Record Holders

Happy Birthday, Jim Kearney and Tony Davis!

January 21st, 2013  |  Published in Milestone Birthdays, Record Holders

Jim Kearney 1973 Topps rookie football cardToday is a milestone birthday for two players in the Vintage Football Card Gallery: Jim Kearney is 70 years old, and Tony Davis is 60.

Kearney played defensive back from 1965 to 1976 for the Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs, and New Orleans Saints. He was a member of the Chiefs team that won Super Bowl IV against the Vikings. In 1972, Kearney returned four interceptions for touchdowns, tying an NFL record. He still shares that record with Ken Houston and Eric Allen.

Tony Davis 1973 University of Nebraska Football Playing CardKearney is pictured here on his rookie card, a 1973 Topps. He also appeared on a few other cards and stamps.

Tony Davis was a running back from 1976 to 1981 for the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He also returned punts for two seasons with the Bengals. As far as I know, Davis did not appear on any regular issue football cards, but he did appear on University of Nebraska Playing Cards in 1973 and 1974. His 1973 card is pictured here, and you can see his 1974 card in the Gallery.

Happy birthday, Messrs. Kearney and Davis!

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Longest NFL Game? There’s a Card for That.

December 25th, 2011  |  Published in Football Card Trivia, Record Holders

Today is the 40th anniversary of the longest NFL game, a Christmas Day AFC semi-final playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs. The game went 7 minutes and 40 seconds into the second overtime before Garo Yepremian ended it with a field goal. The final score: Miami 27, Kansas City 24.

Kansas City’s Ed Podolak was the star of the game; he rushed, received, and returned the ball for a total of 350 yards. The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s summary of the game includes a great photo of Podolak in action. Dig the facemask!
1972 Topps football card of 1971 Miami-Kansas City playoff gameBack of 1972 Topps football card for 1971 Miami-Kansas City playoff game
Topps commemorated the game in 1972, sort of. The 1972 Topps football card set was the first to contain a card for each of the previous years’ playoff games, and the Miami-Kansas City marathon happened to be one of them. Unfortuately, Topps missed an opportunity and didn’t mention that the game was the league’s longest ever. I believe that’s Ed Podolak running the ball on the front of the card. Podolak wore number 14, and that facemask looks familiar.

Merry Christmas!

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New in the Gallery: Interactive 1964 Topps Oakland Raiders Team Card

October 8th, 2011  |  Published in Interactive Team Cards, New in the Gallery, Player Deaths, Record Holders

1964 Topps Oakland Raiders team football cardIn honor of Al Davis, who passed away today, I added an interactive 1964 Topps Oakland Raiders team card to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The card pictures the 1963 Raiders team, which Davis coached to a 10-4 record. That was the Raiders’ first winning season, and Davis was named the AFL Coach of the Year.

As always, I learned a few things while assembling the interactive card. One thing I learned is that one of the players pictured, Tom Morrow, holds the NFL record for most consecutive games with an interception. As far as I know, Morrow never appeared on a card by himself.

(Click on the card image shown here to go to the interactive version.)

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Norm Willey, Philadelphia Eagles Defensive End

August 20th, 2011  |  Published in Player Deaths, Record Holders

Norm “Wild Man” Willey, a defensive end from 1950 to 1957 for the Philadelphia Eagles, passed away on August 18. ESPN’s web site has a report of his death. Willey was a Pro Bowler twice, in 1954 and 1955. According to the book The Eagles Encyclopedia, Willey once got 17 sacks in one game–but this was before sacks were counted among the official NFL statistics.

Willey appeared on three football cards, the 1954 Bowman and 1956 Topps cards shown here, and a 1955 Bowman card. I especially like the 1956 Topps card, in which he appears to be imitating the logo in the upper right corner.
Norm Willey 1954 Bowman rookie football cardNorm Willey 1956 Topps football card

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Joe Perry, 49ers and Colts Hall of Fame Running Back

April 25th, 2011  |  Published in Player Deaths, Record Holders

Joe Perry 1950 Bowman rookie football cardJoe “The Jet” Perry, who played from 1948 to 1963 for the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts, has passed away. Perry led the NFL in rushing twice, in 1953 and 1954, and he made the Pro Bowl three times. He also held the NFL record for career rushing yards from 1958 to 1963, when Jim Brown surpassed him. Perry’s record did not include the yards he gained in 1948 and 1949, when the 49ers were still part of the AAFC. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.

The card pictured here is Perry’s rookie card, a 1950 Bowman. He appeared on many more cards and team issue photos over the next thirteen years. You can see all of Joe Perry’s football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

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Don “The Magnet” Hultz’s Fumble Recovery Record

March 16th, 2011  |  Published in Record Holders

Here’s another old record from the nfl.com individual records page: in the 1963 season, Don Hultz, a rookie for the Minnesota Vikings, recovered nine opponents’ fumbles. That broke Joe Schmidt’s record of eight, set in 1955, and no player has come close since. According to The Vikings Timeline at vikingupdate.com, Hultz’s feat earned him a new nickname, “The Magnet.”

In 1964, the Vikings traded Hultz to the Philadelphia Eagles, and he never again came close to his 1963 record. Hultz’s page at pro-football-reference.com says that in his last eleven seasons, he recovered just three more opponents’ fumbles.

The card pictured here is Hultz’s rookie card, a 1968 Topps. He also appeared on a 1972 Sunoco Stamp and a 1973 Topps card.

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Some Old Extra Point Records

February 8th, 2011  |  Published in Record Holders

Charlie Gogolak 1967 Philadelphia rookie football cardHere’s another record from the nfl.com history page: on November 27, 1966, in a game against the New York Giants, the Redskins’ Charlie Gogolak attempted ten extra points. That means, of course, that the Redskins scored ten touchdowns that day, and they beat the Giants 72-41. The Redskins’ 72 points in one game is an NFL record, and so is the 113 total points that the two teams scored. According to an account of the game at sportsthenandnow.com, the Redskins weren’t very sportsmanlike that day: with only a few seconds left in the game, instead of running out the clock, coach Otto Graham sent Gogolak out to kick a field goal. With those final three points, the Redskins surpassed the previous record for points in a game, 70, which the Los Angeles Rams had set in 1950.

Bob Waterfield 1948 Leaf rookie football cardIf you’re quick at math, you’re thinking, hmm, Gogolak must have missed one of his attempts against the Giants. He did; the Giants blocked it. Thus Gogolak shares the record for most successful extra points in a game with Pat Harder and Bob Waterfield. Harder, of the Chicago Cardinals, went 9-for-9 twice: against the New York Giants in 1948, and against the New York Bulldogs in 1949. Waterfield, of the Los Angeles Rams, went 9-for-9 in a game against the Baltimore Colts in 1950–the game in which the Rams set the scoring record I mentioned above. According to the box score, Elroy Hirsch kicked the final extra point in that game, or Waterfield alone would hold the record for most successful extra points in a game. Waterfield threw a 63-yard touchdown pass for the final score, and maybe it was too far to walk.

Pat Harder 1948 Leaf rookie football cardThe cards pictured here are the rookie cards of the record-holding kickers: Gogolak’s 1967 Philadelphia card, Harder’s 1948 Leaf card (with his name misspelled), and Waterfield’s 1948 Leaf card. Waterfield and Harder also had rookie cards in the 1948 Bowman football card set.

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Wally Triplett’s Big Day

January 23rd, 2011  |  Published in Record Holders

Wally Triplett 1950 Bowman football cardHere’s another amazing record I found on the nfl.com individual records page: On October 29, 1950, against the Los Angeles Rams, Detroit’s Wally Triplett returned 4 kickoffs for an average of 73.5 yards per return! I found the box score for the game at pro-football-reference.com, and I was surprised to see that only one of the returns was for a touchdown. Searching further, I found an account of the game in an article about Triplett on the Pro Football Researchers web site. According to the article, the returns were for 81, 97, 74, and 42 yards, and the 97-yarder was for the touchdown.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Lions didn’t play as well as Triplett that day. The Rams scored 41 points in the third quarter, and they beat the Lions 65-24. The 41 points in a quarter tied a record, too–a record that the Packers had set 5 years earlier, also against the Lions.

Triplett had a short NFL career: two seasons with the Lions and two with the Cardinals, with two years in the Army between. The card pictured here is Triplett’s only card, a 1950 Bowman. You can find a summary of Wally Triplett’s career at pro-football-reference.com.

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Fred Dryer’s Safeties

January 21st, 2011  |  Published in Players Who Became Actors, Record Holders

I was recently perusing the individual records page at nfl.com, looking for records that were set by players who are now on vintage cards. I found one record that I doubt will ever be broken: Fred Dryer’s record for “Most Safeties, Game.” Dryer set the record on October 21, 1973, when he scored two safeties against the Green Bay Packers. The video below shows them, at 2:48. If you watch closely, you can see that he sacked two different Packer quarterbacks: number 12, Scott Hunter, and number 16, Jim Del Gaizo. I looked up the box score for the game and found that not only did Dryer get two safeties in one game, he got them both in the fourth quarter. And, according to pro-football-reference.com, they were the only two safeties he scored in his 13-year career!

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.

Fred Dryer 1970 Topps rookie football cardPictured 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.

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