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1966 Topps football card of former Oakland Raider receiver Fred Biletnikoff. Remembered for wearing his uniform shirt sleeves cut short and for using heavy amounts of “stickum” on his hands, he was an all-time great with the Raiders, playing 14 seasons. He was a six-time Pro Bowler, a member of the All Time American Football League team, and was the MVP of Super Bowl XI, which Oakland won. Biletnikoff was a long-time receivers coach for the Raiders after retiring, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988. The award for the annual outstanding receiver in college football is named for him.

1979 Topps football card of former NFL running back Roland Hooks, who is best known for backing up Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson with the Buffalo Bills in the 1970s. He played 7 seasons for the Bills and scored 12 touchdowns in his career, with 4 of them coming in a single half, on his first 4 carries, in a 1979 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Hooks is currently a high school coach in Nevada.

1989 Topps football card of former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman, who took a beating in his rookie year playing on a bad team, but eventually carved out a successful 12 year career. He was a 6-time Pro Bowler and led the ‘Boys to 3 Super Bowl titles, being named the MVP in one of them. Aikman was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006, and since retiring as a player has served as the lead football analyst on Fox NFL games. He once was co-owner, along with Roger Staubach, of a NASCAR racing team called Hall of Fame Racing, and is also a part owner of baseball’s San Diego Padres.

1963 Fleer football card of former Buffalo Bills’ tight end Ernie Warlick, who was another stalwart on the team’s back-to-back American Football League championship teams in the 1960s. Like a lot of players of his era, Warlick began his pro career in the Canadian League, playing 5 seasons with the Calgary Stampeders. He joined the Bills in 1962 and played 4 years with them, and was an AFL All Star all 4 of those seasons. After retiring, Warlick became the first African American sportscaster in the Buffalo market, and was elected to the Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in 1998. He is active in the Bills Alumni Association today.

We’re featuring 2 old Topps football cards today, for a reason. On the left is a 1970 Topps card of former Minnesota Viking quarterback Joe Kapp, who played 8 years in the Canadian Football League before joining the NFL Vikings, and leading them to Super Bowl IV, where they were upset by the Kansas City Chiefs. On the right is a 1959 Topps CFL football card of former Hamilton Tiger Cats defensive lineman Angelo Mosca, who was a legendary CFL player who played in 9 Grey Cup championship games, more than any other player in league history. Mosca was also a professional wrestler, fighting under the nicknames King Kong Mosca and The Mighty Hercules. Kapp and Mosca were involved in a confrontation in the 1963 Grey Cup game when Kapp took exception to a late hit by Mosca on his running back. The reason we featured their cards together was because recently, at a CFL reunion luncheon, the pair, now both in their 70s, renewed the nearly 50 year old feud when they exchanged blows on stage, which was caught on video and became an internet sensation.

1962 Fleer football card of former Buffalo Bills’ offensive lineman Billy Shaw, who was a classic “pulling” guard in his 9 year career with the Bills. Shaw was one of the American Football League’s most outstanding offensive linemen, being named an AFL All Star 8 times. He was a mainstay on the Bills’ 2 consecutive league titles in 1964 and ’65, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999. He holds the distinction of being the only player ever inducted into Canton who played his entire career in the AFL.

1986 Topps football card of former quarterback Steve Young, who had the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of the greatest QB of all time, Joe Montana, but managed to carve out his own niche and eventually was elected to the Hall of Fame. His career started in the United States Football League when he signed a record contract with the Los Angeles Express, but when that league folded he moved to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was considered a bust by the Bucs after 2 seasons, but Bill Walsh saw the talent he had and traded for him, to serve as Montana’s understudy with the 49ers. In time, he made his own legacy with San Francisco, winning 2 MVP awards and being a part of 3 Super Bowl winners, although 2 of those were as Montana’s backup. He was named to the Pro Bowl 7 times, and elected to Canton in 2005. Young, who attended BYU, is a great grandson of Brigham Young, and currently works as a football analyst for ESPN.

1961 Fleer football card of former NFL defensive back Dick “Night Train” Lane, a Hall of Fame player with one of the all-time great nicknames. Lane was a receiver when he joined the Los Angeles Rams as a rookie in 1952, but the players ahead of him on the depth chart were future Hall of Famers – Tom Fears and Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch – so the team switched him to cornerback, where he fashioned a 14 year pro career, and even kept his #81 receiver jersey number for his entire career. The move to defense had an immediate impact as Lane intercepted 14 passes in his first year, a league record that still stands today despite the fact the NFL now plays a 16 game schedule, as opposed to only 12 games back then. He also played for the Chicago Cardinals and Detroit Lions, and was a 7 time Pro Bowler, a member of the NFL 75th Anniversary Team and was elected to Canton in 1974.

An appropriate sports card to feature on Thanksgiving Day is this 1972 Topps football card of former NFL defensive lineman Joe “Turkey” Jones, who played 11 seasons in the league, mostly for the Cleveland Browns. Jones got his nickname when the team played its’ annual Thanksgiving joke on rookie players, sending them on drives to distant rural farms for phantom “free turkeys” which, of course, didn’t exist. Jones never caught on, and not only continued searching for hours for his “free turkey”, but also fell for the prank again in his second year with the team, along with that year’s rookie class. Jones immortalized himself in Cleveland sports history when he sacked Steeler QB Terry Bradshaw in a game, picking up Bradshaw after the whistle (which he claimed he didn’t hear) and depositing him directly on his head into the turf.

1987 Topps football card of former San Francisco 49ers’ receiver Dwight Clark, who played 9 seasons with the team and was a part of 2 Super Bowl-winning teams in the Bill Walsh/Joe Montana era. He was a two-time Pro Bowler, and is best known for making “The Catch”, a leaping end zone grab of a desperation Montana pass for a touchdown against Dallas that propelled the Niners into the Super Bowl. Clark worked as an executive in the front office of both the 49ers and Cleveland Browns after his playing days ended.