December 10th, 2012 |
Published in
Football Card Oddities
I had always thought that the image on Steve DeLong’s 1966 Topps football card looked odd, but I didn’t know why until I saw it alongside his 1965 Topps card. For some reason, on his 1966 card, the folks at Topps chopped off DeLong’s left shoulder. My only guess is that they wanted the 1966 card to look like it had a different image, but Topps reused images all the time, so that’s not a very good guess. In fact, DeLong’s 1967 Topps and 1969 Topps cards also have the same image, but with DeLong’s shoulder restored.
DeLong is pictured here on his 1965 and 1966 cards, with and without his left shoulder.
August 20th, 2010 |
Published in
Player Deaths
Steve DeLong, who played defensive end and defensive tackle from 1965 to 1972 for the San Diego Chargers and Chicago Bears, passed away on Wednesday. DeLong made the Pro Bowl once, in 1969, with the Chargers. Prior to his pro career, DeLong was a standout at Tennessee, and he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993. His obituary at knoxnews.com includes some nice photos from his college days.
DeLong appeared on a lot of football cards for a lineman. Pictured here is his rookie card, a 1965 Topps “tallboy.” Topps apparently liked this image, because they used it on his cards for the next four years, also. On one of them, his 1966 card, Topps airbrushed DeLong’s left shoulder off, making for a strange picture.
You can see all of Steve DeLong’s football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
