Some 1974 Football Customs

 I am in the process of getting my old cards from the 70s into binders.  Most of these sets fit nicely into Walmart cheapo 2 1/2" D-ring binders. I am making custom art to make the binders look better.  Since I haven't made many football customs, I've been creating a lot lately and I thought I'd share them with you.

Len Dawson was in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career.  But at 39 he was still the Chiefs opening day starting QB.  I'm not sure why he was excluded, but it gave me an excuse to use this famous shot of him enjoying and post-game lung dart and a Fresca?  Namath was famously missing from Topps sets after 1973.  There are many customs made of this card.  There was even an actual Topps prototype of a 1974 Joe Willie before he pulled the plug. Here that one is in case you've never seen it:

In 1974 Topps baseball there was a subset of traded cards.  Obviously these weren't part of the football set, but I thought I'd include one of the bigger trades of the season.  John Hadl, who was a star QB for the Chargers then the Rams was dealt to the Green Bay a few games into the season.  1974 also saw the birth of the World Football League.  I made a card of Virgil Carter of the Chicago Fire.

Another Topps baseball staple that never appeared in their football sets, was the Rookie Stars card.  Here is a San Diego Chargers Rookie Stars card of future Hall of Famer Dan Fouts and the 1974 Rookie of the year Don Woods.

I also wanted to make a card commemorating the College All Star game.  This was an old tradition played in Chicago which pitted, you guessed it, College All Star against an actual NFL team.  Not just any team either, they played the previous year's NFL Champs.  While this seems very one sided, the tradition goes back to when the NFL was young and college football was hugely popular. The early games were very competitive. AS the NFL grew the games became less so. It eventually ceased in 1976.  Still would've made for a cool looking card.

So here is what my final binder cover will look like. In addition to these six cards, I added a rookie Jack Lambert card that had already appeared on this blog. I also used the 1974 pack design.  I also use the center row of cards as the spine of the binder.

I haven't gone to the printer with my football versions yet, but this is what my baseball binders look like on the shelf:

One last thing, Like I said, I am trying to complete 1974-1979 both baseball and football.  This is very much early in the process, but if you are in the same boat, and are looking to trade dupes of commons or semi-stars, let me know.  I would like to get in touch and help each other out.  Keep in mind that in 1974 these cards were kept in cigar boxes with rubber bands. Some cards are rougher than others.  They were well used and well loved by a nine-year-old version of myself.  I guess that's the kindest way to put it.