Brian Dowling = Doonesbury’s B.D.
July 10th, 2009 | Published in Football Card Trivia | 1 Comment
This might be common knowledge among old football fans, but I learned today that the man on this 1974 Topps card, Brian Dowling, was the inspiration for the character B.D. in the Doonesbury comic strip. Dowling was the star quarterback at Yale during the time that Gary Trudeau, Doonesbury’s creator, attended school there.
Though Dowling had a stellar high school and college career, he got significant playing time only one season in the NFL. To my knowledge, this is his only football card.
According to his Wikipedia article, B.D. never removed his helmet, making excuses that his ears stuck out or that he had bad hair. Perhaps this was inspired by Dowling, too: his hair indeed looks a bit unruly!
Search for Brian Dowling cards on: eBay, Nearmint’s Cards
July 12th, 2009 at 10:09 pm (#)
Unbelievable that he isn’t wearing the helmet on the card! I remember he dated Boopsie or something like that- hot blonde cheerleader and that he loved the Vietnam war. Wonder what Dowling is doing now.- Good knowledge.