This piece is about sports cards again and if you are a reader and that bothers you, I am sorry, but it is part of my history and DNA. But this is about my early childhood as well.
I had a friend, Gordon, who my friendship with at Somers elementary school went all the way back to kindergarten. This takes place in the third grade and it’s a very quaint story.
Gordon seemed to be getting sarcastically picked on by some other classmates of ours, a couple of them even friends. The reason being, instead of sports cards, they (myself included) collected Star Wars cards, and like smoking, this was cool.
Gordon liked football, and hence collected football cards.
Well, Gordon was a true friend, and I was gonna defend my friend to the end, so I lied to the others and told them that I was backing away from Star Wars cards to join Gordon in the football card parade. I remember this being my direct quote as the reason:
“Because football gives you a lot of exercise.”
As something I said in that moment should have been, it was stupid. This elicited gales of laughter from the Star Wars crew of course, but Gordon was glad I had his back and for some reason he gave me a stack of Topps football cards. I believe the bulk of which were from 1978.
These were the first football cards I ever owned, and I believe they were Gordon’s doubles so that's why he was able to give them away so freely. I appreciated the effort, as a matter of fact I took them home and really enjoyed them. Now, 1978 is not the most exciting year of a football card design, but it was different than what I was dabbling in at the time.
This happened in the dead of winter because I remember laying underneath the Christmas tree with the glow of the lights, an episode of PBS’ Siskel and Ebert’s “Sneak Previews” rolling in the background. I was looking at a 1978 card of Vikings Wide Receiver Sammie White and thinking that the colors and the design were interesting, (maybe not as cool as Star Wars, and 1978 is not Topps Football’s best) but again, different from Star Wars. I kinda dug the little cartoons and factoids that joined the statistics on the back as well. I have re-enacted that magic moment below, you can even see some "Sneak Previews" regalia in the background.
Why this is a memory that sticks with me to this very day I don’t really know. It’s kind of like another memory I have of holding a 1978 Steve Garvey, (also a Topps card) while sitting on the my bedroom floor, looking at it as the sun was starting to peek through the window.
I once told a version of someone else’s joke that when you’re growing up in the suburbs in America in the 70s, you are issued a copy of Frampton Comes Alive, Boston’s first album on 8 track, a paperback copy of Jaws, a Mr. Microphone, a Pet Rock, and the 1978 Topps Steve Garvey.
Anyways here’s to Gordon for being my real first introduction to the topps sports card. Although I never did back away from the Star Wars cards. I’d never let Gordon know that, and kept that collection to myself until I stupidly parted with it sometime in the early 80s. And To a friend who I have long lost touch with. I was a Fool! Those cards are cooler now than they were then, a true valuable. Like, big time.
However, to cover my childish idiocy, I now have a really cool hardcover picture book that actually covers the entire series of Topps‘ 1977 Star Wars cards. That does just fine for me now; the memories the photos elicit are still there, still rich, and still sparked by the book.
my nostalgia is kind of eternal, And visually triggered.
And I’m Still holdin’ on to ol’ Sammie White too.
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