Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

Ed McQuarters, who was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1988, is celebrating his 70th birthday today. McQuarters played defensive tackle for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1966 to 1974. He played in four Grey Cups (CFL championship games), of which the Roughriders won one, in 1966. He was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Lineman in 1967.

McQuarters played college football at the University of Oklahoma, and he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1965 NFL draft. He played in one game for the Cardinals before moving to the CFL. (See my Cups of Coffee page for other players who played in exactly one NFL, AFL, or AAFC game.)

McQuarters is pictured here on his 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL football card.

Happy birthday, Mr. McQuarters!

Curt Knight, who was the kicker for the Washington Redskins from 1969 to 1973, is celebrating his 70th birthday today. Knight was the NFC’s leading scorer in 1971, and he made the Pro Bowl that season. He was a member of the Redskins team that played in Super Bowl VII against the Miami Dolphins.

Knight’s long path to the NFL included playing at the Coast Guard Academy under coach Otto Graham. He describes his career in an interview at mineralwellindex.com.

Knight is pictured here on his rookie card, a 1971 Topps. He appeared on several other football cards, as well.

Happy birthday, Mr. Knight!

A couple of weeks ago I bought this 8-card panel of 1966 Philadelphia football cards in an eBay auction. It provided another piece to the 1965-1967 Philadelphia virtual uncut sheets I have been working on. The project is a little (okay, a lot) geeky, but you can see my progress here.

As it says on my uncut sheet pages, I have concluded that card numbering scheme was the same on 1965, 1966, and 1967 Philadelphia sheets, so finding a piece of one helps with all three. (The 1964 Philadelphia sheet was numbered differently from the other three years, so I have to do that one independently.)

I have also mentioned before that there must be double prints in all four Phildelphia sets, because a full sheet held 264 cards, and there are only 198 cards in each set. That means 66 cards must have been printed twice on each sheet. I have not seen the double prints documented in any price guide, but I am reasonably sure that I know which 1965-1967 cards were double printed, so I have marked the them in the Gallery pages for those sets. Since the numbering scheme was the same on the 1965-1967 Philadelphia sheets, it follows that the same numbers were double prints in all three sets.

Here’s a trivia question for you: what legendary NFL running back appeared on the 1964 Topps CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders team card? Here is a picture of the card. The player is in the middle row, fourth from the left, wearing number 32.

Give up? The answer is Jim Brown. What, you say, Jim Brown never played in the CFL? Well, it’s a trick question, because the team pictured on the card is not the 1964 Saskatchewan Roughriders. It is actually the 1959 Cleveland Browns. I learned this bit of trivia earlier this week from a post on a Roughriders forum.

But that’s not the extent of the error. Topps routinely used the same team photos for years at a time, and all of the Roughrider team cards in the 1961-1963 Topps CFL sets have the same mistake. Ironically, though Topps used the 1959 Browns photo on several CFL cards, this photo never appeared on an NFL card. Topps used a picture of the 1958 Browns team on all of its Browns team cards from 1959 to 1963.

For many more football cards that picture the wrong players, see the Mistaken Identities page of the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Over the weekend I added 1950 Bread for Health Labels to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. My favorite, Charley Conerly, is shown here. I listed the labels in the Oddball section of the Gallery. A huge thanks to my friend Jeff Payne for providing the images for this set. Check ’em out!

Former AFL, NFL, and WFL defensive back Miller Farr is celebrating his 70th birthday today. Farr played from 1965 to 1973 for the Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, Houston Oilers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Detroit Lions, and he finished his career in 1974 with the WFL’s Florida Blazers. His best seasons were his three with the Oilers, 1967-1969. He led the AFL with 10 interceptions in 1967, he was voted First Team All-AFL in 1967 and 1968, and he was an AFL All-Star all three years.

Farr’s younger brother, Mel, also played in the NFL. The two brothers were teammates with the Lions in 1973. Their cards from that season are featured on the Teammate Brothers page of the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Farr is pictured here on his 1969 Topps football card. He appeared on several other cards and stamps, as well.

Happy birthday, Mr. Farr!

Mike Fuller, who played safety from 1975 to 1982 for the San Diego Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals, is celebrating his 60th birthday today. Fuller also returned over 300 punts and kickoffs in his NFL career. He was a member of the 1981 Bengals team that played the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XVI.

Prior to his pro career, Fuller was an All-American at Auburn University. There is a summary of his college career on the Auburn web site.

Fuller is pictured here on his 1972 Auburn playing card. He also appears on a few other cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Happy birthday, Mr. Fuller!

Two players in the Vintage Football Card Gallery are celebrating milestone birthdays today: Nemiah Wilson is 70, and Jeff West is 60.

Nemiah Wilson played defensive back from 1965 to 1975 for the Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders, and Chicago Bears. He was a member of five Raiders teams that played in AFL or AFC Championship games. Wilson is pictured here on his 1972 Topps card, one of the tough third-series cards from that set. He appeared on numerous other cards and stamps, as well.

Jeff West was a punter from 1975 to 1985 for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Chargers, and Seattle Seahawks. There is a short summary of his NFL career on the Seahawks web site. West’s 1978 Topps card is pictured here.

Happy birthday, Messrs. Wilson and West!

Former NFL defensive back Lindon Crow is celebrating his 80th birthday today. Crow played from 1955 to 1964 for the Chicago Cardinals, New York Giants, and Los Angeles Rams. In 1956, his second season, he led the league with 11 interceptions. He played in two NFL Championship games, both with the Giants, in 1958 and 1959. The Giants lost both games to the Baltimore Colts.

Crow’s younger brother, Wayne Crow, also played professional football. He was a halfback and punter for four seasons with the AFL’s Oakland Raiders and Buffalo Bills.

Crow appeared on football cards with all three of his NFL teams. My favorite, his 1962 Topps card, is pictured here. You can see the rest of his cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

According to oldestlivingprofootball.com, Crow is the 494th oldest living American pro football player.

Happy birthday, Mr. Crow!

Russ Francis, who played tight end for thirteen seasons with the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers, is celebrating his 60th birthday today. Francis was a three-time Pro Bowler, and he played on the 1984 49ers team that finished 18-1 and won Super Bowl XIX.

Francis excelled in other sports, as well. In 1971, at Pleasant Hill High School in Oregon, he set the national high school record for the javelin. In the 1974 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft, the Kansas City Royals drafted him as a pitcher. He also wrestled professionally, and he placed second in the 1980 U.S. Superstars competition.

Francis is pictured here on his rookie card, a 1976 Topps.

Happy birthday, Mr. Francis!