3 Contemporary Quarterbacks

Here are 3 veteran quarterbacks, at the end of their careers. These are the final cards for Ed Brown and Lamar McHan. Billy Wade's last card was in the 1965 set. 

 

Billy Wade 

 

Wade was the 1st overall pick in the 1952 draft - by the Rams. He played for LA from 1954-59, and was the team's primary starter in '56, '58, and '59. He also made the Pro Bowl in 1958. 

 

From 1961 to 1966 he played for the Bears. He started every game in '62 and '63, and most games in '61 and '64. By 1965, he lost the starting job to Rudy Bukich, another QB whose career parallels these three. 

 

 

Ed Brown 

 

Brown was also drafted in 1952 - in the 6th round by the Bears. He played for Chicago from 1954-61, starting every game in '55 and '56 (making the Pro Bowl both years), and started most games from 1957-60. In 1961 he lost the starting job to the newly-acquired Billy Wade. 

 

Brown played for the Steelers from 1962-65, starting all but one game from 1963-64. In the final week of the 1965 season he joined the Baltimore Colts. 

 

 

Lamar McHan 

 

McHan was the 2nd-overall pick in 1954, by the Chicago Cardinals. Unlike the two players above, McHan was not idle for 2 seasons - he was the Cardinals' starting QB for his first 4 seasons, starting all but 4 games over that time. 

 

In 1958, he started half the games, while rookie M.C. Reynolds started the other 6 games, with rookie King Hill also on the roster. 

 

McHan played for the Packers from 1959-60, starting 11 games over those 2 seasons while splitting the playing time with Bart Starr. 

 

From 1961-62 he was a backup for the Colts. 

 

He finished his career in 1963, starting 9 games in place of the injured John Brodie. 

   

Philadelphia Eagles

Last time we looked at my first football cards - four from 1964. I collected football cards in '67 (NFL only), '68, '71, and '72, with a smattering of  '69 and '73 cards which I probably got from my brother's duplicates. 

 

About 20 years ago I started completing Eagles' sets from 1964 to 1980, and 2 years ago I worked on completing the '66 NFL and '67 AFL sets. 

 

Anyhoo, as you can see on this blog's sidebar, I don't have many 1964 cards, but I do have all the Eagles.

Position corrections: Ron Goodwin was a flanker; Irv Cross was a cornerback.

 

In the '64 and '65 sets, every NFL team had a "play" card. These were gradually phased out to make room for the Falcons cards in 1966 and the Saints in 1967.

My First Football Cards

I started buying football cards in 1967. But up to 3 years before that I had four cards from the 1964 NFL set. I have no idea where they came from, because my brother and I were both busy collecting non-sports cards until 1967, and bought no baseball or football cards until that year. 

 

So here are my first-ever sports cards - in all their round-cornered glory.

The 1965 cards are very similar to this design, except that all the nameplates are black, whereas in the 1964 set the color varies by team (although many teams have red nameplates). In 1966 and 1967, each team has a specific color (the same for both years) and no other team used that color.