Tag Archives: topps 1983

NFL

Dickey, Lynn

Cards: Topps 1975, Topps 1983,  Upper Deck Legends 1997
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 11/2   Received: 11/14     (12 days)

Lynn Dickey played college ball for his home state Kansas State Wildcats from 1968 to 1970.  In 1969 he posted 2476 yards on 196 of 372 passing, throwing for 14 TDs to 19 interceptions.  Although he had what many consider a down season in 1970, Dickey placed 10th in Heisman voting. He finished his career with the Wildcats going 501 of 994 in passing for 6208 yards, 29 TDs to 64 interceptions.  Dickey was selected in the 3rd round of the 1971 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers. 

Under head coach Ed Hughes, the Oilers expected Dickey to compete for the starting QB job against first round pick Dan Pastorini. Over the next 5 injury plagued seasons, Dickey frustratingly started 10 games going 2-7-1 as starter for the moribund Oilers, throwing for 8 TDs to 28 interceptions- during the heyday of the Dead Ball Era.  He’d be traded by Houston to Green Bay in exchange for John Hadl.

Although snakebitten by injuries, Lynn managed to start 101 games over the next 10 seasons for the Packers. His best season came in 1983 when he posted an 8-8 record for Green Bay, and led the NFL with 4458 passing yards and 32 TDs.   He’d also manage to eclipse 3,000 yards passing 2 other times in his career in 1980 (3529 yards) and in 1984 (3195 yards).  Dickey during his underrated career in Green Bay set numerous single game and season passing records (that have been eclipsed by the likes primarily of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers-) earning him a card in the Upper Deck Legends 1997 set and prompting a, “Really?”, From me.

After retiring Lynn has had his number retired by the Wildcats, and is a member of the Packers Hall of Fame. A prolific TTM signer, Lynn autographed these 3 cards for me in no time flat. 

Both the 1983 Topps and the Upper Deck Legends card are epic cards of Dickey in his prime, but the Topps 75 card was sort of a throw in since I love my Houston Oilers. Lynn has a strong autograph that really matches the canvas well.

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NFL

Lomax, Neil (2)

to85 lomaxCards: Topps 1983, Topps 1985
Acquired: 2012, Akron Acquisition
See Also: Neil Lomax

I think I’m just going to refer to it as ‘The Neil Lomax Curse’.  Since Lomax led the lowly Cardinals back to some semblance of respectability in the mid-1980s the franchise has been for the most part (outside of a few seasons here and there with Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer, and Jake Plummer) has never really had a consistent franchise QB at the helm. You know, that consistent leader that they could lean on for 5-7 years? – Amazingly it just hasn’t happened. While it is shocking how many QBs Cleveland has gone through, Arizona has done in many QBs in its own right. In fact, statistically speaking, I could make an argument for Neil being the greatest quarterback the Cardinals have ever had.

to80 lomaxAs far as cards go, Topps 1985 was so different than what Topps had ever done that people still today see it as a pinnacle of card design. I think it really epitomized the 80s with large bold type set on its side fighting with the photo for command of the canvas. Like the 80s it screamed, “Larger than life.”  While this Topps 1983 just bored my pants off initially, it was a step in a different direction for Topps than in previous years. The marquee is minimally invasive and the team name placed eloquently on the image- in an era well before Photoshop, this took a fair amount of work.

One of the Akron Acquisition, I got these autographs off of a friend who was exiting the hobby. I paid a few extra bucks as a premium to help him out, and I hope that he has been able to put his life back together.

 

NFL

Jones, Ed ‘Too Tall’ (2)

udldg97 ejonesCards: ProSet 1989, Upper Deck Legends 1997, Score 1989, Topps 1984
Acquired: 2012, Akron Acquisition. 2016, C/o Home
Sent: 8/5      Received:  8/12   (7 days)
Failure: 2014, C/o Home
See Also: Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones

pset89 ejonesEd Too Tall Jones was my favorite Cowboy player on defense as a kid, so after getting him all those years ago in person, I thought that I might nab him on these other cards I had. I got the Topps 84 through a friend who was liquidating his collection in 2012. Then later in 2014,  I had intended to attend an event with him at it in Dallas, but two days before leaving I got very sick, so I had to call it off.  Right afterwards I sent off for him TTM, but it must have been a sacrifice to the mail gods, as the highly reliable Jones did not respond.  I gave him sco89 ejonesanother shot in 2016 and I was pretty happy with the response, with him signing the ProSet, Score, and Upper Deck entries.

Ed has gotten around over the past few years. The surprisingly durable Jones has made appearances in a few movies- most recently The Wedding Ringer wearing his iconic #72.

He also was elected to the Black College Football Hall of Fame in to84 ed jones2015 after leaving Tennessee State second on the school’s all time list with 106 sacks. He was also recognized as the player of honor at the 17th Annual John Merritt Classic game against Alabama State that year as well. He is an avid golfer and makes appearances at many celebrity tournaments outside the Dallas area.

Despite Jones’ strong pro football resume, he played during an era when sacks and tackles were not tracked/ did not count, and with the backlog of defensive players AND over abundance of Cowboys nominated every year, he has not been enshrined in the HoF. Recently a fan petition through change.org did receive some traction attempting to get him inducted at least into the Cowboys Ring of Honor- something that seems long overdue for the iconic Too Tall Jones at least not be in.