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1961 Fleer: AFL Series 3
RetroCards' special attention to the 1961 Fleer football set continues with another 24 cards, this time featuring AFL players. The set starts off with an 1960 AFL Championship card and continues with a few cards from each AFL team (with the exception of the Dallas Texans who have a RetroCards 18 card team set). Player in this set include: Houston Antwine, Charley Hennigan, Ernie Ladd, Wahoo McDaniel, Charley Powell, Dave Kokourec, Art Powell, Gino Cappelletti, Earl Faison, Harold Olson, Tal Niko, Dick Harris, Dick Guesman, Bob Talimani, John Harris, Richie McCabe, Claude King, Babe Parilli, Fred "the hammer" Williamson, Gene Mingo,...
Burt Reynolds: American Good Ol' Boy
In what Rolling Stone magazine called “the last good ol’ boy movie star, Burt Reynolds not only had mega-star quality, but a varied film career that was a roller coaster of goods, bads, and what might have beens. Punctuated by high profile romances and investments in football teams and race cars, Reynolds was one of America's most recognized celebrities. Before the acting bug hit, he attended Florida State University on a football scholarship and had visions of playing professionally. But after injuring his knee in the first game of his sophomore season, having his spleen removed, and injuring the other...
1961 Fleer: Series Two!
The 1961 Fleer RetroCards series continues with s second set of NFL players. This set features 24 more NFL players who didn't have cards in the 1961 Fleer set: John Wooten, King Hill, Joe Perry, Vince Promuto, John Gonzaga, Jim Marshall, Dick Nolan, Dave "Deacon" Jones, Norm Snead, J.D. Smith, Billy Ray Smith, Ernie McMillan, Red Mack, Lenny Lyles, John Baker, Len Dawson, Pat Summerall, Mel Triplett, Alex Karras, Billy Kilmer, Palmer Pyle, Danny Villanueva, and Lou "the Toe" Groza. This set will be out soon so check back for availability and for the preview of the RetroCards 1961 Fleer series three...
Charley Powell: The Best Athlete You've Never Heard Of
One of the greatest unknown athletes of the 20th century is a guy almost no one has ever heard of. Name one athlete who played professional football, baseball, and boxed professionally. This person also turned down an offer to play with the Harlem Globetrotters as well as offers from UCLA and Notre Dame. His name is Charley Powell. RetroCards is featuring this somewhat obscure athlete with the intent of showcase his amazing highlight of being a multi-sport athlete. First of all, he may be best known as the older brother of American Football League star Art Powell, who was one of...
1961 Dallas Cowboys: How Could They Get Worse?
After their inaugural 1960 season where the Dallas Cowboys posted a 0–11–1 record, expectation were not high. Of course it would be hard do to worse than their first season, but Tom Landry had much work to do. Though he installed a defense (the flex) the team had a hard time adopting and even understanding, the Cowboys pressed on winning three of their first four games in 1961. The league quickly caught up with them but some stars were starting to shine. Don Perkins, who missed all of 1960 with a broken ankle rushed for 815 yards. Eddie LeBaron made...
Pete Gent: Author, Cynic, and All-Around Good Receiver
Pete Gent is rightly remembered for his hard-edge novel North Dallas Forty, a book about how pro football teams exploited their players, which is based on his experiences with the Cowboys. His colorful demeanor clashed with head coach Tom Landry's and GM Tex Schramm's old-school ways but he managed to be a productive member on the team from 1964-1968 in spite of that. Credit the Cowboys for asking Big Ten basketball coaches for players that might make it in the NFL. At the bottom of the list was Gent who Cowboy's scout Gil Brandt went to visit at Michigan State. Brandt...
Jerry Kramer: You Can If You Will
I'm not sure how many more old school players will make it into the Hall of Fame while they are still with us, but football fans were treated to a beautiful acceptance speech by Jerry Kramer at the August 2018 Hall of Fame Induction. He summed up by saying, "The only thing left at this time is for you to lead a life of quality and excellence and make this old world a little better place because you were in it. You Can If You Will." Watch the whole speech here..
1961: Expanding Fleer's Only NFL Set
In 1961 Fleer issued a football set including both NFL and AFL players. This was the only year that both Topps and Fleer released a set with players from both leagues. In 1962 and 1963 Fleer would focus their sets on AFL players before getting the NFL contract for 1964-1967. The original 1961 Fleer set is a lovely looking set that is clean and backed with minimal bio information on the backs. At 220 cards covering both leagues, several key players didn’t have a card issued in this set which is where RetroCards comes in. In the first of several...
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