RIP - 2020

Players from the 1965-1975 era that passed away in 2020:

The Packers and Dolphins were especially hard-hit. 

 Also: Baseball deaths in 2020

RIP - Gale Sayers

The Chicago Bears' great halfback Gale Sayers passed away on September 23, 2020 at age 77. 

Sayers was one of two first-round picks by the Bears in 1965. (Dick Butkus was the other.) Like Butkus, Sayers' career was cut short due to knee injuries.

Sayers was first team All-Pro in his first 5 seasons, and led the NFL in rushing yards in 1966 and 1969. He also scored 14 TDs as a rookie. 

After 5 great years, he only played 2 games each in 1970 and 1971. The unfortunate hit by the 49ers' Kermit Alexander caused his first knee injury in late-1968. Surprisingly, he came back in 1969 and led the league in rushing. 

A second knee injury in the 1970 pre-season put the brakes on his great career. 

Sayers was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977, despite only having played in 68 games.  

Chicago Sun-Times obituary

10-year AFL Veterans

20 players were on an AFL roster every season the league operated.


These 3 players played in EVERY AFL game! (Gino Cappelletti and Jim Otto for 1 team.)

These 14 played every season. The first 7 did it for just one team.

These three missed a season due to injury, but were on the roster.

AFL Introduction

From 1964-1967, the NFL cards were printed by the Philadelphia Gum Company. Topps only printed AFL cards during those 4 seasons. Beginning in 1968, the Topps set included NFL and AFL players, so this is the last AFL-only set.

Here are the 2 checklists. Unlike the baseball sets, the Topps (and Philly Gum) football sets were organized by team prior to 1968.

These are marked with all the cards I have, except that I have all of the Chiefs' cards (except Bert Coan). Last year I bought all the Chiefs cards (previously having only the the Curtis McClinton card) so that I would have all the 1966 AFL champion cards.  But Coan's card was double the price of any other Chief, so I passed.  I mean, who is Bert Coan?  I never heard of him.


I only bought one pack of AFL cards in 1967, which included these:

Each pack included an insert card, showing a pennant. At first glance it looks like a legitimate sports team, but the fine print says otherwise. The Air Force card came in my first pack.

I got this one years later, but it's my only other one, so here it is.

The AFL card backs look like this:

I have most of the Chiefs, Dolphins, and Chargers cards, but only a few of the others.

NFL set wrap-up

The cards for all 16 NFL teams in the 1967 Philadelphia Gum set have been posted, so now it's time to wrap-up the loose ends.

There were 2 checklist cards. I have all the cards in the set, but did not check off the last two (Don Meredith, Bart Starr) that I got after starting this blog.

Each team card (except the Saints) had a referee signal described on the back. Since there are more than 15 signals,  the next 2 cards picked up the excess.

In previous seasons, each team had a "play" card, but with the addition of the Saints in 1967, only 3 play cards were included, so that the 198-card set size could be maintained.

Well, that's it for the NFL cards. I will be posting some Topps AFL cards next. I have most of the Dolphins, Chiefs, and Chargers cards, but only a handful of the remaining cards in the set.