Heisman Highlight: Doak Walker

Name: Doak Walker
Position: Running Back
College: Southern Methodist Mustangs
Class: Junior
Winning Year: 1948 – 14th Award
Official Heisman Profile: Click Here
 
 
 

Interesting Notes: Walker is considered the greatest athlete to emerge from the now defunct Southwestern Conference…was named an All-American in all three years at SMU…played for Detroit Lions and led the league in rushing once…is namesake for Doak Walker award, given annually to the nation’s “most outstanding college running back”…was elected to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1959.

Featured Card: 1948 Leaf #4. As is the case with most players who have since had a major award named after them, Doak Walker’s cards do demand a bit of a premium over other cards of the same era. This rookie card generally comes with a price tag in the $135 arena. There is an obvious price inflation when it comes to grading as one listing asking $239.99 or best offer is just graded a PSA 5

NOTE: You can find all of my Heisman Highlight Features by clicking the post banner above.

HOF Spotlight: Bob Waterfield

Name: Bob Waterfield
Position: Quarterback
Pro Career: 1945 – 1952
Team Affiliation(s): Cleveland/Los Angeles Rams
College: UCLA
Induction Class: 1965

Brief Bio: A long-ball passer with a knack for come-from-behind heroics, Bob Waterfield led a dangerous and feared Rams offense in the post-WWII era of the NFL. Waterfield threw two decisive touchdowns in the 1945 championship game en route to his first of five first- or second-team All-NFL bids and was the first rookie to ever win league MVP honors. He also led the Rams to three straight championship cames from 1949-1951, winning it all in 1951. A truly versatile threat, Waterfield was a standout defensive back his first four years in the league, a punishing punter, and a deadly placekicker.

Career Stats: 91 games played; 50.3% completion percentage; 11,849 passing yards; 97 passing TDs; 13 rushing TDs; 315 PATs; 60 FGs; 42.4 yard punting average; 20 interceptions

Featured Card: 1948 Leaf #26. Similar to fellow HOFer Steve van Buren, Waterfield is one of the notable rookie cards in the colorful (albeit airbrushed) 1948 Leaf set. Trivial Beckett value is $250. There are actually a lot of copies of this card on eBay at the moment, with prices ranging from $38 (the scan showing an obvious horizontal crease in the middle of the card) to $449 (a PSA 5). As always with vintage cards, beware of fakes and reprints. This may not be a T206 Wagner, but some people will stop at nothing to make an easy dollar. Also, be sure to know what you want in your collection. If you want the highest grades possible, expect to pay a significant markup for your additions. If you just want to be able to say you have certain cards, look around and try to find lesser known but reliable sellers who are willing to cut deals, especially if you are in the market for several cards at once.

NOTE: You can find all of my Hall Of Fame Spotlight Features by clicking the HOF Spotlight banner above.

Heisman Highlight: John Lujack

Name: John Lujack
Position: Quarterback
College: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Class: Senior
Winning Year: 1947 – 13th Award
Official Heisman Profile: Click Here
 
 
 

Interesting Notes: Lujack is considered one of the greatest T-formation quarterbacks of all time…split his career at Notre Dame (1943, 46-47) to serve in the military…won the national championship in all three years at Notre Dame…had successful albeit short professional career with the Chicago Bears…served as assistant Notre Dame coach for two years in which he coached fellow Heisman Trophy winner John Lattner…was elected to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1960.

Featured Card: 1948 Bowman #3. I’m not sure if this card is unusually rare or if I’m just looking at the wrong time, but there are no copies of this card available on eBay. There are other vintage Lujacks (1950 Bowman, 1955 Topps All Americans) listed with prices generally in the $50 ballpark while a few highly graded cards are asking for upwards of $924 (a 1951 Bowman PSA 9).

NOTE: You can find all of my Heisman Highlight Features by clicking the post banner above.

Winner, Winner…

…Chicken Dinner (I love SportsCenter).

After a huge turnout (which I partly blame on my overall absence in the blogosphere the past several weeks), there could be only one true victor in the 10,000 Hit Contest. That winner is the man, the myth, the legend: Captain Canuck, a fellow football card blogger and self proclaimed Waxaholic. Congratulations, sir. Your package of two unopened packs, two autographed cards, three relics and (I think) five base cards will be on the way to the Great Northern Wild soon.

One side note for Joe, how many times will you come in second place before you finally win one of these things? I hope your loyalty pays off someday soon (although I can’t guarantee that random.org will take that into consideration).

If you are not the Cap’n or Second-Fiddle-Joe, or you just have the appease your conspiracy theory demons, you can click here to see the full run down off all 13 entries. Apparently random.org couldn’t care less if you bought a card from me on eBay. I guess it’s fitting, too, given this contest was to celebrate a blog milestone. Perhaps when I hit $10,000 in sales and hold another contest, the tables will turn and all will be right in the contest world.

To everyone who entered, thank you for participating. Hopefully you enjoyed it and will continue to come back (especially you new guys). And to all of you who didn’t enter: what the hell is wrong with you? It was a scott free chance to win some cards. Geez.

Topps National Chicle Shortprints

Topps has confirmed that there are 24 short printed base cards seeded 1 in 6 packs in the recently-released all-painted 2009 Topps Chicle Football. The short prints are as follows:
22 – Johnny Knox
24 – James Harrison
26 – Clay Matthews
33 – Josh Freeman
41 – John Elway
47 – Dan Marino
54 – Chad Pennington
66 – Cedric Peerman
69 – Donald Brown
72 – Jerious Norwood
73 – Barry Sanders
74 – Felix Jones
96 – Ed Reed
106 – Dustin Keller
116 – Jared Cook
134 – Jeremy Maclin
136 – Devery Henderson
153 – Torry Holt
168 – Brooks Foster
177 – Lee Evans
181 – Derrick Williams
184 – Bernard Berrian
190 – Peyton Manning
194 – Chad Ochocinco

In addition, the following three cards do not appear in the regular base card set. These subjects can only be found as mini parallel versions:
59 – Jonathan Stewart
99 – Brandon Pettigrew
191 – Steve Slaton

2009 Topps National Chicle John Elway SP

Contest Closed

Well, the 10,000 hit contest has officially closed with 12 entries. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the winner announcement. As for today, just enjoy the Super Bowl. If you need any inspiration, here is another old card of Emmitt Smith appropriately themed for today: