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.
1964 Topps football card of former pro football linebacker John Tracey, who was one of many “NFL rejects” who went on to have success in the American Football League. After failed trials with 2 NFL teams, Tracey joined the AFL’s Buffalo Bills and combined with Mike Stratton and Harry Jacobs to form the league’s most dominating linebacking corps. He played six seasons with Buffalo and was a solid member of the Bills’ defense which helped win back-to-back AFL titles in the mid-1960s. Tracey died of lung cancer in 1978.
1958 Topps football card of former Baltimore Colts’ defensive back Milt Davis, who played five seasons for the club from 1957 until 1961. He was originally drafted in 1954 by Detroit, but was drafted into the Army the same year. After serving 2 years in the Army, Davis attempted to resume his NFL career with the Lions, but was told he wouldn’t be able to play for them because they didn’t have another black player on the team to accompany him on the road. The Colts signed him as a free agent in 1957,and he was a ball hawk for them, intercepting 10 passes in his rookie year. He had a total of 27 picks in his five year career, but, angered by the treatment of black players by the league, retired after the ’61 season to pursue a doctorate in education. Eventually, Davis returned to the NFL, working as a scout for several teams, and when he retired he moved to Oregon and raised cattle, sheep and llama.
1966 Topps football card of former Buffalo Bills’ halfback Wray Carlton, who played for the team for eight seasons, starting with their inaugural year in the American Football League in 1960, until 1967. He was a two-time AFL All Star and has the distinction of scoring the first touchdown in team history. Carlton helped the Bills win back-to-back AFL championships in 1964 and ’65, and was the team’s all time leading rusher for their 10 year existence in the AFL.
1952 Bowman football card of a National Football League Hall of Fame legend, former Philadelphia Eagle back Steve Van Buren. One of the All Time Eagle players, he was a five-time all pro during his eight year career, was named to the NFL’s All Decade team for the 1940s, and helped Philly win two NFL titles, in 1948 and ’49. Van Buren also led the league in rushing four times in his career. Knee injuries forced him to retire in 1952, and he was elected to Canton in 1965. Van Buren died of pneumonia in 2012.
1972 Topps football card of former NFL quarterback Dennis Shaw, who played 9 seasons in the league for 4 different teams. Drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1970, Shaw took over the team’s starting job in his rookie year and won the NFL Offensive Rookie of The Year award, making him one of only seven signal callers to win the award. In 1974, following 3 years with the Bills, Shaw was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for a receiver named Bobby Moore, who changed his name to Ahmad Rashad and went on to have a terrific career with the Bills and Minnesota Vikings. Shaw never repeated the success he had in Buffalo, and wound up retiring after the 1978 season.
1970 Topps football card of former NFL running back Mel Farr, who played seven seasons in the league for the Detroit Lions. He was a two-time Pro Bowler, and during his playing career, he and teammate Lem Barney, the Hall of Fame cornerback, sang background vocals on Marvin Gaye’s hit song “What’s Going On”. After retiring as a player, Farr opened Mel Farr Ford, a dealership in suburban Detroit that by 1998 grossed almost $600 million , making it the top-ranked African American-owned business in the U.S.