May 12th, 2010 |
Published in
Fathers and Sons, Player Deaths
Bruce Alford Sr. passed away on May 8. He was a receiver for the New York Yankees of the All-American Conference and New York Yanks of the NFL from 1946 to 1951. He was voted 1st Team All-AAFC by the Associated Press in 1947.
(The Yankees and Yanks were actually two different teams. When the AAFC merged with the NFL in 1950, the players from the AAFC’s New York Yankees were divided between the NFL’s New York Bulldogs and New York Giants. The Bulldogs then changed their name to the Yanks.)
After his playing days, Alford officiated in the NFL for twenty years, from 1960 to 1979. His son, Bruce Alford Jr., also played in the NFL, kicking for the Redskins and Bills from 1967 to 1969.
To my knowledge, Alford appeared on just one card, the 1951 Bowman card pictured here. I am not aware of any cards of the AAFC’s New York Yankees.
February 7th, 2010 |
Published in
Fathers and Sons
Since I deal only with vintage football cards, I don’t have cards of any of the players in today’s Super Bowl. I couldn’t even tell you what football cards were produced for the 2009 season. I didn’t want to be left out of the fun, though, so I dug up a card of Peyton Manning’s dad, Archie. Archie, of course, also has ties to the Saints: he was their quarterback from 1971 to 1982.
Archie’s rookie card is in the 1972 Topps set, and you can see more of his early cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The card pictured here is a bit less common: it’s a 1979 Coke Saints card, one of a 45-card set. I don’t know what the roster size was in 1979, but 45 cards would have included nearly every player on the team. I can’t think of another set with so many players from a single team.
The Saints were so-so in 1979, and Archie is the biggest name in the Coke set. I haven’t added the set to my gallery yet–I’m still working on 1975–but there is a full list of the cards on the PSA site. Most individual 1979 Coke cards sell for a dollar or two on eBay.
January 8th, 2010 |
Published in
Fathers and Sons, Player Bios
A couple of weeks ago, when I wrote that I had added 1955 49ers Team Issue photos to the Vintage Football Card Gallery, I neglected to point out that Clay Matthews Sr. is in one of the photos. Clay Sr. is the father of Clay Matthews Jr., who played 19 years for the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons, and of Bruce Matthews, the Hall of Fame lineman for the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans. He is also the grandfather of Clay Matthews III, the Packers rookie linebacker. Clay III had 10 sacks in 2009, a record for a Packers rookie.
Clay Sr. played offensive tackle and defensive end for the 49ers in 1950 and from 1953 to 1955. To my knowledge, he did not appear on any regular issue cards, and this is his only appearance on a team issue photo.
