Ode to Pre-War Football Cardboard

[clamendo]

Speaking of Pottsville

I can't get a SGC 96 on a 50s card, Randy Stuckemeyer had a great eye


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[TanksAndSpartans]

Originally Posted by clamendo

Speaking of Pottsville

I can't get a SGC 96 on a 50s card, Randy Stuckemeyer had a great eye


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Thanks Carl - I definitely have an appreciation for the Berry and Ernst cards now. I'm about halfway through the book: http://www.amazon.com/Breaker-Boys-G.../dp/1933060352

Interestingly, Berry's wikipedia page shows a Goudey baseball card: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Berry

[TanksAndSpartans]

I was looking for something new to read and stumbled on Benny Friedman’s biography written by Murray Greenberg. It was great - I highly recommend it. I thought Sammy Baugh was the first great forward passer, so this was definitely an eyeopener for me. The book had lots of great Big Ten and NFL history in there too. Of course, it was from the perspective of Friedman’s career, but you definitely got a feel for who the other great teams and players were at the time. Heck, even the Ironton Tanks were mentioned. From the Chicle set alone, I recall the following players mentioned: Molenda (Friedman's Michigan teammate), Clark, Kenneally, Presnell, Strong, Rockne (coached famous 1930 game against Giants to raise money for unemployment relief during the depression (Giants won 22-0!)), Battles, Edwards, Kelly, Hinkle, Burnett, Nagurski, Masterson (maybe), Hap Moran (matchbooks).

And from a trivia perspective - who knew Red Grange had a brother who played for the Bears? Not me.

Back in post #43, Jeff did a great write up on the Spalding set, but I think it’s really interesting that most (all?) of the population of cards can be traced to relatively recent finds (90 and 96?)

Here is a circa 2005 net54 thread where at least one collector was a little skeptical because the finds were so recent. Are collectors mostly ok with that now?

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...t=78201&page=2

I'm guessing I may not be alone, but when I looked over the checklist, I didn't recognize many names. College football was way more popular than the fledgling NFL so it wasn't surprising that for:

PEGGY FLOURNOY, ED GARBISCH, HOMER HAZEL, and SWEDE OBERLANDER

I didn't find any NFL record.

Similarly:

WALTER KOPPISCH, ED MCGINLEY, BO MCMILLAN, HARRY STUHLDREHER, BRICK MULLER, and EDDIE TYRON

had short NFL careers.

Two players contributed to NFL championship teams:

ED WEIR, 3 seasons in NFL incl. the 26 champion Yellow Jacket team

GEORGE “Wildcat” WILSON, 4 seasons in NFL incl. the 28 champion Steam Roller team; For more info on Wilson, see Jeff’s post #6 (different set)

And of course Grange, Nevers, and Friedman (better late than never) went on to the HOF.

Jeff/Carl and everyone have already done a tremendous job posting images, but is there any way I could see the bio backs for Friedman and Wilson? I'd love to read those. Thanks.

[revmoran]

Garbish married daughter of Walter P. Chrysler so he was a man about town after his military service. Ed Weir returned to Nebraska and was a coach and athletic director at the University - I believe there is a stadium named in his honor. Oberlander coached at Ohio State, Dartmouth, and Wesleyan and then became a physician. Muller became an orthopedic surgeon; in 1956 he served as the Head Team Physician for the United States Olympic Team.

Jerry Ford followed a similar path, turning down a pro offer and then coaching at Yale while he got his law degree. Here is Wilson's 26 card and back

[jefferyepayne]

Unfortunately some paper loss makes it hard to read but here is the Friedman Spalding back.



jeff

[jefferyepayne]

Picked up this Detroit News premium of Dutch Clark the other day because 1) I thought the coloring looked cool and 2) it's signed by him!



Also a team premium of the 1936 Detroit Lions ... they were the defending NFL Champs.



jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks guys!

Mike, thanks for bringing some of those players to life - many of them were just names to me. I always enjoy reading about them. And nice George Wilson card - pretty cool how they mention Wilson’s Wildcats - I understand that to be a reference to L.A.’s entry in the Pyle/Grange AFL for the 26 season.

Jeff, awesome items! Thanks for the Friedman back - having read his bio, I know Bennie Oosterbaan was his teammate and primary target for his passes at Michigan, so I’m guessing the formation mentioned is a reference to him - although no idea what the formation is or exactly what it says. And referencing Nebraska rather than Michigan - that’s a bad mistake

I wonder if the Friedman card was printed after the Wilson because the Wilson card mentions the 25 season as the most recent, but the Friedman card I’m not sure as it mentions both 25 and 26. If the card is from prior to the 26 season, that would make it an undergraduate card of Friedman as he joined the pros (Cleveland Bulldogs) in 27.

Love the Lions items - lots of former Spartans in the mix. I always felt bad Father Lumpkin wasn’t on that team, but I see Presnell, Clark, Gutowsky, G. Christensen, Emerson, and Randolph all there. Any idea where it was taken? - looks like a rooftop - wonder if it was inside a stadium…..