Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

A trio of players in the Vintage Football Card Gallery are celebrating milestone birthdays today: Glenn Ressler, Johnny Roland, and John Wilbur are all 70.

Glenn Ressler played guard from 1965 to 1974 for the Baltimore Colts. He was a starter in Super Bowl III, which the Colts lost to the New York Jets, and in Super Bowl V, which the Colts won against the Dallas Cowboys. Before his pro career, Ressler starred at center and middle guard at Penn State. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001. Ressler is pictured here on his 1974 Topps football card.

Johnny Roland was a running back from 1966 to 1973 for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Giants. Roland was named the UPI NFL Rookie of the Year in 1966, and he made the Pro Bowl in his first two seasons. He played college football at Missouri, and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998. After retiring as a player, Roland went on to a long coaching career. His rookie card, a 1967 Philadelphia, is shown here.

John Wilbur played guard from 1966 to 1974 for the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, and Washington Redskins. He started at right guard in Super Bowl VII, which the Redskins lost to the undefeated Miami Dolphins. Wilbur is pictured here on his 1973 Topps football card.

Happy birthday, Messrs. Ressler, Roland, and Wilbur!

Former NFL quarterback John Roach is celebrating his 80th birthday today. Roach played seven seasons for the Chicago/St. Louis Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, and Dallas Cowboys. He was a member of NFL Championship teams with the Packers in 1961 and 1962.

Roach appeared on two football cards, both in 1961, but with different teams. His 1961 Topps card pictures him with the Cardinals, but he was traded before the 1961 season first to the Cleveland Browns, then to the Packers, and he ended up on a 1961 Lake to Lake Packers card, as well. Both of his cards are pictured below.

According to OldestLivingProFootball.com, Roach is the 496th oldest former professional American football player.

Happy birthday, Mr. Roach!

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.

John Didion, center, Oregon State. Didion played six seasons for the New Orleans Saints. This is his 1974 Topps 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.

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.

Paul Naumoff, linebacker, Tennessee. Naumoff had a 12-year NFL career with the Detroit Lions. He is pictured here on his 1973 Topps card.

Tom Nowatzke, linebacker, Indiana. Nowatzke played eight seasons for the Detroit Lions and Baltimore Colts. This is his 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

You can see all 82 of the 2013 Football Bowl Subdivision candidates on the National Football Foundation web site.

I have been busy scanning 1978 Topps cards for the Vintage Football Card Gallery, and I have been amused by some of the images on the cards. The set contains a lot of sideline shots, so it’s no surprise that the players aren’t looking their best. Here are just a couple of beauties: Tom Banks going for the oxygen mask, and Bill Lenkaitis sporting an Ed Grimley ‘do.

Both players cleaned up well. Here are Banks and Lenkaitis on their 1976 Topps cards.

I am only about half done with the images, but you can scroll through the rest of the 1978 Topps cards here.

Pat Tilley, a wide receiver who played his entire 11-year NFL career with the St. Louis Cardinals, is celebrating his 60th birthday today. Tilley led the Cardinals in receiving six times–1978 to 1982, and 1985–and he made the Pro Bowl once, in 1980. He is pictured here on his 1977 Topps and 1978 Topps football cards.

Happy birthday, Mr. Tilley!

Whenever I see a copy of Bob DeMarco’s 1964 Philadelphia football card, I am puzzled. The image on the card was obviously airbrushed, but I don’t know why the card company would have airbrushed it. DeMarco had been with the Cardinals since his rookie season, 1961, so they wouldn’t have needed to change him out of another NFL team’s colors.

One possibility is that the photo was from DeMarco’s college days (he played at Dayton), and the card company wanted to cover his college jersey. (For an example of that, see John Brockington’s 1972 Topps cards.) That seems unlikely, though, since 1964 was DeMarco’s fourth year out of college, and they should have had a photo of him in a Cardinals uniform by then.

Another possibility is that DeMarco had been wearing a white Cardinals jersey for his photo, like the one on his 1966 card, but Philadelphia wanted all of the Cardinals in the set to be wearing red. The problem with that theory is that there are other players in the set whose jerseys don’t match the rest of their team, and their images haven’t been airbrushed. Tommy McDonald, for example, played for the Cowboys in 1964, but he is pictured still in Eagles green, not Cowboys blue.

At least one other image in the 1964 Philadelphia set appears to have been airbrushed, also, though not as badly: on Dick Schafrath’s card, it looks like Schafrath’s jersey was painted on. I can’t explain that one, either, unless it was to hide the neck roll he is shown wearing on his later Philadelphia cards.

Anyone else have a theory to explain the airbrushing?

In honor of Alex Karras, who passed away this morning, today I identified all of the cards of Outland Trophy winners in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The Outland Trophy is awarded annually to the nation’s outstanding college interior lineman; Karras won it in 1957. You can see the all-time list of winners on the sportswriters.net site.

Pictured here are cards of two other winners, a 1960 Mayrose Cardinals Mike McGee, and a 1974 Wonder Bread Mike Reid. Click here to see the rest, or use the Gallery’s advanced search page to do more complex searches.

Yesterday I showed you some miscut 1967 Topps cards that I picked up at the National; today I have a handful of 1961 Topps cards. I hope to collect enough of these to determine what uncut sheets of 1961 Topps cards looked like. I have not seen an uncut sheet, partial sheet, panel, or strip of 1961 Topps cards, so I am starting from scratch with this set. To see what I have so far, check out my 1961 Topps virtual uncut sheet page. As always, if you have miscut cards that would help the project, I would love to see them.

Yesterday I added 1976 Crane Discs to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The Crane Potato Chip Company was based in Decatur, Illinois, and most of the discs picture players from NFL teams in the Midwest. See my Gallery page for the discs for details. I filed the discs under “Oddball.”

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.