1977, 1978 AND 1979 Topps Doug Buffone

With the passing of Doug Buffone this past week, I've taken on the task of filling in the many holes in his football card collection. These are from his final 3 years on the Bears. I have created cards from 1967, 1968, 1968, 1972 and 1973 for my previous 3 posts.

 I can almost understand the lack of a 1977 card for Buffone. He played only 2 games in 1976 when he was sidelined with a ruptured achilles tendon. Now he would be 33 years old, heading into his 12th season,  and coming off of a serious injury. But Buffone did play in 13 of the 14 games as the Bears made it to the post-season for the first time in his career.

In 1978, like '77 Buffone missed only a single game but started the other 15 games. Jack Pardee who led the Bears to the playoffs in 1977 was now with the Redskins. The Bears under new head coach, Neil Armstrong, went 7-9 but Buffone, solid as ever, had 3 interceptions and a fumble recovery.

In his final season, the 35 year old veteran played in all 16 games but started only 2. At the end of his career he was the longest tenured player in Bears history with 14 season. And he was the last active Bear to have played under the legendary George Halas. His final game in a Bears uniform was the Wild Card game after the 1979 season.  The Bears lost to the Eagles 27-17.

2014 Fantasy Football Card

It's already week 3 and I am just getting around to posting some fantasy football cards. I was the league champ last year, thus had a late draft this year so my team is not exactly "stacked".  As anyone that plays fantasy football know, injuries are key. This season it seems that legal issues are also playing into it.. Fortunately, I steered clear of those players, now I only need my players to stay healthy.

The 3 players I picked to make cards of are: Tony Romo on a 1954 Bowman card, Calvin Johnson "Megatron" on a 1970 Topps card and Julio Jones on a 1978 Topps card.

1978 Topps Chuck Noll

A legend of the NFL passed away on Friday, Chuck Noll died at the age of 82. The man behind the "Steel Curtain" guided the Steelers dynasty to 4 Super Bowl victories in 6 years.

I couldn't decide whether to depict Noll as a player or head coach when creating a card in honor of this legend. I eventually chose to incorporate the 1978 Topps baseball manager's format onto a 1978 Topps football card. This allowed me to showcase the man as both a player for the Cleveland Browns and as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

As a player Noll was used initially as a "messenger guard". He would alternate downs bringing in plays from the bench. After 7 years playing guard and linebacker for the Browns, Noll retired at the age of 27 to pursue a coaching job at his Alma Mater, the University of Dayton. He was passed over for that job but was given a job with the Los Angeles Chargers of the AFL. From 1960-68 Noll was a defensive coach for the Chargers then the Colts. In 1969 he was hired as head coach by the Pittsburgh Steelers.