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1976 Topps football card of former pro football defensive end Walt Patulski, who was the top overall draft pick of the 1972 NFL draft. Drafted out of Syracuse by the Buffalo Bills, he would become one of many of the team’s draft busts over the years. Patulski played 4 uneventful seasons for the Bills until he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1977. He played only a single season for the Cards before a knee injury ended his career. He has been active with the Syracuse Board of Education and the Boys And Girls Clubs of America since his playing days ended, and was inducted into the Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

1951 Bowman football card of former pro football halfback “Bullet” Bill Dudley, who played 9 years in the National Football League in the 1940s and ’50s for 3 different teams. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966, becoming the first player who was drafted first overall to become enshrined in Canton. He was a six-time All Pro and MVP of the league in 1946, and was chosen as a member of the NFL’s All decade team for the 1940s. His career was interrupted by military service in World war II, as he served in the Army Air Corps for 3 years. After retiring, Dudley served as a scout for the Steelers and Lions, and also served 4 terms in the Virginia House of Delegates. He passed away in 2010.

1951 Bowman football card of former pro football player and broadcaster Al DeRogatis, who played four seasons at defensive tackle for the New York Giants. He was named an All Pro in 2 of those seasons, 1950 and ’51, but a knee injury cut his career short. He moved into the broadcast booth after that, calling Giants’ games with Marty Glickman on radio. From 1966 until 1975, DeRogatis served as color analyst alongside Curt Gowdy on NBC’s national television broadcasts of AFL (and after the merger AFC) games. He died of cancer in 1995.

In honor of the recently celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, here is a 1952 Parkhurst football card of the very first African American to play quarterback in pro football, Bernie Custis. Although Willie Thrower (Chicago Bears, 1953) is the first black to play QB in the NFL, Custis played the position in the Canadian League beginning in 1951 with the Hamilton Tiger Cats. His career totaled 6 seasons, split between Hamilton and Ottawa. After his playing days ended, he had a long, distinguished career as a coach at various Canadian colleges. While playing college ball at Syracuse, his roommate was future Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis.

1960 Fleer football card of an original member of the American Football League’s Buffalo Bills, defensive back Billy Kinard. He played 3 seasons in the NFL for Cleveland and Green Bay in the late 1950s before joining the Bills for their inaugural AFL season in 1960. Kinard was a mainstay in the defensive secondary for that season, playing all 14 games, but he retired after just the one year. He held various coaching positions in college and the NFL for years after retiring, stretching into the 1980s.

1965 Topps football card of former pro football linebacker Frank Buncom, who played 7 seasons, all in the American Football League. He was a three-time AFL All Star with the San Diego Chargers, and played on the team’s 1963 AFL championship team. He was chosen by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1968 expansion draft, and played one year for them. However, on the morning of opening day of the 1969 season, Buncom died of a pulmonary embolism. His grandson, Frank Buncom IV is a safety on the Stanford University football team.

1961 Fleer football card of former pro football fullback John Henry Johnson, who played 13 seasons of pro ball, including a one year stint in the Canadian League. He also played 11 years in the NFL for 3 different teams, and closed out his playing days with a year in the AFL. He was a member of the San Francisco 49ers’ “Million Dollar Backfield” in the mid-1950s, and helped the Detroit Lions win the NFL championship in 1957. Johnson was a four-time Pro Bowler, 3 of those honors earned while playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1960s, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.

1973 Topps football card of former NFL quarterback Jim Plunkett, a 16 year veteran of the league. Although he was a prize top draft pick of New England, he struggled there and later with the San Francisco 49ers before catching on with the Oakland Raiders. Plunkett then came into his own, guiding the Raiders to a pair of Super Bowl wins. Born in New Mexico, he was the first Latino quarterback to win the big game. Always considered underrated or perhaps because of the failures of his early career, Plunkett is the only two-time Super Bowl winning QB not to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

1966 Philadelphia football card of former NFL defensive back Pat Fischer, a 12 year veteran of the league who split his playing days between the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Redskins. A three time Pro Bowler, he was a ballhawking cornerback, intercepting 56 passes in his career. He was also known for his tackling ability, despite his diminutive size (5’9). After retiring, Fischer was a stockbroker and owned a successful real estate business.

1968 Topps football card of former pro football flanker Carroll Dale, who played 14 seasons in the NFL for 3 different teams. Drafted in 1960 by the Los Angeles Rams, he spent 5 years there before being traded to Green Bay, where he spent the bulk, and most successful, years of his career. He was a major contributor to 3 Packer championship teams, including the clubs that won the first 2 Super Bowls. The football stadium at his old high school in Wise, Virginia is named after him.