TTM Success - Charley Trippi

I was bored one day and thought I would look up some older football players who sign TTM.  I wanted to add some old Topps and Bowman football cards to my album, since I thought those old cards looked really cool.

I bought 8 cards featuring 6 players and sent them all out a couple weeks ago.  The first one to come back was Pro Football Hall of Famer, Charley Trippi.  This is a 1950 Bowman, and shows him as a Chicago Cardinal.  That's right, at one point, there were two teams in Chicago.  I don't really follow football, so I had no idea that the Cardinals were in Chicago.  I did remember when they were in St. Louis and moved to Arizona.

Trippi (b. 1922) will be 95 on December 14.  He played professionally from 1947 to 1955, all for the Chicago Cardinals.  In his career, he had 3,506 rushing yards, 23 rushing touchdowns, 1,321 receiving yards and 11 receiving touchdowns.  He won the NFL Championship with the Cardinals in 1947.  He played as a halfback, defensive back and also a quarterback.  His quarterback record over two seasons (1951 and 1952) was 5-12-0.  He was a 2-time Pro Bowler (1952 and 1953) and First Team All Pro in 1948.

He played all over the field, as well.  Not only as a halfback and quarterback,  but he also returned punts and kickoffs.  He returned punts and kicks in his career to a total of 864 yards, and had two return touchdowns (both in 1948).

Trippi attended the University of Georgia from 1942 to 1946, where he led the Bulldogs to a Rose Bowl Championship in 1943.  He was also that game's MVP.  He missed the 1944 season while serving in the military in World War II.  He was the first overall pick in the 1945 NFL draft.  When he retired from the NFL, he had compiled the most total yards of offense by any player in NFL history.

He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.  From what I could find, he is the oldest living member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the 15th oldest living former player, according to the website oldestlivingprofootball.com.  I'm not sure how often they update their page.  It was weird, baseball has an ongoing list that is updated regularly on Wikipedia, but football doesn't have one.

I mailed to Trippi on November 7 and got my card back on November 13, for a 6-day TAT.

For my first of the vintage football cards to come back, I sure hit on a winner!