Upper Deck Legends 1997 really was a gem of a set and continued to outdo itself with quality photography. This is an excellent shot of Too Mean. Thankfully he didn’t shorthand the autograph on this one. I patiently waited out the market on this autograph since it was exploding, and was able to snipe this one at a fair price under 10 bucks.
Cards: Topps 1969, Action Packed Whizzer White Award 1991 Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home Sent: 1/17 Received: 1/28 (11 days)
Ed Meador is not a household name outside of the banner guard of the pre-St. Louis Los Angeles Rams, however he has an impressive resume, that has somehow slipped past Pro Football HoF induction.
Ed played for Arkansas Tech from 1955-1958. Back then players went both ways, and Meador distinguished himself as both a dangerous defensive back, but also as a top flight runner and return man. An all-conference selection 3 times, and Little American his Senior year, Ed was co-captain of the squad know as ‘The Wonder Boys’, and scored 272 career points over his time at Tech. He’d be selected in the 7th round of the 1969 NFL Draft.
The rest is history. He’d spend time returning kicks, holding kicks, and playing defensive back. After seeing time early in his career at corner, the Rams switched him to Free Safety where he excelled. Nicknamed ‘The Rams Little Assassin’, Ed owns multiple Rams career records to this day including interceptions (46), fumble recoveries (18), and blocked kicks (10). A 6 time Pro Bowler (1960, 1964-1968), 6 time First or Second Team All-Pro, and a member of the NFL 1960s All-Decade team, it is surprising that Meador’s name has not received a Canton induction.
In addition to his numerous on the field accomplishments, Ed won the NFLPA Byron Whizzer White Award in 1969. Retiring after 1970, Meador was inducted into the Arkansas Sports HoF in 1978, and worked in real estate for a few years before edging his way into jewelry.
Ed signed these two cards of his pretty quickly. Oddly enough both of these cards represent sets that I only had one other card from those sets signed, and they were both acquired many, many years ago. I wasn’t really a fan of Topps 1969. It strictly is more about the player than the design, and with limited technology to do so back then, this card just comes off very plain. The Action Packed 1991 Whizzer White card is really nice though. The only tweaks they did from the base 91 set is changing the marquee to a silver color and adding the helmeted year of the winner on it. It’s a great card of Ed and I am glad that he could sign it for me- even if it was in a ball point pen.
G/Gs
TAC
SAC
FUM
163/159
N/A
N/A
18
INT
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
46
547
11.9
5
38T
EPITAPH:
09/06/23- Ed Meador passed away today at the grand old age of 86. No cause of death was given. He recently made it into the semifinalists of the 2024 NFL HoF Seniors class, but was not inducted.
The drive to get him into the HoF hasn’t stopped with his passing though. You can visit his website at http://www.edmeador21.com/ for more information.
After his stint at Florida State filling a variety of different roles through a 5 year stint, Terrell has had various 2 year stops around college football as a positional coach. He quietly coached Cornerbacks at Akron from 2012-2013, then was with Louisville from 2014-2015. Since 2016, Terrell has served as the positional coach for safeties at Mississippi State. In 2018 he was named as a finalist for the College Football Hall of Fame- and had his ticket punched shortly thereafter for the 2019 class.
I had been wanting to get back to Terrell since I was a kid. Honestly after all these years I had wondered if those autographs that I had gotten from the Packers were ghost signed, but much to my relief they were not.
I had wanted to get both the base Classic 1992 and the blister pack card signed, but couldn’t find the blister, so I went ahead and substituted in the ProSet 1992 card. I am fond of the look of none of these cards in particular, though I do like the Classic 1992 because he is in his FSU uniform. His ProSet 1992 card is humorous to me, strictly because he is wearing a jean shirt and the expression on his face makes me think that he was just blindsided by being drafted by the Packers.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
