Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

Lee Riley, who played defensive back from 1955 to 1962 for the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, and New York Titans, passed away on June 9. Riley’s best season was 1962, when he intercepted 11 passes for the Titans, leading the AFL. Riley was the son of Leon Riley, who played briefly for baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies, and the brother of Pat Riley, longtime NBA coach and current president of the Miami Heat. He is mentioned in Pat Riley’s profile on the NBA web site.

The card pictured here is Riley’s rookie card, a 1955 Bowman. (1955 Bowmans are the only vintage football cards I can think of that indicate which players were rookies.) He also appeared on a 1963 Fleer card, issued after his last season.

You can see Lee Riley’s career stats at pro-football-reference.com.

I was putting some 1955 Bowman cards on eBay yesterday, and I realized that the Lee Riley in that set was the same Lee Riley who appears on a 1963 Fleer card. Riley had only these two cards, eight years apart, and I had not made the connection.

I looked up Riley on pro-football-reference.com, and I discovered that the timespan between his two cards was actually greater than the length of his career. How’s that, you ask? Well, Riley was a rookie in 1955, making his Bowman card a true rookie card. But he didn’t actually play in 1963; his last year was 1962. His entry in the All-Time Jets Roster confirms that.