2013 College Football Hall of Fame Candidates, Bowl Subdivision

March 8th, 2013  |  Published in Halls of Fame

Earlier this week, the National Football Foundation announced the names of the 2013 Football Bowl Subdivision candidates for the College Football Hall of Fame. Eleven of the 82 players and coaches on the ballot appear on cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. (One of them appears on someone else’s card, however.) Here are the eleven in the Gallery:

Bob Berry, Quarterback, Oregon. Berry had a long NFL career with the Vikings and Falcons. He is shown here on his 1972 Topps card.
Bob Berry 1972 Topps football card
John Didion, center, Oregon State. Didion played six seasons for the New Orleans Saints. This is his 1974 Topps card.
John Didion 1974 Topps football card
Charlie Gogolak, kicker, Princeton. Gogolak played six seasons for the Washington Redskins and Boston/New England Patriots. In 1966, he set a record for most extra points attempted in a game, with 10. (He made 9 of them.) He is shown here on his rookie card, a 1967 Philadelphia. Gogolak’s brother, Pete, also played in the NFL.
Charlie Gogolak 1967 Philadelphia rookie football card
Rob Lytle, running back, Michigan. Lytle played seven seasons for the Denver Broncos. This is his rookie card, a 1978 Topps. Lytle finished third in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1976, so he also appears on my page of cards of Heisman Trophy candidates.
Rob Lytle 1978 Topps rookie football card
Paul Naumoff, linebacker, Tennessee. Naumoff had a 12-year NFL career with the Detroit Lions. He is pictured here on his 1973 Topps card.
Paul Naumoff 1973 Topps football card
Tom Nowatzke, linebacker, Indiana. Nowatzke played eight seasons for the Detroit Lions and Baltimore Colts. This is his 1969 Topps football card.
Tom Nowatze 1969 Topps football card
Phil Olsen, defensive end, Utah State. Olsen played six seasons for the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos. One of his teammates with the Rams was his brother, Merlin. (See my Teammate Brothers article.) Olsen is shown here on his 1973 Topps football card.
Phil Olsen 1973 Topps football card
Jim Otis, fullback, Ohio State. Otis played nine seasons for the New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, and St. Louis Cardinals. His 1976 Buckmans Disc is pictured here. Otis also appears on my page of cards of Heisman Trophy candidates.
Jim Otis 1976 Buckmans football disc
Don Trull, quarterback, Baylor. Trull played six seasons for the AFL’s Houston Oilers and Boston Patriots, and two seasons for the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos. He is shown here on his 1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL card. Trull also appears on my page of cards of Heisman Trophy candidates.
Don Trull 1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL football card
Clancy Williams, running back, Washington State. Though Williams was a running back in college, as a pro he played defensive back. He played his whole eight-year NFL career with the Los Angeles Rams. Williams’s son, Clarence, also played a season in the NFL. The elder Williams is shown here on his only card, a 1967 Philadelphia.
Clancy Williams 1967 Philadelphia football card
Darryl Rogers, coach, several schools. Rogers never played in a regular season game as a pro, but he did coach the Detroit Lions from 1985 to 1988. Apparently, he also tried out with the Denver Broncos in the early 1960s, because his picture ended up on Goose Gonsoulin’s 1961 Fleer card. For more cards that picture the wrong player, see the Mistaken Identities page of the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
Goose Gonsoulin 1961 Fleer rookie football card
You can see all 82 of the 2013 Football Bowl Subdivision candidates on the National Football Foundation web site.

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New in the Gallery: 1965 Topps CFL Football Cards

December 18th, 2012  |  Published in CFL Cards, New in the Gallery

Today I added 1965 Topps CFL cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The set includes a few players who also saw playing time in the NFL or AFL, but who didn’t appear on any NFL or AFL cards. Two of those players are pictured here: Jim Battle played for the Minnesota Vikings and Charles Brown played for the Oakland Raiders, but neither of the players appeared on an American football card. To see more such players, scroll through the set in the Gallery.

This is the fourth set of CFL cards I have added to the Gallery; you can see the others on my Canadian football card page. I will be adding another five CFL sets in the next few weeks.
1965 Topps CFL Jim Battle football cardCharles Brown 1965 Topps CFL football card

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New in the Gallery: 1963 Topps CFL Football Cards

March 14th, 2012  |  Published in CFL Cards, New in the Gallery

Bobby Walden 1963 Topps CFL football cardThis week I added 1963 Topps CFL cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. This was my first CFL set, so most of the players were new to me. I did find a few familiar faces: Joe Kapp, Dave Mann, Pat Holmes, and Bobby Walden all appear on NFL cards, as well. Walden, I learned, was a running back and kick returner in the CFL, as well as a punter. After he moved to the NFL, he stuck to punting, though it appears from his NFL stats that he faked a few punts and ran instead.

Topps apparently really liked the image on Joe Kapp’s card, because they used the same image on his 1960, 1961, 1968, and 1969 cards, and on his 1969 mini-card. I don’t know why he is in a green jersey, though, because I don’t believe any of his teams wore green. I suspect that the image was originally a black-and-white photo from his days at the University of California, and that someone at Topps colored it. The jersey on his card resembles the one he is wearing in the photo on his College Football Hall of Fame page.

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