Ode to Pre-War Football Cardboard

[DBesse27]

Jeff, others, are any of you familiar with the T51 Murad multi-sport collegiate set? I think those cards are really really attractive. There are 6 football cards included in the set, including Harvard and Michigan. Here is a link to a CU thread with details of the set and a scan of the Harvard card:

https://forums.collectors.com/messag...&enterthread=y

[jefferyepayne]

Yes, familiar with that set. I haven't picked any of them up yet but will get them eventually. They do look cool and you are correct that there are 6 football ones in the set:

Harvard football game
U of Michigan player
U of North Dakota player
Tufts College player
Colgate U football game
Buchtel College player

jeff

[Laxcat]

Filled that space in my Heisman collection that was only occupied by a lonely '55AA. 1939 Iowa Hawkeyes Yearbook. This will do until I can hunt down a Kinnick auto that I can afford/find.

[jefferyepayne]

Great Kinnick photo, Matt! Love it.

Prior to the NFL there were many informal pro leagues out there. Several of them had teams that joined the NFL in 1920. One of these leagues was the New York Pro Football League (NYPFL) that was active in New York during the 1910s.

Here is a photo of the Lancaster Pros / Malleables from around 1911 or so.



The Lancaster Pros won the NYPFL title two consecutive years in 1913-1914. However, the most significant thing about this team is that one of the very early African-American pro football players, Henry McDonald, must have played for them occasionally as he is in this photo.



Henry McDonald was officially a member of the Rochester Jeffersons but was known to play for other teams when possible to make more $$$$. Later in life he said he only had one racial incident while playing pro football and it was when the Jeffersons were playing the Canton Bulldogs of the Ohio League. Greasy Neale threw him out of bounds and reportedly said "Black is black and white is white and where I come from the two don't mix." McDonald, who was a boxer, confronted Neale and was ready to fight when Jim Thorpe stepped in and told Neale that they were there to play football and to lay off. McDonald said nobody else from Canton bothered him after that.

The Rochester Jeffersons joined the NFL when it started up but by then McDonald had retired.

jeff

Great image and history lesson, Jeff! Thank you.

[Beansballcardblog]

A year or so ago I picked up the one from my alma mater (West Virginia). It has to be the only golf card I own.

Originally Posted by DBesse27

Jeff, others, are any of you familiar with the T51 Mura d multi-sport collegiate set? I think those cards are really really attractive. There are 6 football cards included in the set, including Harvard and Michigan. Here is a link to a CU thread with details of the set and a scan of the Harvard card:

https://forums.collectors.com/messag...&enterthread=y

[Angyale]

From the Strongsville show. Still doing research on the year.

Angyale

[Laxcat]

I've been picking up obscure yearbooks to obtain photos of pre war uniforms and players. I love when I run across something like this. This is from a 1941 North Texas Yearbook.

Ted Koonce played for North Texas then served in the Air Force during the war. He held the rank of 1st Lieutenant and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with 3 Oak Clusters. Mr. Koonce passed away in 2008.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Great posts everyone. Jeff, I'd read about McDonald before, amazing to see photos to accompany the story.

[orly57]

Just picked these up recently. Extremely rare

[jefferyepayne]

Nice Shotwell pickups! I've always liked these sets.

There's some images of others earlier in this thread if you want to check them out.

jeff