Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

A friend of mine bought a copy of this card recently; it’s a 1952 Bowman Large card of Bob Waterfield. When I saw his card, I noticed something that I hadn’t before: Waterfield’s helmet has “bone style,” or serrated, ram horns on it. My first thought was that the artist had taken liberties with the image and changed the Rams’ smooth horns to serrated ones. I did a little searching, though, and I found that the Rams actually did wear serrated horns for one season, 1949. I also found a replica of the 1949 Rams helmet.

The L.A. Rams weren’t the only Rams to wear bone style horns: the Colorado State Rams wore them for a few years, too. You can see CSU’s version in a previous blog article. It’s interesting that, though people seem to prefer the bone style horns, both the St. Louis (formerly Los Angeles) and CSU Rams persist with the smooth ones.

Jimmy Harris, a defensive back in the NFL and AFL from 1957 to 1961, passed away on August 8. Harris played one season each for the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Dallas Texans, and Dallas Cowboys. He did not play the 1959 season.

Before his pro career, Harris was a star quarterback at Oklahoma. He went 25-0 over three seasons, contributing over half of the wins in the Sooners’ 47-game winning streak. NewsOK.com has an account of Harris’s college career, along with lots of photos.

The card pictured here is Harris’s rookie card, a 1957 Topps. Topps apparently colored a college photo of Harris to put him in Eagles green, because the image closely resembles the photo in the NewsOK.com article, and Harris wore number 20 for the Eagles, not number 15. The image on Harris’s 1960 Fleer card appears to have come from the same photo session, as well.

Harris appeared in a Dallas Texans uniform on a 1961 Fleer card and a 1961 Fleer Wallet Photo, but he played for the Cowboys that season.

Andy Robustelli, a defensive end from 1951 to 1964 for the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants, passed away this morning. The Connecticut Post’s web site has a report of his death, including numerous photos. Robustelli was a seven-time Pro Bowler, and he played on NFL Championship teams with the Rams in 1951 and the Giants in 1956. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.

The card shown here is one of Robustelli’s rookie cards, a 1952 Bowman Small. His other rookie card is a 1952 Bowman Large, which is identical except for its size.

• See all of Andy Robustelli’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
• See Andy Robustelli’s career stats at pro-football-reference.com.

When I read yesterday that Ollie Matson had passed away, I thought I’d do a quick web search for him. It kept me busy for a couple of hours. A San Francisco Chronicle article provides the best summary I found of Matson’s career. The article includes a recent photo and a few photos from his playing days.

Before reading about Matson yesterday, I didn’t know about his 1951 San Francisco Dons team. The Dons went undefeated in 1951, but, because they refused to play without their two black team members, Matson and Burl Toler, they were not invited to a bowl game. A book about the team, by Dr. Kristine Setting Clark, is available. Two other Pro Football Hall of Famers, Gino Marchetti and Bob St. Clair, were also members of the 1951 Dons team.

Matson’s two rookie cards–1952 Bowman Large and 1952 Bowman Small–picture him in his Dons uniform. His 1952 Bowman Large card, pictured on the right, is one of my all-time favorite football cards. The back of the card shows that Matson was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in 1952. He shared NFL Rookie of the Year honors that season with Hugh McElhenny.

Before joining the Cardinals, Matson ran track in the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics. He won two medals: a bronze in the 400-meter dash and a silver in the 1600-meter relay. (For other pro football players who won Olympic medals, see my blog article on the subject.)

According to Matson’s page on the Pro Football Hall of Fame web site, he spent the 1953 season in the military, and he returned to the Cardinals in 1954. In total, he played 14 seasons for the Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions, and Philadelphia Eagles. According to his page at pro-football-reference.com, he was a fullback, halfback, flanker, defensive back, and kick returner at various times during his NFL career. He is a member of the Cardinals Ring of Honor and the Philadelphia Eagles Honor Roll.

During his long NFL career, Matson appeared on at least 16 football cards. My favorite, after his 1952 Bowman cards, is his 1959 Topps card, pictured on the left.

You can see all of Ollie Matson’s football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Here’s another record from the nfl.com history page: on November 27, 1966, in a game against the New York Giants, the Redskins’ Charlie Gogolak attempted ten extra points. That means, of course, that the Redskins scored ten touchdowns that day, and they beat the Giants 72-41. The Redskins’ 72 points in one game is an NFL record, and so is the 113 total points that the two teams scored. According to an account of the game at sportsthenandnow.com, the Redskins weren’t very sportsmanlike that day: with only a few seconds left in the game, instead of running out the clock, coach Otto Graham sent Gogolak out to kick a field goal. With those final three points, the Redskins surpassed the previous record for points in a game, 70, which the Los Angeles Rams had set in 1950.

If you’re quick at math, you’re thinking, hmm, Gogolak must have missed one of his attempts against the Giants. He did; the Giants blocked it. Thus Gogolak shares the record for most successful extra points in a game with Pat Harder and Bob Waterfield. Harder, of the Chicago Cardinals, went 9-for-9 twice: against the New York Giants in 1948, and against the New York Bulldogs in 1949. Waterfield, of the Los Angeles Rams, went 9-for-9 in a game against the Baltimore Colts in 1950–the game in which the Rams set the scoring record I mentioned above. According to the box score, Elroy Hirsch kicked the final extra point in that game, or Waterfield alone would hold the record for most successful extra points in a game. Waterfield threw a 63-yard touchdown pass for the final score, and maybe it was too far to walk.

The cards pictured here are the rookie cards of the record-holding kickers: Gogolak’s 1967 Philadelphia card, Harder’s 1948 Leaf card (with his name misspelled), and Waterfield’s 1948 Leaf card. Waterfield and Harder also had rookie cards in the 1948 Bowman football card set.

• See all of Charlie Gogolak, Bob Waterfield, and Pat Harder‘s football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
• See the career stats for Charlie Gogolak, Pat Harder, and Bob Waterfield at pro-football-reference.com.

I was recently perusing the individual records page at nfl.com, looking for records that were set by players who are now on vintage cards. I found one record that I doubt will ever be broken: Fred Dryer’s record for “Most Safeties, Game.” Dryer set the record on October 21, 1973, when he scored two safeties against the Green Bay Packers. The video below shows them, at 2:48. If you watch closely, you can see that he sacked two different Packer quarterbacks: number 12, Scott Hunter, and number 16, Jim Del Gaizo. I looked up the box score for the game and found that not only did Dryer get two safeties in one game, he got them both in the fourth quarter. And, according to pro-football-reference.com, they were the only two safeties he scored in his 13-year career!

Of course, while searching youtube, I also came across lots of videos of Dryer starring in the television show “Hunter.” Hunter ran for seven seasons in the late 80s. For a smile, check out the season 1 intro below.

Pictured here is Dryer’s 1970 Topps rookie card, from when he was still with the New York Giants. You can see more of Dryer’s early football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

• See Fred Dryer’s page at pro-football-reference.com
• Find Fred Dryer cards on eBay.

Dick Hoerner, fullback for the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Texans from 1947 to 1952, passed away on December 11. Hoerner made the Pro Bowl in 1950, and he was a member of the Rams team that won the 1951 NFL Championship. Hoerner’s obituary on the Los Angeles Times web site includes a nice photo of him in action.

The card pictured here is Hoerner’s 1950 Bowman football card, which, to my knowledge, was his only card in a major issue. He also appeared on a 1950 Admiral Rams card. I don’t have that card yet, but I did find a couple of them on eBay.

Ken Iman, who played center for the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams from 1960 to 1974, passed away on November 13. Iman played on two of the Packers’ championship teams, in 1961 and 1962. Later, with the Rams, he started 140 straight games, and he was the team’s MVP in 1972, according to his obituary on the ESPN web site. After retiring as a player, Iman was the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line coach for eleven years, from 1976 to 1986.

I featured Iman’s football cards in an earlier blog article. His rookie card, a 1971 Topps, wasn’t issued until his twelfth season in the league. He appeared on a card much earlier in his career, a 1961 Lake to Lake Packers card, but since the Lake to Lakes are a regional set, cards from that set are not considered rookie cards. Iman’s 1961 Lake to Lake card is pictured here.

Don Doll, who played safety from 1949 to 1954 for the Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins, and Los Angeles Rams, passed away on September 22. Doll had 41 career interceptions, and he made the Pro Bowl in four of his six seasons. According to a tribute on the Lions web site, he is the only NFL player to have intercepted at least ten passes in three different seasons. After his playing career, he coached in college and in the NFL for 34 years.

Despite his stellar play, Doll appeared on only two football cards. This was not unusual: defensive players were often under-represented in football card sets of the 1950s and 1960s. (Also see D is for Defensive Players.) The card shown here is Doll’s rookie card, a 1950 Bowman. He also appeared on a 1951 Bowman card with the Lions.

Yesterday I added 1955 Rams Team Issue photos to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The photos are about 4 inches by 6, and they are printed on cardboard. This is unlike the team issue photos I added earlier to the gallery–1955 49ers, 1958 49ers, and 1960 Eagles–which are on paper the thickness of catalog covers.

Beckett says there are 37 photos in the 1955 Rams set, but there are actually 38. The 38th is Bob Kelley, a sports announcer at the time for the Rams and baseball’s Los Angeles Angels. The back of his photo says he moved with the Rams from Cleveland to Los Angeles in 1946.

Besides the Kelley photo, there are 36 player photos and one photo of the coaching staff. The only players on the 1955 Rams roster who are not included in the set are Jack Dwyer and Bob Long. I am nearly sure that this is because the photos were produced during the season, and Dwyer and Long had already left the team by the third game.

Since the whole team is included in the set, many of the photos–eleven, if I counted correctly–picture players who never appeared on cards of their own. I think these guys were excited to get their chance, because they gave us the best action poses in the set. Pictured here are my two favorites, Art Hauser and Ed Hughes.

I realize now that when I picked up my first sets of team issue photos, I bit off more than I expected. I definitely like them, but there are a lot of them! To make room for more, I created a separate team issue photo page in the Gallery.