Added this new Bronko Nagurski

[wrestlingcardking]

I bought this raw and sent it off to PSA. I was hoping for a PSA 5 and thought it deserved that grade but I will take it for now.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Very Nice - can you tell us about this set? I never heard of it.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by wrestlingcardking

I bought this raw and sent it off to PSA. I was hoping for a PSA 5 and thought it deserved that grade but I will take it for now.

Nice snag! There's a post in the Ode to Pre-War Football Thread on this set.

jeff

[wrestlingcardking]

I also have these....

[wrestlingcardking]

Might as well share some of the others..........

Still has the original wax on it. Large version of the lid.


Here is the small version of the lid


Here is my graded matchbook too

[revmoran]

Not to send you chasing after another item but.........

[wrestlingcardking]

I have seen it but never purchased it.....I'd really like to find the 1933 matchbook now.

[jefferyepayne]

Great Bronko stuff!







jeff

[brian1961]

While I cannot put up a scan of my beauty, I own one of Bob Lemke's fantasy renditions of a 1955 Topps All-American Bronko Nagurski. It's gorgeous. My grandfather grew up in Minnesota, and once in a while he would to tell me tales of the great Bronko whilst he played for Minnesota. So it was a real treat to get Bob's card that never was. Thanks for sharing your cards of Bronko, guys.---Brian Powell

[oddball]

That's all great Nagurski stuff guys!

[revmoran]

I don't have the Nagurski of this set (middle right) but I am looking

[wrestlingcardking]

tell me more about this set

[TanksAndSpartans]

Jeff, I found a GG issue with that same picture of Nagurski in what looks to me like a powder blue jersey and its captioned as a 1938 Dixie Lid premium. Guessing you got those by sending in lids? Any theory on the jersey color that doesn't match one I recall he would have worn?

Mike, the one photo you posted reminded me of what I'm sure is an oft repeated (possibly apocryphal?) story.... They asked one of Bronko's customers whether he had the best gas in town and the woman replied he didn't, so the follow up question was why do you keep coming back? And she replied if Bronko Nagurski tightens your gas cap, only Bronko Nagurski can remove it. ba-dum-bum.

[jefferyepayne]

Hi John. Yes, this is a dixie lid premium. My understanding is that you needed to send it 12 dixie cup lids to get a premium. Each premium came with holes punched in it so you could put it in an album.

Dixie lids with movie stars, athletes, etc. were so popular that this promotion ran for something like 25 years. The only two football lids are from the 1938 set and include Nagurski and Baugh. There is a premium of each player.

I have no clue why they colorized his uniform as they did. I've never seen anything that says the Bears wore this color.

jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks Jeff - interesting stuff - I just found the Baugh (oddly wearing #45?) on the internet (MSB has one for sale) and the back was actually pretty nice. You don't have an image of the Nags back do you?

[revmoran]

I know that set as the Gridiron Greats blotters from 1939, although sometimes the artwork is used to create other office products like this calendar which has a 1943 date


I do have these two





Here are two other Grange examples (which I don't have) and one has a 1941 calendar printed on it



I see that Beckett has a page on these but since I'm not a member I can't see the prices http://www.beckett.com/football/1939...reats-blotters

[S_GERACE]

Hello everyone,
This is my first post to net54 (longtime browser). The reason Sammy Baugh is wearing #45 on his jersey is that that was his uniform number at TCU. I think, like the Nagurski premium, that the printer tinted Baugh's jersey colors from TCU's colors (white & purple) to the Redskins colors of maroon and gold. As a side note, I've always found it odd that he wore #43 for the photo on his 1948 Bowman card.

Attached is an image of the reverse of the Nagurski premium (not mine).

Regards,
Scott

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks Scott - awesome first post - welcome aboard!

Really like the back of that Nagurski premium - they really put effort into that - I had always thought premiums were typically photos with blank banks. Great info on Slingin' Sammy's number too.

[S_GERACE]

Thanks John for the warm welcome.

I've actually been debating on purchasing the Baugh & Nag and having them framed and matted. It would be a shame to cover the reverse (w/ the bio & action shots) which is why I haven't (that & I focus more on mainstream sets).

I've been watching you guys put up some incredible stuff. I agree w/ Jeff Payne and the rest you w/ respect to vintage football. Scarce supply + America's favorite sport = Nowhere to go but up!

On a second note, how does Howard Hickman leave Nagurski off of his list of the 100 greatest All-Americans when he chose them for the '55 All-American set? Some writers selected him both at fullback & tackle when they chose their All-Americans of 1929 and only elected to nominate only 10 players! He's the main reason that I collect Chicles. Gotta have Nagurski!

[S_GERACE]

My Nag!

[jefferyepayne]

Nice looking Nags, Scott! How long have you had it?

I believe the back of the Nags premium is inaccurate. I find no record that Nags wrestled in college or won any college wrestling championships. Anybody have a reference to this information?

jeff

[S_GERACE]

Jeff,
First, thanks for the compliment on the Nagurski. I've had it about five years or so.
Second, I believe that you're right, I don't think that he did wrestle in college (or win a championship). I've read Jim Dent's book "Monster of the Midway" and I don't recall him wrestling at Minnesota (not that its the ultimate source of Nag info). I believe he won professional championships in 1937, 1939 and 1941 (dates could be off). I do know that Leo Nomellini wrestled at Minnesota & won an NCAA title at heavyweight (1947?).

[TanksAndSpartans]

Hi Scott,

Beautiful Nagurski, very clean/well preserved surface - wow!

On a side note, as I've suspected when comparing to other historical books and YouTube (Check out the Sneakers game - Ken Strong didn't "impersonate Nagurski and barrel over" anyone on his key TD run as Dent describes (which in my opinion doesn't lessen the run at all - it was truly a clutch play)), Dent's book may be too inaccurate to consider an historical reference. I used to like to think he just embellished to make the book more readable and it certainly was more enjoyable than a typical historical book, so I was mostly ok with it. But referencing a drive and saying Nags carried X straight times or however many (when in reality he had less than X carries in the game) or changing the events of a game - that I can't agree with.

http://profootballdaly.com/jim-dent-...erary-license/

Jeff, good catch on Nagurski not wrestling in college - it didn't register with me when I read it yesterday, but I agree - I've never heard that before.

[S_GERACE]

Hi John,
I'm not knocking Jim Dent at all. From what I've read, Nagurski was a very private person and it had to be hard to come up with enough material to warrant a book on him, even though he was/is very deserving of it. Strong's run was pretty cool (around the right side of the Giants line, right?)

I can't tell you guys how much fun it is to talk old football. I wish the NFL pushed it's history like MLB!
Regards,
Scott

P.S.-Thanks for the kind words on my card.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Hi Scott,

Here's the clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdXsV4veLWI

It's really loaded with plays - much better than the one on the 37 game because it includes so many non-scoring plays esp. Nagurski runs - those are pretty hard to find.

Right, Nagurski was a tough interview - Myron Cope tried to get him for his book and he said "I don't have time to reminisce".

I loved seeing Dent introduce Nagurski in the NFL Top 100 and I think he did a nice job, but I still feel let down by the book. In the book's intro, Dent says that he interviewed Nagurski's sister and Okie Miller and that Chris Willis from NFL films sent him lots of material, etc. so there was a lot of potential there. But after some fact checking, I kind of view it like the Friday Night Lights movie with Nagurski as Boobie Miles. Some of what was in there about Miles checked out historically and some didn't. The main difference is I expect that from Hollywood, but I didn't expect it from a biography - it kind of snuck up on me. To be fair though, trying to write a book that does justice to the character described in this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-IHxD_4JP0

isn't an enviable task, so you have to cut him some slack

[S_GERACE]

I'll second that Dez! Actually, I just watched it again, the long run at the end was up the gut. Thanks for the link.

[jefferyepayne]

Incredible footage of Nags on the run. What a bull he was. It does help that for whatever reason a popular tackling tactic was to throw your body at the runner instead of arm tackling him. People just bounce off Nags!

jeff

Great Nagurski footage, cards, stories, and assorted memorabilia throughout this thread! Thank you guys

[revmoran]

According to this website Nagurski did not start wrestling until 1933 http://www.bronkonagurski.com/

The Albert Richard Coat Company used the All American footballs teams in its advertising for quite a few years and issued booklets and several groups of photo premiums. Probably the best was a set of 9" by 12" portraits of the 1929 All American team which included Chris Cagle and Bronko Nagurski - here is the Nagurski premium

[Hot Springs Bathers]

I am a huge Jim Dent fan but I have always felt the Nagurski book was his weak effort. Dent has gone through some very dark times in his personal life and I think this book comes from one of his bad periods. It may have been written while he was in prison?

[TanksAndSpartans]

Hey Mike, (Hot Springs Bathers), On Dent, that's what Dan Daly mentions in the earlier link I gave, how in 2003, Dent was sent to prison for violating probation on a drunk-driving conviction, so he definitely correlates the two events (prison/Nagurski book issues) and likely rightfully so. The part I don't get is I thought the quality of writing was great (if you read that intro - that really sounds like a person who was passionate about the subject matter) - but it was the embellishment that was a bit over the top and nagged at me from the back of my mind as I later read other books (the Bears playing barefoot at the end of the sneakers game, the mismatches with Joseph Page's book on pre SB championships, etc., etc.). For fact checking - I would have thought someone other than the author would be tasked with that. I didn't even know about Daly's post until recently - I read the book a while back, but it was on my Kindle and I went back to it and then started Googling myself to see if I could find support for a few things and ran across Daly's blog.


Thanks Mike (revmoran) - nice premium and great website - I esp. liked the "Cultural Recognition" section - of course my memory could be going since I know we've discussed Wheaties boxes a few times, but I never recall seeing that Nagurski box before.....

[jefferyepayne]

You know I love that item, Mike! Great image and set.

Bronko was a beast! Here he is running over some college boys as a pro.



jeff

[Hot Springs Bathers]

John forgive me, I had not clicked on the Daly column before I posted. The Daly piece was very well done now that I have read it.

Dent was actually arrested here in Hot Springs on the Texas warrant, he was staying with his parents. While I have not done Daly like research on his other books I feel/hope that they are more factual!

[TanksAndSpartans]

Hey Mike, glad you saw the post - sorry it wasn't the best news on a well liked author. On the plus side, I actually liked Daly's blog and stuck around to read some other posts - always glad to see someone talking about the historical aspect of the game.

[TanksAndSpartans]

On a lighter note, I really enjoy seeing these players we collect in action - one of the nice things about the 30s to me is that at least some film exists - if you want to see Jim Thorpe or Tony Latone, etc., etc. - I think you’re pretty much out of luck. I actually pulled an SI Vault article where Paul Zimmerman talks about film of Clarke Hinkle going up against Nagurski - I’d love to see that - I’ve never found even a single play of Hinkle. And in Chris Willis’s bio of Dutch Clark, he mentions 4 films - I’ve seen one, but would love to see the other three…

Anyway, I’ve got one more clip which highlights our other Dixie Lid premium star - Mr Baugh.

Check this out:

http://profootballdaly.com/bronko-na...tling-champ-2/ (you have to scroll way down to get there, but its the only video clip on the page)

How many QBs (well TBs technically) came up to make plays in run support - against Nagurski no less! (Sure, it was a 9 yard gain for Nags, but still). And passing, he was 18-33 with 354 yards and 3 TDs in this 37 championship game win over the Bears (28-21). That’s a heckuva game - I’d give him 2 rings for this one.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

I have been a huge Baugh fan for years. My Dad who joined the Marines in February of 1941 saw Baugh and other NFL all-stars play some southern California all-stars in San Diego just before December 7th.

He told me stories of Baugh and Davy O'Brien and his other favorite Doak Walker while I was growing up in the 50s & 60s. While Dad was quite a player in the 1930s I was simply a bench warmer most of the time.

[revmoran]

a la Bob Lemke

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by revmoran

Not to send you chasing after another item but.........

Do you have a scan of the back of this PC you could show, Mike?

jeff

[revmoran]

[Publius]

My old Nagurski card, I wish I never would have traded

[wrestlingcardking]

Wow, that is an unreal card. Thanks for sharing.

[jefferyepayne]

Shoulda traded it to me, Joe!

jeff

[Publius]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

Shoulda traded it to me, Joe!

jeff

It was trade bait for a psa 8 Jeff. . It was such a nice card, I almost didn't make the upgrade.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by Publius

It was trade bait for a psa 8 Jeff. . It was such a nice card, I almost didn't make the upgrade.

I know that, Joe ;-)

jeff

[S_GERACE]

Originally Posted by S_GERACE

Jeff,
First, thanks for the compliment on the Nagurski. I've had it about five years or so.
Second, I believe that you're right, I don't think that he did wrestle in college (or win a championship). I've read Jim Dent's book "Monster of the Midway" and I don't recall him wrestling at Minnesota (not that its the ultimate source of Nag info). I believe he won professional championships in 1937, 1939 and 1941 (dates could be off). I do know that Leo Nomellini wrestled at Minnesota & won an NCAA title at heavyweight (1947?).

I was mistaken, Nomellini did NOT win an NCAA title at wrestling. It was a BIG 10 title. Below is a link to NFL players with their wrestling achievements. Nomellini is listed just below Ray Leis' picture (22 names down I believe). No mention of Nagurski in college though. Sorry about the error. Welcome to the forum DeBesse27.

http://www.sectiononewrestling.com/d..._wrestled.html

[DBesse27]

Originally Posted by S_GERACE

Welcome to the forum DeBesse27.

Thanks!!

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by S_GERACE

I was mistaken, Nomellini did NOT win an NCAA title at wrestling. It was a BIG 10 title. Below is a link to NFL players with their wrestling achievements. Nomellini is listed just below Ray Leis' picture (22 names down I believe). No mention of Nagurski in college though. Sorry about the error. Welcome to the forum DeBesse27.

http://www.sectiononewrestling.com/d..._wrestled.html

I like what the section one wrestling site is trying to do but their page on nfl players who wrestled is grossly inaccurate so I wouldn't use it as a reference.

For instance it says Lorenzo Neal was an NCAA champ and has a big picture of him up top. He took 7th in his senior year. They probably meant Stephen Neal.

jeff

[wrestlingcardking]

Got these graded yesterday.

1 1 24610826 VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1937 Kellogg's Pep Sports Stamps 15 Harry Cooper/Jess Willard Lew Fonseca/Bronko Nagurski Card
2 1 24610827 GOOD+ 2.5 1912 Max Rigot Postcard 8 Gotch in A Practice Bout Card
3 1 24610828 VERY GOOD 3 1936 Diamond Matchbooks Bronko Nagurski Card

[DBesse27]

Great Bronks! Please post scans when you get them back.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Joe, can we see the Nags 8? I've been there on the upgrade issue - what really makes it hard is sometimes the higher grade one (say a 5) goes for less than my 4, so of course I throw a bid in and win, then I have 2 cards and I still like the lower grade one, so I sell the higher grade one (for a loss of course after fees, etc.) - definitely a pattern I'm trying to repeat less....