1966 Philadelphia Johnny Roland

1966 NFL Rookie of the Year*

Johnny Roland was the UPI's pick for Rookie of the Year in 1966. He was an All American defensive back and running back for Missouri. Drafted by the Cardinals n the 4th round, he ran for 695 yards and 5 TDs in 1966. He also returned a punt for a TD and passed for a touchdown in his rookie year.

He played 7 seasons in the St. Louis backfield and was their all-time leading rusher when he left the team after the 1972 season. He played his final season in 1973 for the New York Giants then went onto a successful coaching career. In all He coached for seven different pro teams and for Notre Dame from 1974-2005.  He got his Superbowl ring as a coach for the Chicago Bears in 1985.

1966 Philadelphia Tommy Nobis

1966 NFL Rookie of the Year*

Tommy Nobis was a two-time All American playing both sides of the ball. He was an offensive guard and Linebacker for the Texas Longhorns. In 1963 the Longhorns won their first national championship. In 1965 he was the Outland Trophy Winner for best interior lineman and the Maxwell Award winner for the College Football Player of the Year. In 1981 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

In 1966 he was the 5 player picked in the AFL draft and the number 1 pick in the NFL draft. The expansion Atlanta Falcons made Nobis their first ever draft pick. In his rookie year he had 294 tackles which is an unofficial NFL record. The reason it is unofficial is that tackles were not an official statistic in 1966 and thus open to interpretation. But given that the Falcons' 1966 opponents had a combine 699 rushes and completed passes that means that if you were tackled there was a better than 40% chance Nobis was in on it.

Overall Tommy Nobis played 11 years with the Falcons, appeared in 5 Pro-Bowls, was selected to the NFL's All 1960's team, was enshrined in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and had his number 60 retired by Atlanta.  He was named 1966 Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News and by the Newspaper Enterprise Association.

1966 Topps Bobby Burnett

1966 AFL Rookie of the Year

With an exciting MLB postseason behind us, I can get back to where I left off. And that is making cards for all the NFL/AFL Rookies of the Year. I've posted cards from 1955-1965, but in 1966 it starts to get even more diverse with more and more ROY awards given out.

We'll start 1966 with Bobby Burnett, a player that both United Press International and The Sporting News agreed should be awarded the Rookie of the Year for the AFL. Burnett was drafted by both the Bills in the AFL and the Bears in the NFL. He chose not to share a backfield with 1965 Rookie of the Year, Gale Sayers. 

He had 1185 all-purpose yards and 8 touchdowns for the Bills and earned a spot on the All Star team. After winning the ROY, his 1967 season began with cracked ribs in training camp.  Burnett was used sparingly to protect his ribs. Then in a game against the Jets he took a hit to the knee that ended his career. The knee was dislocated, the tibia was broken. Cartilages and ligaments were torn. 

In 1968 he was picked up by the Bengals in the expansion draft but he was not healthy enough to play. In 1969 he signed with the Denver Broncos but played in just 3 games. He was given the ball a total of 5 time for just 9 net yards. He retired at the age of 26.

Every Chicago Cubs Card I Made

Lots of cards, mostly of Ron Santo.  This blog was actually an offshoot of my first blog Six Degrees of Ron Santo in which I would link random players to Santo in six cards or less. As you can imagine, that got boring real quick. Also for no other reason than to amuse myself, I remade every Santo card using the football card format. 

This championship reminds us of Santo, Banks, Brickhouse, and all of the former Cubs who never had a chance to see the Cubs go all the way. It reminds us of parents, grandparents, uncles and brothers who lived whole lives rooting for the Cubs without a championship. 

Here's to the Cubbies! World Series Champs!