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Old 05-07-2012, 07:11 AM
jefferyepayne jefferyepayne is offline
Jeff P
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Virginia
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Default Day #12 - Tom Hupke

Card #12 in the Chicle set is Tom Hupke. Tom played for the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Rams during his NFL career. He was on the Lions team that won the 1935 NFL Championship. More info on his playing career is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hupke

Tom was a 2x All-American guard at Alabama but was critically injured in a car crash that claimed the life of one of his passengers, while he and others were heading home from school for Christmas in Dec '32. For a while they thought he might lose his left arm due to crash injuries but he recovered. He subsequently had surgery on his arm to correct nerve damage but it is unclear how much this impacted the rest of his playing career. I noticed in his picture that he has one hand open and one closed. Not sure if this is just a pose or if he had on-going arm issues that impacted his ability to use one of his arms.

Tom died young at 48 in 1959 after an extended illness.

hupke35front.jpg
hupke35back.jpg

jeff
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