Card: 1964 Topps Football #92

Team/Position: Kansas City Chiefs / Defensive Tackle

Cost: $6.00

There’s so much history wrapped up in this card I’m just not sure where to start.  Rather than digging into the history of Topps, the AFL, or Buck Buchanan right off the bat; I’ll just discuss the overall appearance of the card.  While ’64 can’t compare to the downright gold that is the 1965 Topps set; I love the bold colours and star-spangled border.

When you compare the ’64 Topps to it’s NFL-counterpart, the ’64 Philadelphia, it’s really a matter of taste.  The AFL cards are flashy and filled with bright colours, while the NFL cards are beautiful in more of a historical kinda way.

Topps was limited to only producing AFL cards from ’64 to ’67 and this was their real first effort.  You can see the beginnings of the ’65 set in the bright colours and great poses of the ’64 set.

Now onto Junious “Buck” Buchanan:

Buck Buchanan made history after the Kansas City Chiefs made him the first African-American to be selected first overall in an entry draft*.

Buchanan came from the traditionally African-American school, Grambling University, where he learned under one of the greatest college coaches of all time in Eddie Robinson.

The NFL largely ignored these hotbeds of talent, as shown by the New York Giants selecting Buchanan in the 19th round compared to the first-overall selection.

Buchanan would go on to be selected to six All-AFL teams and win two AFL Championships with the Kansas City Chiefs.  Buchanan was part of a dominant front four that’d go on to win the Superbowl in ’69 after falling short against the Green Bay Packers in the very first Superbowl in ’66.

Buchanan had the speed and strength required to be one of the best defensive players of all time.  Weighing in at 275lbs was no small feet during the ’60s and being able to run 10.2 in the 100 at that size was just unbelievable.

In 1990, Buchanan was finally elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Buchanan was also selected as the 67th best overall football player by the Sporting News.  It’s quite fitting that I’ve done Merlin Olsen and Buck Buchanan back-to-back, as they’re probably both in the top-five defensive tackles of all-time and both played during the same era, but in different leagues.  Bob Lilly, arguably the greatest defensive tackle of all time, also played the majority of his career in the 1960′s — If you were into skilled defensive tackles, the ’60′s was for you.

*Ernie Davis, who inspired the movie “The Express” was selected first overall by the Washington Redskins and traded to the Cleveland Browns two years previous, but never played a single down of football unfortunately.

Card: 1972 Topps Football #240

Team/Position: Miami Dolphins / Guard

Cost: $2.00

With the Saints and the Indianapolis Colts recently losing, what better time than to feature a member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins.  The Dolphins remain the only team in the history of the NFL to complete a perfect season, although they only won fourteen regular season games as opposed to the current 16-game regular season schedule.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single person that has any respect for the ’72 Dolphins squad.  Every year they celebrate by popping the cork on a fine bottle of Champagne when the final undefeated team loses and somehow, Mercury Morris finds his way onto ESPN. The Dolphins’ perfect season will always put them in the conversation for the greatest team ever, but for what it’s worth — they’re not even close.

Little arrived in Miami via trade after San Diego had signed him two years previous as an undrafted free-agent.  When the great Don Shula took over the helm, Larry Little’s life was about to change.

Don Shula replaced George Wilson as the Dolphin coach. When he first met Larry Little during the off-season, the new coach glared.

“How much do you weigh?” Shula asked.

“About 285 right now,” Little replied.

“I want you at 265,” Shula ordered.

Larry Little frowned. Growing up in downtown Miami, he recalls, “We were poor, but I never was hungry. We ate good. I ate more than anybody in the family. Any food anybody didn’t want, I was always around to get it.” He still takes many of his meals at his mother’s home. But when he trimmed himself to 265, he realized that his quickness had increased. When the Dolphins began to win, his reputation also increased. In each of his first three seasons under Shula, he was selected as the AFC’s outstanding offensive lineman in a NFL Players Association poll that determines the best player in various categories. (SPORT magazine — a great read if you get a chance)

Little became known for his quickness from the guard position and his ability to haul ass around the corner when Shula pulled him.  Little’s versatility in the ground-game allowed both Miami running-backs, Morris and Csonka, to eclipse 1,000 yards a piece in ’72 — the first teammates to accomplish such a feat.

Little’s ability as a pass-protector was also top-notch.  From 1970 to 1972, Little was named the top offensive lineman in the AFC by the NFLPA.  When Little finished his career, he had been selected All-NFL six different times and had been selected to play in the Pro Bowl on five different occasions.

As always, it’s tough to put an offensive lineman’s greatness into context without having seen him play.  Unlike many of the interior linemen of today, Little wasn’t a hulking beast that relied solely on his mass.  Little did everything well which allowed him to take on huge defensive tackles and quick defensive backs with equal effectiveness.

A week or so ago before Christmas, I grabbed a few packs of Gridiron Gear and was pleased to pull a Larry Little autograph.  While youur average collector would probably be pretty pissed off pulling Little over even the worst rookie, I was quite happy.  The cards are a bit cheesy especially if you love vintage, though.

Card: 1984 John Elway, Card #63

Team/Position: Denver Broncos / Quarterback

Cost: $8 for this terribly off-centered beauty.

1984 is one of the few years in the modern era that can compete with the big-boys of the 1950′s.  Marino and Elway alone keep the year amongst the greatest of all time.

With that said, I have no use for John Elway or any other Quarterback that refuses to abide by the rules of the NFL Draft –  I’m looking at you, Mr. Eli Manning.

Elway played his college ball at Stanford where despite never leading the Cardinal to a bowl game, Elway posted ridiculous numbers and was part of everyone’s favourite sports highlight: “The Band IS OUT ON THE FIELD!!”

What many tend to forget about John Elway was his brief stint in the New York-Penn League prior to his senior season.  Elway obviously had all of the tools that scouts dream of, but whether or not he could’ve achieved greatness we’ll never know.

The Yankees selected Elway in the second round of the 1981 MLB Draft after the Royals had spent a selection on Elway in ’79.

From an ‘83 issue of Time Magazine:

How well Elway could play was a question, but how well he would be paid was not. The baseball “rights” to Elway belonged to the New York Yankees, who belong to George Steinbrenner, a free spender capable of buying a pennant and everything else on the shelf. And he seems loath to pay less than $1 million for anything. In six weeks of minor league baseball last summer, Class A ball in Oneonta, N.Y., Outfielder Elway batted .318. However, since Class A pitchers seldom throw a curve on purpose, there was naturally some uncertainty about whether Elway could ever be a major league baseball player, much less a star. Regarding his football skills, there is less doubt.

Elway eventually found himself a member of the Denver Broncos and would go on to lead DRIVES and DIVES.

Elway was the king of the comeback, and will be remembered more than any statistic, as such.  He holds the record for most game-winning or game-tying drives in the fourth-quarter with 47.

If you’re an Elway fan, you certainly have his Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League Jersey.  As the owner of the Crush, Elway’s pimpin’ out his jersey for the low-low-low price of 46.99.   Medium, Large and 2XL are sold out, so you’re out of luck unless you’re a size XL.

You can get pretty decent deals on Elway’s RC if you’re not picky — To me, it seems as though your best bet is an ungraded card in the PSA 7 range.

Card: 1957 Topps Football Card #85

Team/Position: Chicago Cardinals, Detroit Lions / End, Defensive Back

Cost: $8.50

After a brief hiatus, I’m back with one of my favourite cards.  While the posts stopped; the cards just kept filling tiny apartment mailbox.

When it comes to defensive backs, Night Train Lane is the best of the best.  Dick was named the best defensive back of the first 50 years of professional football.His accolades are plentiful:

• Enshrined in the HOF in 1974
• Seven-time Pro Bowl Selection
• Six-time First Team All Pro and Four-Time Second Team.
• Named to the All-Decade Team for the 1950′s
• Named to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team.

Dick’s name is also plastered all over the NFL Record Books.

Lane’s set the record (as a rookie) for interceptions in a year (1952) with 14.  The record continues to stand to this day and probably will never be touched.  Darren Sharper’s posting one hell of a season, but he’s only at 8 interceptions after playing eleven games.

Lane’s amongst the top-5 in almost every other major interception category.

Lane had his best years with the Detroit Lions, where he finished his career.  On the field, Lane was one of the best big-play athletes to ever play a down of football.  He took risks and almost always succeeded.

Card: 1979 Topps Football Card #390

Team/Position: Houston Oilers / Runningback

Cost: $2.80

I knew this deal was too good to be true, I knew it.  I purchased this Earl Campbell with a Dan Fouts Rookie Card because the seller agreed to ship it via standard airmail.

Rant Ensues, Feel Free To Skip

I didn’t feel like spending 11 dollars on shipping for 5 dollars worth of cards and she agreed, yet every time that I requested an invoice she sent it back with shipping of 11 dollars.  In her messages, she said she was going to ship it via the two dollar option, but her invoices said differently.

I eventually just paid the 11 dollar option and politely asked for a refund of the difference if she decided to ship it via the $2.00 option.  Of course that was the wrong decision as she shipped it via the two dollar option before ignoring my refund requests for 3 weeks.

I eventually won the dispute because she didn’t bother responding to eBay either.  I like to reward people that ship to Canada, even if they don’t get it postmarked until 10 days after payment, but this is just a piss-off.

Rant Ends, Earl Campbell Worship Begins

Some folks enjoy watching highlights of Barry Sanders or Gale Sayers, but in my opinion, neither could hold a candle to Earl Campbell.

In ’77 Campbell won the Heisman with the Texas Longhorns after leading the nation in rushing.

Sanders and Sayers would make your jaw drop, but Earl Campbell would make you grimace.

The Houston Oilers selected Campbell with the first overall selection in the 1978 Draft.  Campbell won the Offensive Rookie Of The Year Award in 1978 and followed it up with an MVP award in ’79.

As you see on the front of the card, Campbell was awarded the first of his three-consecutive All-Pro selections in his rookie year.  Campbell also has a “RECORD BREAKER” rookie card in the ’79 set, but it’s far less valuable.

Time For Another Video

Campebll went onto five Pro Bowls over the course of his eight year career.  Unfortunately, Campbell’s career was cut far too short by his bruising running style.

After his epic 1980 season (373 Attempts, 1934 Yards, 13 TD, 5.2YPC,) it was essentially down-hill for Campbell.  While he received a full workload in 1981, Campbell failed to average four yards per carry.

Card: 1971 Topps Football Card #113

Team/Position: Houston Oilers, Washington Redskins / Safety, DB.

Cost: $2.00

Ken Houston doesn’t get much love outside of Washington, it seems.  I actually ended up with a couple of his rookie cards; If you’d like a free one, leave a comment with your email address and I’ll get it out to you.

Houston was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986, a tough achievement for a defensive back.  With the enshrinement of Rod Woodson, there are now 20 defensive backs in the Hall of Fame.  Modern linebackers trail behind with only 18 enshrined, but only two linebackers regularly played until the mid-50′s.

Considering that defensive backs were generally the best athletes on the field, it’s blasphemy that more aren’t recognized for their efforts.

Houston was born in Lufkin, Texas: A city of 32,000 people as of 2000.  Lufkin’s a city that knows how to churn out pro-football players, though.  A kid by the name of Dez Bryant called Lufkin home and was widely considered the best receiver in NCAA football (before the Dieon Sanders incident).  A total of thirteen other NFL players once played their high-school football in the city of Lufkin.

The Oilers drafted Houston in the ninth round of the 1967 AFL Draft out of Prarie State College — Guh? — where Houston was a football and track and field star.

After winning the starting gig just games into his rookie season, Houston’s skills were put on full display.  In 1971, Ken Houston set a then-record with 5 return touchdowns (4 INT, 1 FUM).

Houston’s athletic ability could probably still stand up to this day:  At 6’3″ and 197lbs, Houston was fast and rangy but could deliver punishing hits.

After six years with the Oilers, Houston was shipped off to the Washington Redskins for five veteran players.  Houston kept up his All-World play and was eventually named one of the 70 greatest Redskins of all time.

When all was said and done, Houston  intercepted 49 passes and scored 9 touchdowns which lead to 12 CONSECUTIVE PROBOWLS.

If you’re unfamiliar with Houston, just think of a player in the mold of Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu or Adrian Wilson.

Card: 1977 Topps Football Card #177

Team/Position: Seattle Seahawks / Wide Receiver

Cost: $3.75

Largent finished up his career at Tulsa as an All-American, yet slipped into the fourth round of the NFL Draft.  The Houston Oilers originally planned on cutting the great white hope, until the expansion Seahawks traded an 8th round pick for his rights.

Until a certain greatest wide-receiver of all-time and Dancing With The Stars Season Two runner-up came along, Steve Largent was arguably the best wide-receiver to have ever played the game.

When Largent retired from the Seahawks, he held every imaginable receiving record:  13,089 receiving yards, 819 career receptions, and 100 touchdown catches.

Largent didn’t display break-away speed, but caught everything that was thrown in his direction.  Throw in very crisp routes, and what seems like a veteran savvy from his first snap and you’ve a Hall of Famer: A 5’11″, 185lb, Hall of Famer.

Largent made seven Pro Bowls during his fourteen year career and was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1980′s.  Along with the ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN DESPICABLE Jim Zorn, Largent became the face of the Seattle Seahawks.  Steve Largent became the first Seattle Seahawk inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.

After his football career, Steve Largent entered the realm of politics. Largent served 4 terms as a member of congress for Oklahoma’s first district.  Largent never received less than 60% of the vote, but he was running in Tulsa, and he was a Republican.

I’m not particularly a fan of Largent as a politician, but he was one hell of a football player.  One of Largent’s most memorable political moments screamed, “I’m a effin’ idiot!”

Because two gay men are bound to rape little girls that they adopt, Largent proposed the following bill,

“On July 29, by a vote of 213 to 215, the House, under heavy pressure from homosexual groups, rejected an amendment to the District of Columbia Appropriations Act (HR 2587) sponsored by Rep. Steve Largent (R.-Olda) that would have stopped the District of Columbia from using federal dollars to promote adoptions by couples not related by blood or marriage.”  ( Article Link )

Lovely.

Card: 1955 Topps All Americans, Card #28

Team/Position: Washington State (New York Giants) / Center, Linebacker

Cost: $18.00

Mel Hein was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the first ever class in 1963.

Sammy Baugh, Bert Bell, Dutch Clark, Red Grange, George Halas, Pete Henry, Cal Hubbard, Don Hutson, Curly Lambeau, Tim Mara, George Preston Marshall, Blood McNally, Bronko Nagurski, Ernie Nevers, and Jim Thorpe — who we’ll get to in a second — were also part of the inagularal class of ’63.

Hein was an absolute beast for the Giants and played both ways as was customary.  Relative to his competition, Hein dominated the center position as well as anyone in the history of the game.  Defensively, Hein was often asked to cover fellow inductee, Don Hutson, as he was one of the few men that could keep up.

Hein was voted All-Pro eight times in his career, and astonishingly won the league’s MVP in 1938.  Hein was a great player, but unfortunately was well before my time, so I’ll shift my focus to this:

Click To Enlarge, In All It's Glory

When it comes to insanely racist comics, the 1950′s seems to do it very well.  When I offered up about 20 dollars for this card, I didn’t see the back.  If I had seen the back, I would have  paid any price.

Which Indian became one of Football’s All-Time Greats?

The answer is obviously the aforementioned Jim Thorpe.  Thorpe, pictured above, apparently played football with a Tomahawk while performing the war-cry of his proud tribe.

Right now, it’s a toss-up between Mel Hein and Jimmy Brown for my favourite card.

Card: 1984 Topps Football Card #280

Team/Position: Los Angeles Rams, Indianapolis Colts,  Oakland Raiders / Runningback

Cost: $5.00

For some reason, I feel that runningbacks of the 80′s definitely get lost in the wash. Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders went about destroying records at such a frequency that the Eric Dickersons and Marcus Allens of the world are all too often forgotten.  The 80′s was essentially, Walter Peyton or bust.

Eric Dickerson was absolutely amazing though, and his rookie card comes from one of the best football sets out there: 1984 Topps Football.

Dickerson’s one of the few men to ever rush for over 2000 yards and still holds the record for rushing yards in a single season with 2,105 yards which he accomplished in his second season.

In 1989, Dickerson became the fastest player to reach 10,000 yards, accomplishing the feat in only 91 games — Faster than Sanders (103 G), than Brown (98 G) and Emmitt and LT too (106 G).

Dickerson was a terrific back, and probably best known for making things look easier than a sorority girl.  Dickerson was just so incredibly fluid through the hole, and then accelerating through the second level.

I’m a fairly avid reader of FootballOutsiders where Dickerson’s name pops up in one of the most circulated fantasy football caveat:

A running back with 370 or more carries during the regular season will usually suffer either a major injury or a loss of effectiveness the following year, unless he is named Eric Dickerson

Dickerson eventually began to falter late in his career, but that was mainly due to contract disputes and general unhappiness.  Early in Dickerson’s career, he defied the odds by running the ball almost 400 times per year without losing a step — He WAS the Rams offense.

Eric Dickerson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999.

Card: 1956 Topps Football #60

Team/Position: Baltimore Colts / Halfback

Cost: $9.00

Lenny Moore was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in the first round (ninth overall) of the 1956 draft out of Penn State.  Lenny ended up being one of the few players to get his rookie card in his draft year.  The ’56 set holds some great Hall Of Famers on Topps cardboard for the very first time.  Lenny Moore, Joe Schmidt, Bill George, Stan Jones and Roosevelt Brown all have their Rookie Cards in the ’56 set.

I absolutely love the looks of these cards and I’m contemplating throwing together a low-grade set.  I got Lenny Moore and Joe Perry from the 1955 Bowman set, all for 9 bucks.  I’m going to considering Perry a Bonus! Bonus! card and just say that Lenny cost 9 bucks.  You can find Lenny Moore cards for under 5 bucks though, if you look hard enough.

Moore was a huge part of Baltimore’s offense, but his cards cost about 1/50th of the price as Unitas’.  Moore was another Flanker / Halfback combo-player that contributed whenever he touched the ball.

Over the course of Moore’s career, he notched seven Pro Bowls and seven All Pro selections.  Moore was named to the all decade team of the 1950′s and took home the UPI’s Rookie of the Year Award in 1956.

Lenny Moore was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975 after retiring from the game before the 1968 season.  Moore finished up his career with over 12K combined yards, and a then record, 18 consecutive games played with a touchdown.