On my way out the door for an extended weekend, but I wanted to get a post up before I left, since I haven’t had much going on lately.
Getting back to the Football/Screen Stars themed Cards of the Week, this week featuring Charles Aaron “Bubba” Smith. The first overall pick in the 1967 draft, Smith was considered a huge athlete in his day, playing defensive end at 6 foot 6 inches, and 260 pounds (today, that would be a little taller than average, but about average for weight).
He played for the Baltimore Colts from 1967-71, including a win in Super Bowl V, before spending two seasons in Oakland with the Raiders and finishing his career with two years in Houston for the Oilers (three teams that all ended up moving, stragely enough). In addition to the Super Bowl win, he was selected All-Pro once, and went to two Pro Bowls.
After retiring, Smith started an acting career with small movie and tv roles, before taking on the role for which he is most well known–that of the physically imposing but soft-hearted Moses Hightower in the Police Acadamy movies, a role he has repirsed in all but one of the sequels. He also partnered with Pro Football Hall of Famer on a short lived series called Blue Thunder (I didn’t even remember Butkus could be an option for this series), and was featured in Miller Lite commercials and two episodes of Married… with Children.
The card featured is Smith’s 1971 Topps card, #53 in the set. It was purchased recently on eBay, for a whopping $0.15 (ok, $3.15 after shipping). It books for $8, but was likely available for less because the condition isn’t the greatest, and because the seller didn’t include the specific year for the card–maybe he thought people might confuse it for Smith’s rookie, since it appears that the majority of his early cards use this same image. With the purchase, I believe this becomes the oldest football card in my collection (I do have several 1959 Topps baseball cards–including one that isn’t a buyback from Topps Heritage).
I think next week I’ll get back to the random cards for a while on Card of the Week, as we get ready for the beginning of training camp–less than one month until the first preseason games!
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