Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

The newest interactive team card in the Vintage Football Card Gallery is the 1956 Topps Chicago Cardinals card. Clicking on the image pictured here will take you to the interactive version.

This card took awhile, because the image includes a lot of players that I didn’t yet have in my database. It also includes a bunch of owners, managers, coaches, and other non-players. As usual, I found some people I wasn’t expecting: Frank Bernardi, who later appeared with the Broncos on a 1960 Fleer card, and coaches Bob Nowaskey and Tommy Thompson, who had appeared on earlier football cards as players.

I will continue to work on the remaining 1956 Topps team cards as I have time. Next up: the Philadelphia Eagles.

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!

Error card collectors, here’s one you might have missed: I noticed last week that Carl Brettschneiders’ last name is misspelled on his 1958 Topps rookie card. The error is not identified in my Beckett catalog. Topps got it right on Brettschneider’s later cards.

I have added the Brettschneider to the long list of error cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. If you know of others I haven’t marked, send me an email.

Jimmy Carr, who played nine seasons for the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Redskins, passed away on August 13. Carr also played one season for the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. Carr was a starting defensive back on the Eagles team that beat Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers for the 1960 NFL championship. After retiring as a player, Carr was an assistant coach in the NFL, USFL, and NFL Europe for almost thirty years.

Carr is pictured here on his rookie card, a 1958 Topps. Though the card shows him with the Cardinals, 1958 was the season that he played in the CFL. Carr also appeared on a 1962 Post Cereal card, a 1963 Topps card, and a 1960 Eagles team issue photo.

King Hill, a quarterback and punter who played in the NFL from 1958 to 1969, passed away on July 14. The riceowls.com web site has a story about Hill and a photo of him from his college days. Hill spent most of his playing career with the Chicago/St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles, and he punted for part of one season for the Minnesota Vikings. After retiring as a player, he served as a coach and scout in the NFL for 23 more years.

Hill appeared on several football cards as a player. His 1960 Mayrose Cardinals card is pictured here. The Mayrose cards, which were distributed in packages of Mayrose meat products, are a small regional set that commemorated the Cardinals’ move from Chicago to St. Louis.

You can see all of King Hill’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Jerry Tubbs, who played ten seasons for the Chicago Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys, passed away on June 15. There is a story and a nice picture of Tubbs on the Tulsa World web site. Tubbs played on two National Championship teams at the University of Oklahoma, and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996. He was an All-Pro with the Dallas Cowboys in 1962. After retiring as a player, he remained with the Cowboys as an assistant coach for over two decades.

Tubbs appeared on a lot of football cards during his NFL career. His rookie card, a 1957 Topps, is pictured here. You can see the rest of Tubbs’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Awhile back, on the Pro Football Hall of Fame web site, I found a list of brothers who played pro football. I thought it was interesting, so I marked all of the players in the Vintage Football Card Gallery whose brothers had also played professionally. In many cases, only one brother appeared on a card, and it was fun to give the cardless brothers a nod. Did you know, for instance, that Terry Bradshaw’s brother Craig played a season for the Houston Oilers?

In the Hall of Fame’s list, the brothers who were teammates during their pro careers are marked with a diamond. Seeing these made me wonder how many brothers appeared on the same team in the same set of football cards. I did a quick check, and these are the ones I found in the Gallery:

Brothers Knox and Garrard (“Buster”) Ramsey were teammates with the Chicago Cardinals in 1950 and 1951. They both appeared with the Cardinals on 1951 Bowman cards.

Ebert and Steve Van Buren were teammates with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1951, and they both appeared on 1951 Bowman football cards.

Phil and Merlin Olsen were teammates with the Los Angeles Rams from 1971 to 1974. They appeared together on 1972 Sunoco Stamps and 1973 Topps football cards.


Tody and Bubba Smith were teammates with the Houston Oilers in 1975 and 1976, and they both appeared with the Oilers in the 1976 Topps set.

Finally, just missing the cut are brothers Mel and Miller Farr, who were teammates for the Detroit Lions in 1973. Both of them appeared on 1973 Topps cards, but Miller was not traded to the Lions until September, so Topps still had him with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Dave “Super” Mann, who played three seasons for the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals and twelve seasons for the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts, passed away on May 22. At various times in his career, Mann was a running back, defensive back, receiver, punter, kicker, and kick returner. In 1958, he and Boyd Carter combined to return a missed field goal 131 yards, still a CFL record. Mann also had the third-longest punt in CFL history, a 102-yarder. The Toronto Star web site has a summary of Mann’s career.

Mann appeared on two NFL football cards and numerous CFL cards. His rookie card, a 1956 Topps, is pictured here. I don’t yet have all of his CFL cards, but you can see his 1962 and 1963 Topps CFL cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Here’s another round of trivia. Just pick the “Answer” links to see the answers.

1. John “Red” Cochran, pictured here on his 1950 Bowman football card, is a member of what NFL team’s Hall of Fame? Answer
2. Who was the first player chosen in the first-ever NFL draft? Answer
3. Who scored the first touchdown in the history of the American Football League? Answer
4. What Los Angeles Ram and NFL Hall of Famer starred in a movie about himself in 1953? Answer
5. What Redskins kicker holds the NFL record for most extra points attempted in a game? Answer
6. Pro Football Hall of Famer Bronko Nagurski’s son played in the Canadian Football League. What was his name? Answer
7. Doak Walker had a 79-yard punt for SMU in the 1949 Cotton Bowl. One of his teammates had an 84-yard punt in the same game. Who was it? Answer
8. What Pro Football Hall of Famer was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as an umpire in 1976? Answer

John Panelli, a fullback and linebacker from 1949 to 1953 for the Detroit Lions and Chicago Cardinals, passed away on March 2. In college, Panelli was a member of Notre Dame’s national championship teams of 1946 and 1947, and of its undefeated team of 1948. JohnPanelli.com, an impressive web site dedicated to Panelli, contains a detailed account of his football career, including many photos.

Panelli appeared on one football card, the 1950 Bowman card pictured here.