A Chicle a day through the end of May

[jefferyepayne]

Me neither! It wasn't until I learned about his injury that I went back and looked at the picture and it struck me as a bit odd how different his hand were positioned. Maybe nothing but an interesting theory.

jeff

[jefferyepayne]

Card #12 in the Chicle set is Tom Hupke. Tom played for the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Rams during his NFL career. He was on the Lions team that won the 1935 NFL Championship. More info on his playing career is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hupke

Tom was a 2x All-American guard at Alabama but was critically injured in a car crash that claimed the life of one of his passengers, while he and others were heading home from school for Christmas in Dec '32. For a while they thought he might lose his left arm due to crash injuries but he recovered. He subsequently had surgery on his arm to correct nerve damage but it is unclear how much this impacted the rest of his playing career. I noticed in his picture that he has one hand open and one closed. Not sure if this is just a pose or if he had on-going arm issues that impacted his ability to use one of his arms.

Tom died young at 48 in 1959 after an extended illness.

[jefferyepayne]

Card #13 in the Chicle set is Homer Griffith. Homer's card is the first error card in the Chicle set as his name is spelled "Griffiths" on the front. There are more of these to come later.

Homer was a three year letterman and All-American at USC, leading them to two consecutive Rose Bowl victories. He was selected as the Player of the Game in the 1933 Rose Bowl in which USC beat Pitt 35-0. Griffith threw for a TD and ran for a TD as USC completed an undefeated season.

Homer Griffith only played one year in the NFL for the Chicago Cardinals. He completed 29% of his passes and averaged 1.2 yards per rush during his only season.

Griffith was inducted into the USC Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

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Homer Griffith being tackled against Oregon State.

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jeff

[vintagetopps]

Ouch. Keep your head up! A thigh to the head is going to cause some serious pain.

[jefferyepayne]

Card #14 in the Chicle set is Phil Sarboe. Phil's card is the second error card in the Chicle set as his name is spelled "Sorboe" on the front and back.

Phil was born in Alaska and played college ball at Washington State. He played five years in the NFL for the Boston Redskins, Chicago Cardinals, and Brooklyn Dodgers. As a quarterback, his numbers weren't very good. He threw for four TD's and twenty six interceptions during his short career.

After playing in the NFL, Phil became a successful high school and college coach. He was head coach at Washington State for five years with his most successful team going 6-2-1. During a 15 year stint as head coach at Humboldt State, his teams won six conference championships, went 104-37-4 overall, and made it to the NAIA championship game in 1960.

Sarboe was inducted into the Washington State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1980.

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Here's Sarboe as a head coach at Washington State (3rd row, far right)

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jeff

[jefferyepayne]

Card #15 in the Chicle set is Ben Ciccone. Ben played college ball at Duquesne in Pittsburgh, PA, having grown up in New Castle, PA which is located near Pittsburgh. Not a lot is known about his college years except that he was a member of the Alpha Phi Delta fraternity (apd.org) and was the football team's star center.

Ben played center and some linebacker in the NFL for three years. In 1934 and 1935 he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who changed their name to the Steelers in 1940. In 1937 he played semi-pro ball for the Cincinnati Bengals. After retiring, he came back and played two games for the Chicago Cardinals in 1942. Ben may hold the NFL record for worse rushing average in a career as he had one rushing attempt in the NFL for -5 yards.

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jeff

[vintagetopps]

checkout them jerseys.

[jefferyepayne]

And what's with the logo on the front of the jersey? I can't figure out what it's supposed to be.

jeff