1996 Topps Chrome football card of former wide receiver Eric Moulds, who played 12 seasons in the NFL, mostly with the Buffalo Bills. He was a three-time Pro Bowler and the first receiver in Bills’ history to record 100 receptions in a single season. Moulds also set an NFL record when he recorded 240 receiving yards in a playoff game against Miami.
1955 Bowman football card of Hall of Famer Tom Fears, a top split end for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1940s and ’50s. A Mexican-American, Fears was the first Latino to play in the NFL. He played a total of nine seasons, all with the Rams, breaking a number of receiving records along the way, and helping the Rams win the NFL championship in 1951. He was named to the All Decade team for the 1950s, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1970. After his playing days ended, Fears was a long-time coach in the NFL, including a four year run as head coach of the expansion New Orleans Saints from 1967 until 1970. Fears passed away in 2000.
1974 Topps football card of former offensive lineman Conrad Dobler, who played 10 seasons in the NFL for 3 different teams. Most of his success came in his first 6 years with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he was voted to 3 Pro Bowls. He finished his playing days with a pair of 2 year stints in New Orleans and Buffalo, playing his final pro season with the Bills in 1981. Dobler was once named “Pro Football’s Dirtiest Player” by Sports Illustrated magazine. After retiring, he appeared in the Miller Lite “Tastes great, less filling” TV ads with other retired players such as Dick Butkus and Merlin Olsen.
1989 Score football card of former pro football wide receiver Don Beebe, who played nine seasons in the NFL for three different teams. He is still considered one of the fastest players in league history. Beebe holds the distinction of having played in six Super Bowls, including the four consecutive title losses suffered with the Buffalo Bills. He finally won that elusive championship in his first year with the Green Bay Packers in 1996. After retiring in 1998, Beebe founded a company called House of Speed, LLC, that specializes in training athletes to improve their speed and achieve top performance. The company now has franchises located in 11 states.
1970 Topps football card of former Buffalo Bills’ quarterback Dan Darragh, who played three seasons with the team. In his rookie season of 1968, he was one of five different quarterbacks to play the position for the Bills, as injuries knocked out Jack Kemp, Tom Flores, Kay Stephenson and “disaster” QB Ed Rutkowski. By the end of the 1970 season, Darragh was out of the game and on to law school. He is now a practicing attorney in Pittsburgh.
1966 Topps football card of former defensive end Ben Davidson, who played eleven seasons of pro football for three different teams. His career started in 1961 with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, where he was part of that Packer championship team. He was traded to Washington after that one season and spent 2 years with them before jumping to the American Football League’s Oakland Raiders, where he established himself as one of that league’s fiercest defensive players. An intimidating figure with his hulking physique and trademark handlebar mustache, Davidson epitomized the Raider mystique for the nine years he spent with them. After retiring as a player, he dabbled in acting, and appeared in the famous Miller Lite “tastes great, less filling” ads that also included John Madden and Rodney Dangerfield. Davidson died of prostate cancer in 2012 at the age of 72.
1963 Fleer football card of former pro football lineman Ken Rice, who played seven seasons in the American Football League for three different teams. He was an AFL All Star in his rookie season of 1961 with the Buffalo Bills. He moved on to Oakland in 1964, and was left unprotected by the Raiders in the 1966 expansion draft, and was chosen by the Miami Dolphins. Injuries forced him to retire after the 1967 season.
1962 Post Cereal football card of former NFL halfback Ted Dean. This series was available on the back of boxes of Post cereal products. Dean was a prize rookie on the Philadelphia Eagles’ 1960 championship team, as a runner, kick returner and placekicker. He scored the winning touchdown in that season’s title game. Although considered a rising star, Dean played for the Eagles for only four seasons before injuries curtailed his production, and he was traded to Minnesota prior to the 1964 season. However, he suffered further injuries in an automobile accident and only played in 2 games for the Vikings. He became a teacher in the Philadelphia area after his playing career ended.
1984 Topps football card of former Buffalo Bills running back Booker Moore, who was drafted by the Bills out of Penn State in 1981, but was forced to sit out a year after he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. He was able to play again in 1982 and wound up playing four mostly uneventful seasons for the Bills in the Chuck Knox era. After retiring in 1986, Moore became a sheriff’s deputy in Michigan. He died of a heart attack at the age of 50 in 2009.
1961 Fleer football card of Hall of Fame halfback Paul Hornung, who was a key member of the dominant Green Bay Packer dynasty teams of the 1960s. He was dubbed football’s “Golden Boy” when he won the Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame in 1956, and continued his success in the pros with the Packers. He helped Green Bay win four NFL championships and was named league MVP in 1961, a year after he set a league record by scoring 176 points, a total amassed through running, receiving and placekicking. That record stood for 47 years, and was set in a 12 game season. Hornung was picked on the NFL’s All Decade team for the 1960s and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1986.