Tag Archives: philadelphia eagles

NFL, wfl

Bergey, Bill

Cards: Topps 1980, Topps 1981
Acquired: Canton Acquisition 2012

Bill Bergey was a monster middle linebacker with a motor that never quit. After setting multiple records for tiny Arkansas State, he’d be drafted by the Cincinatti Bengals in the second round of the 1969 AFL draft. He immediately contributed to the team as a starter, and was named an AFL All-Star and Sporting News defensive rookie of the year, after recording 2 picks his rookie season. He continued playing with the Bengals through 1973 when he had 3 picks and 3 fumbles. After the season, the upstart WFL was picking off established and upcoming names from the NFL to pepper its rosters. Bill Bergey signed a futures contract with Jack Pardee‘s Florida Blazers, and then was promptly sued by the Bengals for breach of contract.  The NFL ended up losing in court, and Paul Brown traded the rights of Bergey for what seemed an exorbitant amount at the time- two first round draft choices and a second rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles.  When Bergey quickly figured out that the Blazers were all fuzzy math, he made the correct choice and returned to the NFL for the 1974 season.

The Eagles trade immediately paid off. Bergey solidified the center of the ‘Gang Green’ defense for Philadelphia, and his ability to read and react quickly and heat seek out ball carriers, led him to set the team record with 233 tackles in one season.  Bergey also set the NFL record for most interceptions by a middle linebacker in a season with 5 in 1974. He’d follow that up in 1975 as he led the league in fumble recoveries with 6. 1977 saw a switch of defensive philosophy for the Eagles, and the 3-4 was in order. Bill shifted inside to left inside linebacker and didn’t miss a beat recording 4 picks and 4 fumble recoveries in 1978.  Over his time with Bergey, the Eagles were a dominating force in the NFC East, and they’d reach the Super Bowl in 1980. He’d retire in 1981.

Bill was inducted into the Eagles Honor Roll in 1988, and the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. (The Bengals also consider him one of their best defensive players ever too.) He remains popular with fans of that era, and has gone into color, and radio game commentary for the Eagles. With surprising interception numbers that look like a defensive back, its disappointing that there hasn’t been a stronger case made for Bergey in the HoF at least as a ‘seniors’ candidate.

G 159     Tac   N/a        Sac  N/a      Fum 21    Int  27     Yds  397    Avg  6.8    Td  0     Lg  58

NFL

Kelso, Mark “The Great Gazoo”

Cards: ProSet 1989, Score 1990, Upper Deck 1993
Acquired: Canton Acquisition 2012

Mark Kelso always looked like a little kid out there playing football. As the first player to wear a ‘ProCap’ helmet, he was actually over 20 years ahead of the game and its current state in regards to concussions. Mark began wearing the helmet after his first concussion in 1989, when he was diagnosed with migrane syndrome and although it looked quite ridiculous, the helmet with its extra level of padding probably helped Kelso sustain his playing career another 5 years (primarily) for the Bills.  The helmet earned him the nickname ‘The Great Gazoo’, (after the alien from the “Flintstones” TV series, who wore a helmet similar in shape,) and constantly was pointed out and circled by TV commentators- only endearing him to Bills fans further.

Mark Kelso was a safety drafted in the 10th round by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1985 out of William & Mary. The Eagles were stacked at the position, so the smaller Kelso standing at 5’11”, 177 found himself in a numbers game and unable to crack the squad. The Bills picked Mark up and he soon became a fixture at free safety for the Bills by the 1987 season. A ball hawk, Kelso always happened to be at the right place, at the right time in the Bills defensive scheme. In 1987 he recorded 6 picks, and recorded 2 fumbles- one of which he returned for a touchdown. He quickly followed the season up in 1988, recording a career high 7 interceptions, for a league leading 180 yards and a touchdown. Mark wasn’t done as he bookended the two season in 1989 with another 6 picks and 2 fumble recoveries. Teams began to throw away from Mark by 1990, respecting his abilities. Over those next two years he’d have back to back 2 pick seasons, before returning to form one more season in 1992 with 7 more interceptions. Mark was truly unsung over his career with the Bills, and while he did post stellar numbers at Free Safety, he received no Pro Bowl nominations or attention for his numbers outside of the AFC East, outside of winning the Byron “Whizzer” White NFL Man of the Year award in 1993 for community development.  Sadly, the ProCap retired with Kelso. It did not catch on because either the perception it was unattractive and/or the helmet makers told players that it would void the warranty of the regular helmet since the ProCap was a ‘stick on’.

Mark has continued to be involved in serious discussions and development of helmet wear to reduce the risk of injuries in pro football and has made his home in Buffalo. He has also done radio color commentary  for Bills games, and is involved with coaching and management of youth sports teams. Oddly, this is the first autograph in the collection where a player inscribed “God Bless” on the card, as opposed to a bible verse.

Part of the ‘Canton Acquisition’, a small collection of autographed cards I acquired from a friend of mine who had fallen on hard times, I found it hard not to justify the purchase. A few of the cards were from players I already had, and after verifying the autographs, I went ahead and made a deal to preserve them from falling into the hands of somebody who might just resell them again. It is a tricky slope, because I am not fond of people who sell or buy autographs, but I felt in this extra ordinary case, the situation was justified. I was disappointed that when I asked the seller about these autographs, he didn’t have any fond memories of the players or why he wrote them- other than the fact that had been doing this in the hope of passing it down to his son.

G/Gs 99/95     Tac  N/a   Fum 8  Sac 0  Int 30    Yds 327    Avg 10.9     Td 1    Lg  78t

College Football HoF, NFL

McMahon, Jim (2) “Jimmy Mac”

Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1989 Update, ProSet 1991, Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent: 10/12   Received: 10/24  (12 days)
See Also: Jim McMahon

So I had gotten Jim almost 20 years ago on a card during a golf tournament, and decided after reading about his recent struggles in “Sports Illustrated” to write him. It was really striking to read about his battles with confirmed early stage dementia from blows to the head that he suffered from over the years playing football. His situation has gotten to a point that his short term memory sometimes gives out. For example, he will know he is going to the airport, run into somebody and have a conversation with them. Two minutes later he’s already asking himself who that person was.  In other words he has little short term memory. Over Jim’s time playing for the Bears, Chargers, Eagles, Vikings, Cardinals, Browns (only in the preseason), and Packers, he suffered at least 3 concussions. On one vicious hit against the Packers, he was picked up and piledriven into the turf. Jim never was taken out of a game for a concussion, and in fact, in a game against Detroit, doctors said his concussion, “Cleared up by halftime.”

Jim is open about his time, and said that if he could do it over- he’d have done baseball instead, but he ultimately knows that football paid his bills through college, as a professional and then on into retirement. McMahon lends some ‘star power’ to the concussion lawsuit group that has greater than 2,500 players as plantiffs against the NFL and helmet makers for knowingly risking head trauma to former players.  Looking at McMahon now, you can see the brash, punky, cavalier image is still there, but clearly he has been worn down as the concussions and the 18 surgeries have taken their toll. He’s granted numerous interviews to media outlets and radio stations, even doing a candid piece for ESPN’s “Outside the Lines”.

He tries to spend a lot of time golfing, and working charity events. He’s involved with design of his apparel line, “SwangWear”, which focuses on quality, functionality, and fun, for the golfing enthusiast.  Jim also gives a percentage of the profit to his sister’s memorial fund, The Lynda McMahon Ferguson Memorial Fund, to help promote literacy. McMahon continues to give time back to the community by being involved with St. Jude as an ambassador and the Wounded Warrior Project.

I am very interested in the lawsuits and the further medical research. I myself suffered 4 concussions before I was 18. I suffered one from heading a soccer ball as a child, one from Scouting where I blacked out for 10 seconds, one from fighting, and finally one from football from constant hitting. I hope that something can be done, as I worry about my own short term memory.

These are some great cards of Jim here. I really wanted to get at least one Bears card signed of his though. I realized that I had not included any of them to send out and had to remove some other great Eagles cards I had to get this ProSet 1989 in. Still getting two of him on these great Chargers cards, just doesn’t do him justice, as his stay was so short there in San Diego. The ProSet 1989 Chargers card would be rushed out so fast that this one is an error card missing the ‘traded’ corner strip. (Still it is worthless because of the sheer overprinting the Pro Set Corporation did of their card lines.) The Fleer 1990 card was the first one from the manufacturer to hit the market since the 1950s. It is generic, but something about it is original in the framing of Jim and how he breaks the picture plane into the yellow. The helmet seems thrown on there arbitrarily along with the hideous shine, but in a sense this added to the naive fun of the product. Again another Eagles card with the ProSet 1991 card. By then McMahon was a full time devotee to the helmet eye shield and still wore the headband, but I like the ‘standing tall’ in the pocket look here.  A great card of on the field action with just the right distance and cropping on the image. Pro Set’s 90 and 91 sets design-wise really run fairly seamlessly together into the 92 series 1 set, before a complete and confusing departure from their design struck the 1992 series 2 cards and ran the company off the tracks.