WWII Hero and NFL Hall of Famer Emlen Tunnell Honored in Radnor PA

On Saturday June 2nd Radnor township where team Phungo resides honored WWII Hero, NFL Hall of Famer, and Radnor HS Alum Emlen Tunnell with a statue at the local township building.

Emlen Statue Unveiled 2018 June 2

The Statue stands at local the township buildings entrance which also houses the Sports Hall of Fame for Delaware County.

Jennifer Frudakis-Petry 

The sculptor for the project was local artist Jennifer Frudakis-Petry who was on hand for the ceremony. Frudakis-Petry has done a number of Portrait Sculptures (busts) and Bas Reliefs including several sports artworks.

Her baseball commissions include a Bronze Bas-Relief at Atlantic City's Pop Lloyd Stadium that celebrates the history of the Negro Leagues

And Notable to Phillies fans she has worked as an assistant to Zenos Frudakis on the four Hall of Fame statues at Citizen's Bank Park (Schmidt, Ashburn, Robin Roberts, and Carlton).

Alongside the statue is a plaque summarizing Tunnell's career accomplishments.

Ceremony Speakers
The dedication featured a US Coast Guard Honor Guard with Coast Guard Commander William McKinstry as a featured speaker. McKinstry discussed Tunnell's tenure with the Coast Guard and how he saved lives of fellow Guardsmen on two different occasions. To read more about the ceremony please check Linda Stein's Delco Times column here.

Billy "White Shoes" Johnson

Sportswise the big name speaker was Billy "White Shoes" Johnson. And Yes..

He Still wears the White Shoes!

Other sports figures present included NFL former Vikings and Jets D-Coordinator Ted Cottrell, New York Giant Don Clune and Wisconsin Basketball Coach Bo Ryan.

The day was very well done with ceremonies lasting about 90 minutes. In addition to the Honor Guard presentation there was a terrific rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by Vanessa Howard. All the sports related folks gave great speeches with Ted Cottrell being particularly effective. He noted that many of today's players are "knuckleheads" and proposed that the NFL retired the #45 league-wide to honor the memory of Emlen Tunnell as both a hero and pioneer on and off the field.

Jim Vankoski is one of the driving figures behind the Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum and deserves recognition for dedication for creating a great space and putting together a terrific day to honor a legend.

Sources and Links
Delco Times - Linda Stein
Jennifer Frudakis
Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum

 

Welcome to the Show RUDY Ruettiger

Trading Card Show that is.

 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter # 238 Rudy Ruettiger

I have never seen the movie "Rudy" in it's entirety, but I probably don't need. Lifelong passions as a Sports and Pop Culture Nerd have probably fed the entire script of the film into my brain stem.

The 1993 movie is based on the story of the undersized Rudy Ruettiger who was a walk on for a single game with the 1975 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Rudy is one of about a half dozen guests slated for this Saturday December 5th at the Valley Forge Card Show. His signature will command $50 plus an additional $25 for an inscription.

The top Baseball Signers include Hall of Famers Rickey Henderson and Steve Carlton. The Phillies related folks are Charlie Manuel, Jimy Williams, Curt Schilling, Todd Pratt and Milt Thompson.

Hall of Famer Paul Hornung is on the Saturday Slate for Football Fans. Friday's guest is the Flyers John LeClair while Sunday will feature US Women's National Team Soccer Gold Medalist Heather Mitts.

Donovan McNabb was originally on the Weekends Roster but has other obligations in Arizona.

For more information on the show click here.

2011 Allen & Ginter's

Bit of an oddity here but since AnG traditionally only lists the subjects last name we don't get to see Ruettiger signature Name "Rudy" on the front of the card.

Team Phungo
Not sure if I am making this year's show, busy time of year and I should really just organize the cards from the last show I was at back in October. If I do go it will likely be Saturday.

Sources and Links
imdb
Philly Show
NJ

Welcome to the Hall of Fame Mick Tingelhoff

As part of the NFL Hall of Fame weekend the Football Preseason commences with the Steelers and Vikings playing an exhibition game in Canton.

Both teams were represented by HoF inductees over the weekend, Jerome Bettis for the Steelers and Mick Tinglehoff for the Vikings.

1964 Philadelphia Gum #110 Mick Tingelhoff (rc)

Tinglehoff was the Vikings starting Center for every game the team played from 1962 through 1978. That is 17 seasons without missing a game - 240 of them, plus 19 playoff games.

The Vikings never won a Superbowl, but Tinglehoff played in four of them.

Mick Tinglehoff's Hall of Fame presenter will be another Vikings Hall Member, Fran Tarkenton. 

Flip

1964 Philadelphia Gum #110 Mick Tingelhoff (rc b-side)

The card specifies Mick Tinglehoff is a 3rd year player, however according Cardboard Connection this is his rookie card.

The 1964 Philly Gum Cards give some pretty solid hints on the tunes related to their trivia questions. Kudos for to Philly Gum for going to the trouble of getting Tinglehoff's uni number right.

Sources and Links
cardboard connection
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Football-Ref

SuperBowl: Ricky Bottalico is Ready for Some Football

Apparently there is some football game on Sunday - Ricky Bottalico is Ready

1998 UD Collector's Choice #204 Ricky Bottalico

Ricky appears to be relaxing in the dugout or bullpen, This shot was likely taken during BP and Botallico won't need to take the field for several hours. I am sure staying loose with a couple of tosses of the old pigskin isn'a a bad idea.

Today Ricky is still in the Phillies family working the the pre- and postgame shows for Phillies broadcasts.


There in no shortage of baseball cards with football references. Among the recent ones is the 2014 Topps card of Mark DeRosa who was a QB at U Penn and also the Sean Doolittle card which features an Oakland Raiders sign.

There are even cards of Hall of Famers working on their football skills.

Sources and Links
Cardboard Icons 
Penn Archives
The Big Lead
Amazon

2010 Topps NFL Football - Inserts & Highlights

I picked up three Retail Packs and one Rack Pack (36 cards for $4.98) and I think this provided a pretty good variety of the cards offered by this years Topps Release.


A nice Superbowl Card. The back provides the final score and the Saints half of the statistical box score. A nice looking Manning card, with an ugly-ass All-Pro logo. I don't know how about adding some Red White and Blue like the uniforms they where in the Pro Bowl.



Lineage cards - I don't get the Marshall/Thomas card - This is the B-Side of the Elway/Tebow card - The Front of the card is featured over at A Pack to be Named Later.


More stuff we saw in Topps Baseball - between the 4 packs I pulled two of the Gridiron Giveaway cards. Good to see Gale Sayers get some love.

The Tom Brady Card is a Yo Momma Card reprinted from 2002 Topps - This one happens to be with the original back, not sure if Football is doing both backs or not. In the middle is a Demaryius Thomas 52 Bowman insert. This a pretty sharp looking card and considered #4 of his 5 rookie cards in 2010 Topps. Finally a 75th anniversary Draft card of Ben Tate - Drafted in the 2nd round 58th overall by the Texans.


Enlarge these and you can see the B-side of the rookie card for CJ Spiller. I put a big Red Dot next to the line indicating this is Rookie Card 1 of 5 for Spiller. Like 2010 MLB Baseball, Football had Team Cards. Here I have the A-side of the Packers card and the B-side of the Redskins Card. I am not sure if Franchise History is part of the football set - between the 4 packs I picked up there were 70 cards and no Franchise History to be found - that's a shame because I liked those cards in 2010 Topps Baseball.

Various Star players - and local heroes. 2010 Topps Football has mostly action shots on the base cards. And I think the Photography is pretty strong.

It was also nice to see Topps figured out that the foil stamping around the player name looks much better if the name is in a white font rather than black.



I close with the Darelle Revis collection. Out of 70 cards I came out with three Revis cards. I don't know how many times the Jets wore the throwbacks, but most of the Jets cards that came out of the 4 packs had them in the throwback unis.

The Classic Matchup Revis/Moss card is a checklist.

The W store also had blasters on sale that contained 81 cards - I forget the exact configuration probably 7x10 plus one "bonus" pack of cards. the 81st "card" is a manufactured patch card I think.

Ok sometime this weekend I will try and get back to baseball posts.

For a look at the first pack of Topps NFL football opened by Team Phungo click here.

For a look at the pack opened at APTBNL click here.

2010 Topps NFL Football - First Pack

No time to Talk just wanted to mention I was at a big box store yesterday and picked up some 2010 Topps Football Cards. The cards come 12 to a pack and went for $2.10 w/ PA Sales Tax included.

First Football Card of the Year
2010 Topps NFL Football #67 Joey Porter


The Rest

I liked pretty much every card I got in the pack - click to enlarge this one and you will get a peak at a B-side of Matt Ryan. The Gridiron Giveaway is the football version of Baseball's Million Card Giveaway.


Got two Vikings - sort of. The first is a Peterson Attax card.

The Last 3 cards in the pack were all Rookie Cards. The Last Card is of Jahvid Best, he was the highest pick among the 3 cards featured here (#30 overall). On the back of the card it specifies:

"This is 1 of 5 Jahvid Best Rookie Cards in 2010 Topps Football"

Sounds Like some parallel insanity or rookie inserts galore for The newest edition of Topps Football.

I will have a more formal review later - I am just posting these for images right now. Perhaps I will have a more thorough post at aPTBNL if nobody else has posted one by this evening.

Still time to get your football predictions in for STS Bonus

You have a little over 12 hours to get your football predictions in for this weeks Spot the Sig! bonus. To find out more click here.

To get you into the football spirit I have busted open a couple of packs of 2008 UD Icons which I found at Kmart tonight for a whopping 52 cents (including PA Sales Tax)



2008 UD Icons #78 Troy Polamalu
2008 UD Icons #42 Reggie Wayne

The remainder of the pack consisted of:
#81 Antonio Cromartie
#45 Maurice Jones-Drew
#9 Willis McGahee

No Vikings, No Eagles, pretty Meh. For a more complete review and slightly more exciting pack - If your a Cowboys fan - check out my other pack break over at A Pack to be Named Later.

Michael Vick the RIGHT move for the Eagles

There are several reasons that the Eagles signed Michael Vick. Yes, this is a controversial move but I think many folks outside the Philadelphia area fail to understand wny this is the right move for the the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia Community and the NFL.

1) Many from other towns with larger traditional fan bases probably don't get this but the Eagles need Superstars like Michael Vick to bring in fans. The aging Eagles franchise doesn't have the rabid fan base of say the Panthers or Jaguars - In fact the Eagles have not sold out a game since August 13th of 2009 - remember those days??

2) The Talent Level: The Eagles need to field a playoff caliber team - keep this in mind the Eagles have not been involved in an NFL postsason game since the played the Arizona Cardinals on January 18th of 2009. To give you an idea of how long that has been, the rest of the NFL has played one yes One post season game since then. Obviously the Eagles roster was not good enough without Vick.

3) The Value of the Eagles: The Eagles are estimated to be valued at only 1.024 Billion Dollars, lingering way down at 5th on the NFL list. Really to remain viable it is necessary for the Eagles to sign an impact player like Vick to catch up with the rest of the NFL.

4) It's time to jettison players that the fans have grown tired of like Brian Dawkins and infuse the team with some new talent that hasn't been so involved in the community. I mean what kind of loyal fan is going to risk his dream job with the Eagles by mouthing off about how much the Eagles need to keep Mike Vick.

5) Isn't it time that the Eagles give the #7 to another QB. A whole generation of fans has grown up thinking that number belongs to a single player.

Those are all good reason and I think you will find some agreement when you consider things from a different veiwpoint. And as everyone knows the Eagles are the "Gold Standard".

2009 Phungo #27 Rob Davis

One more football post and then back to good old Baseball.

2009 Phungo #27 Rob Davis

I am sure most folks are wondering "who the heck is Rob Davis?". Rob Davis was the Long Snapper for the Green Bay Packers. I am now sure your wondering, why the heck is a Minnesota Vikings fan featuring a Green Bay Packer. Well Rob Davis is the first person from my Alma Mater, Shippensburg University, to play in the NFL. Davis played in the NFL for 12 seasons and was a member of the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XXXII squad. He retired following the 2007 season.

As far as the card, I took the photo prior to a Monday game versus the Eagles. The Eagles ended up winning the game by a 31-9 after a pretty tight first half. I listed Davis' position as 'LS' for long snapper. The card number of 27 has no significance, and I am pretty sure this is the only football card in the 2009 Phungo Set. I also believe there has never been a card published my one of the major card companies of Davis, other than possibly local team sets.

Sources and Links

2009 Phungo Cards Index

Hall of Fame Thursday - Chuck Bednarik

2008 UD Masterpieces #14 Chuck Bednarik

For Hall of Fame Thursday in recognition of the upcoming Superbowl we are having a football post today. Chuck Bednarik was drafted first overall in the NFL draft of 1949 by the Philadelphia Eagles with whom he spent his entire career. He was the last two way player in the NFL (center and Linebacker) and was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles last two Championship teams (1949 and 1960). He was known as a fierce tackler and is best known for the tackle of Frank Gifford on the above UD Masterpieces card. That is about as nice a card as you will see, and it is one of the reasons I will miss Masterpieces.

Bednarik was originally from the Allentown area near Philadelphia, attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and still resides in the nearby Lehigh Valley. There have been riffs between Bednarik and the Eagles, but Bednarik is still good about getting out to the community and autograph signings. He also does TTM signings.

Chuck Bednarik was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

2008 Score Football First Pack

#333 Matt Ryan

The Stats

1 retail pack 2008 Donruss Score Football Kmart $3.17
1 Franchise – Larry Johnson
2 Hot Rookie – Devin Thomas, Darren McFadden
1 Scorecard – Buster Davis #d Parallel (463/649) (injured in 2^nd season)
1 Decal Marshawn Lynch
2 Vikings – (EJ Henderson, Tavaris Jackson)
No Eagles

#HR-4 Darren McFadden

5 Rookies within the Base including Matt Ryan and PSU alum Dan Connor

#385 Dan Connor

Overall this pack didn't do much for me. I liked this pack better than the Jumbo I got from Topps simply because I got some Vikings. An injured and a benched Viking, but it’s better than no Vikings. There were two Penn State Alums in the Pack Connor and LJ. I picked this pack for the cover card of Matt Ryan, a local product that I wanted a card of and was happy to find. Between this pack and the Topps pack I haven’t gotten any Eagles.

#179 EJ Henderson

The pack was a bit light on star power. Football definitely isn't my thing card wise, unless the Vikings win a playoff game, I may be done with football cards for 2008.

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I would also like to remind everyone that it is Sunday and that means it is Spot the Sig! day. I expect to have a post up around 9:30pm eastern.

Hall of Fame Thursday - Thanksgiving Edition

1972 Topps #122 Pro Action Roger Staubach

This week we take a break from all of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame posts and honor Hall of Fame Quarterback Roger Staubach. In addition to all of the Turkey and harvest related traditions that surround Thanksgiving, a full and now fuller day of football has also become part of the tradition. Much to my dismay the player that we watched each Thanksgiving during my formative years was Roger Staubach. He was nicknamed "Roger the Dodger" for impressive scrambling ability. Staubach, because of his Navy commitment, did not become a starting QB until he was 29. Yet there was still time enough in his NFL career for him to lead the Cowboys to two Superbowl wins and toss 153 touchdown passes. Staubach was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.

As a Minnesota Vikings fans I have harbored much dislike for the Cowboys since 1975 when Staubach launched a TD pass to Drew Pearson that ended the Vikings season in the divisional playoffs. In researching this article I found out that according to wikipedia that TD pass is the first use of the phrase "Hail Mary" to describe a desperation throw at the end of a game. I found this hard to believe as I always assumed this usage of the term had been in the language since long before I was born.

I still carry a loathing for the Cowboys....one convenience of Terrell Owens joining the team is that I can root against both T.O. and the Cowboys at the same time, which I plan on doing this Thanksgiving day.

Go Seahawks!

2008 Topps Football Jumbo First Pack

Kick Off time for the 2008 NFL season. To mark the occasion I am opening up the first pack of the year. This is a Jumbo Pack of 2008 Topps.

Here are some of the Highlights - The First card of the year was the Chad Johnson. Overall the pack came with 29 base veterans 2 foil vets (one of which was a dup of a regular base). 10 base rookies and 6 inserts. The 3 inserts not pictured are Brett Favre TD 401 (v the Lions 2006-09-24), An Armed Forces Fan - Ryan M Lenser Green Bay and a Gold Card of DeAngelo Williams 814/2008.

Overall the pack was fair, I didn't get any Vikings or Eagles who are my favorite NFL teams. I like the Honor Roll - GinoMarchetti card. Any Baltimore Colts card is fine a bonus for me. Other Highlights among the base veterans were Kurt Warner, Bobby Engram (PSU), Justin Tuck, Troy Polamalu, Reggie Wayne - Leaders Rec Yds, Tony Romo. The Rookies included Rashard Mendenhall (RB-PIT), Lawrence Jackson (DE-SEA) and Kenny Phillips (S-NYG)

Plus - got 1 extra card - thanks topps.
Minus - 47 cards and No Vikings No Eagles yet I get a Stinkin Brett Favre TD Card
Grade - C
Cost - 10.60

Not a great first pack a couple of stars and some interesting inserts. Will probably pick up another pack or two until I get some Vikings.