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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.

1984 Topps football card of former placekicker Scott Norwood, who played for the United States Football League’s Birmingham Stallions at the time this card was released. Norwood joined the NFL’s Buffalo Bills after the USFL folded and was a major factor in the Bills’ resurgence as a winning team in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Norwood is mostly remembered for his 47 yard “wide right” miss at the end of Super Bowl XXV, but he was a consistent placekicker for the Bills for seven years, and was even an All Pro selection for the 1988 season.

1961 Topps football card of former Oakland Raider quarterback Tom Flores, one of the early stars of the American Football League. He is one of only 20 players who lasted the entire 10 year existence of the AFL, as he also served as a backup QB in Buffalo and Kansas City. Flores is also one of the most underrated head coaches of all time, as he won a pair of Super Bowls while coaching the Raiders in the 1980s, where he became the first Hispanic head coach to win a championship. He and Mike Ditka are the only 2 people in NFL history to win Super Bowls as a player, assistant coach and head coach. He currently works as a commentator on the Raiders’ radio broadcasts.

1988 Opeechee hockey card of former National Hockey League player Joe Nieuwendyk, who recently was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The big winger broke into the NHL with a bang, scoring 51 goals in his first season and winning the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. He wound up playing 21 seasons, and won 3 Stanley Cups, in 3 different decades, with 3 different teams. Nieuwendyk was a great all-around player, and a leader on every team he played for. Also, he was an outstanding lacrosse player prior to beginning his hockey career. He currently is the general manager of the NHL’s Dallas Stars.

1951 Bowman football card of former Cleveland Browns fullback Marion Motley. At 6’1 and 232 pounds, he was a man among boys in his playing days, and in an era when two-way players were still common, he played on defense as a linebacker, which WAS uncommon. Motley played for coach Paul Brown’s Browns for 8 seasons, in the old AAFC and the NFL. The Browns won the AAFC championship all 4 years of the league’s existence, and Motley was the league’s career rushing leader. Motley was named to the NFL  All Decade Team for the 1940s (despite playing in the AAFC), the 75th Anniversary All Time Team, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

1961 Fleer football card of former Buffalo Bills receiver Elbert Dubenion. Nicknamed “Golden Wheels”, Dubenion was the main target of QB Jack Kemp in the team’s championship seasons in the 1960s. He played 9 seasons in the old American Football League for the Bills, and was the last player from the original team roster of 1960 that remained with the club when the AFL merged with the NFL. Dubenion was a scout for the Bills, Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins after his playing career ended.

1958 Topps football card of former Green Bay Packer center Jim Ringo. An undersized center at only 211 pounds, Ringo had an outstanding career with the Packer dynasty and was a 10-time Pro Bowler. After finishing his 15 year playing career with the Philadelphia Eagles, Ringo went into coaching, and in his tenure as offensive line coach with the Buffalo Bills, was responsible for creating and mentoring the team’s famed Electric Company offensive line, which blocked for O.J. Simpson. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981, and passed away in 2007.