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.

Of course, while searching youtube, I also came across lots of videos of Dryer starring in the television show “Hunter.” Hunter ran for seven seasons in the late 80s. For a smile, check out the season 1 intro below.

Pictured here is Dryer’s 1970 Topps rookie card, from when he was still with the New York Giants. You can see more of Dryer’s early football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

• See Fred Dryer’s page at pro-football-reference.com
• Find Fred Dryer cards on eBay.

The card pictured here is Meredith’s rookie card, a 1961 Fleer. He appeared on cards every year from 1961 to 1969, the year after he retired. You can see all of Don Meredith’s football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

After Little House, Olsen starred in another TV show, Father Murphy. I couldn’t find any Father Murphy cards, though–even foreign ones. The show aired from 1981 to 1983. Perhaps, by then, bubblegum cards for TV shows were no longer in fashion?

Olsen, of course, appeared on a lot of football cards, too.

After college, Wedemeyer played two years of pro football with the Los Angeles Dons and Baltimore Colts of the AAFC. Years later (after playing professional baseball, managing sales for the Ilikai Hotel, and serving in public office), he appeared in the Hawaii Five-O series as Sergeant Duke Lukela. The Herman Wedemeyer Home Page includes lots of pictures of Wedemeyer on the Hawaii Five-O set.

The card pictured here is Wedemeyer’s Exhibit card, printed in either 1948 or 1949. (The web page where I found it says 1948; my old Beckett says 1949.) I believe he is wearing his St. Mary’s uniform, since the image resembles an image in Randy Andrada’s “They Did It Every Time,” a book about St. Mary’s football. My Beckett says the card is short printed and much scarcer than most of the other Exhibit football cards. You can find a few Wedemeyer cards for sale on eBay, and they are definitely priced as if the card is scarce.

• Search eBay for 1948-1952 Exhibit football cards

A couple of these are actually stamps, so I don’t know if Beckett included them in their count. Hold your cursor over any thumbnail image to see what set it’s from, and click on it to see a full-sized scan.

Missing from this group are his 1971 Bazooka card, 1971 Dell card, 1972 NFLPA stamp, and possibly other oddballs I haven’t seen. He also appeared on two or three Topps poster inserts in the late 60s and early 70s. That’s a remarkable number of cards for a defensive player.

I wondered if perhaps Olsen appeared on a Little House on the Prairie card, if there were such cards. So I searched eBay and I found a set that was issued in Argentina. Alas, Jonathan Garvey, Olsen’s character, didn’t have a card in the set.

Two of Olsen’s brothers, Phil and Orrin, also played in the NFL. Phil appeared on a 1972 Sunoco Stamp and on a 1973 Topps card while he was Merlin’s teammate with the Rams.

Maybe he was pretending to run back an interception or a fumble? Unfortunately, he never got a chance in a game: surprisingly, he had no interceptions in his 11-year career, and just two fumble recoveries, neither of which he returned.

Davidson did a lot of acting after his football career, too, appearing in Conan the Barbarian, Necessary Roughness, and a host of primetime TV shows. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a film clip, just a photo of Ben playing Rexor in Conan.

I must confess, other than his appearances in M*A*S*H (as Captain “Spearchucker” Jones) and on Monday Night Football, I don’t think I have seen any of Williamson’s work. I’m just not much of an action movie fan, I guess. But next time “Fist of Fear” or “Vegas Vampires” comes up in conversation, I’ll now be able to say, “Hey, wasn’t Fred Williamson in that? I have all of his football cards!” And everyone will be impressed.

Shown here is Williamson’s rookie card, a 1962 Fleer. The video below is a nice synopsis of his football career and film work.

• See all of Fred Williamson’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery
• Search for Fred Williamson cards on eBay

Pictured here is Karras’s rookie card, a 1959 Topps. Below is a clip of Mongo.

• Search for Alex Karras cards on: Nearmint’s Cards, eBay

Shown here is Henry’s 1962 Post Cereal card. To my knowledge, this is his only card, but he did also appear on a 1963 Salada Coin. There are usually one or two available on eBay.

Here’s a clip of Mike Henry as Tarzan. I like how the helicopter goes behind the bushes to blow up!