Happy birthday, Mr. Sherman!

Craig Morton, who played from 1965 to 1982 for the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos, is 70 today. Morton was the starting quarterback for two Super Bowl teams, the 1970 Cowboys and 1977 Broncos, and he played on the 1971 Cowboys team that won Super Bowl VI. He was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame in 1988.

Prior to his pro career, Morton starred at the University of California. In 1964, though Cal had just a 3-7 record, he finished seventh in voting for the Heisman Trophy. (See my Football Cards of Heisman Trophy Candidates page.) Morton was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

The card pictured here is Morton’s rookie card, a 1968 Topps. The back of the card is a piece of a puzzle picturing Bart Starr. Morton also appeared on many other cards and stamps during his long career. You can see all of his cards up to 1978 in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. (It’s odd to see someone other than John Elway wearing #7 for the Broncos, isn’t it?)

Happy birthday, Mr. Morton!

Former New York Giants running back Tucker Frederickson turned 70 today, according to his profile on the NFL web site. The Giants chose Frederickson with the first overall pick in the 1965 NFL Draft, and he played for the team from 1965 to 1971. He made the Pro Bowl once, in his rookie season.

In 1964, at Auburn, Frederickson placed sixth in voting for the Heisman Trophy. (See my page of football cards of Heisman candidates.) He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

Frederickson is pictured here on his 1969 Glendale stamp. He appeared on numerous other stamps and cards, as well. You can see all of them in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Happy birthday, Mr. Frederickson!

R.C. Owens, 49ers, a receiver from 1957 to 1964 for the San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Colts, and New York Giants, passed away on June 17. Owens was known for his “alley oop” catches, which you can see him demonstrating on the San Francisco Chronicle web site. Owens was the first 49er receiver with 1000 yards receiving in one season; he accomplished that in 1961. He was inducted into the 49ers Hall of Fame in 2011.

Owens appeared on several football cards with the 49ers. His 1959 Topps card is pictured here. His rookie card, a 1958 Topps, pictures Don Owens, unfortunately.

This week I added 1962 Topps CFL cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. There are 169 cards in the set, about 21 per team. Most Topps sets contain about 10-12 cards per team, so many of the players in the 1962 CFL set were making their first appearance on a card.

As usual with non-NFL sets, I enjoyed finding players who had played in the NFL but who had not appeared on cards for their NFL teams. Pictured here are three of the those players: Hal Ledyard played for the 49ers in 1953, Chuck Quilter played for the 49ers in 1949 and 1950, and George Scott played for the Giants in 1959. I identified a few other ex-NFL players, as well; just browse the set to see them.