#22 - DICK ENDERLE, G, Giants

This is Dick Enderle, airbrushed into a stylish neon blue to indicate that Topps did not take a picture of him during the 1972 season. He was a Falcon, as the back text describes, from 1969 to 1971. He was dealt to the Giants in 1972 for a late draft pick and placed on the taxi squad before the 1973 season, activated before the games started up.


During that season, he got into at least one scrape in practice with a teammate, LB Pat Hughes, and the team as a whole suffered through a terrible 2-11-1 season. They won the first game in 1973 over the Oilers, and Enderle would play a controversial part in the second game of the year against the hapless Eagles. Pete Gogolak launched a field goal as time expired to salvage a 23-all tie, but Eagles coach McCormack said game film showed Enderle moving before the snap. The refs didn't see it, and some press said the Eagles were "robbed" of an "upset" victory. Philly would actually finish with three more wins than the Giants, the Giants would go 1-11 the rest of the season.

Enderle was waived by New York in November of 1975, and his career gets sketchy after that. He was in the Saints training camp in 1976 but was cut, picked up by the 49ers a couple days after that. Cut in September after a few games, he was signed by the Packers in October and finished his career there. A Milwaukee newspaper article at the time mentioned that Enderle had played for the Broncos, but I could not find any confirmation of that at all.

The 1973 Topps series can be looked at the same way one would look at expansion teams in major sports. Many athletes would play just the one expansion year, and not before or since. Enderle's only football card was this 1973, and there will be many more one-and-dones at we continue this set. Topps made some interesting choices on who to include, and I've managed to cull a few 1973 pics of players who did NOT make the cut that I'll display sometime.

Enderle would pass away at age 60 in 2008.

ERROR ALERT! The otherwise useless stat on the back of this card has Enderle falling on a kickoff just once in his career. Pro Football Reference says he returned another kick in 1971 for 20 yards against the Vikings. Not bad for an offensive lineman.

CARTOON! Smilin' Big Football Guy clobbers running Big Football Guy with a billy club, causing a star to erupt from the player's helmet. If smilin' guy can get to that star, he will be invincible for a short period of time.

#21 - HOWARD TWILLEY, WR, Dolphins

Here is Howard Twilley, College Football Hall-of-Famer and member of the undefeated Dolphins 1972 squad. Twilley was an original Dolphin in 1966, and remained with the team through 1976.

Twilley was also a bit of a forgotten man on a team that ran about 99% of the time (exaggeration) and that had Paul Warfield getting all the plaudits. Topps forgot about him frequently as well. After getting a card in the 1968 (with his helmet on) and 1969 sets, Topps decided not to put him back in the series until the greatly expanded 1973 set, here.

And in looking up his cards to get some background for the set, I found that they had RECYCLED the shot from his 1969 card in the process!

(Thanks to the superstar, All-Pro Vintage Football Card Gallery site )

This is a bit tough to swallow, given that there was FOUR YEARS between cards, and that Twilley had been in two Super Bowls since 1969.

Twilley would miss out on the 1974 set after an injury-filled 1973, but bounce back to return to cards for the rest of his career. Twilley never once led the Dolphins in receiving, as the likes of Karl Noonan, Paul Warfield and Nat Moore usually took that role, but he was a steady possession man and filled a solid role as the team progressed from expansion tackling dummy to All-Time Greatness.

Twilley SHOULD be remembered for his college days at Tulsa, where he was the first athlete to make 100 catches in a single season...in 1965. The next year, he snagged 134 in 10 games.

Let that sink in a bit.....13.4 catches PER GAME. Still the NCAA record. If you were looking for someone solid who knew how to catch a football, certainly you would have chosen Howard Twilley. The Dolphins did, and he was part of the foundation that carried them to two Super Bowl wins.

CARTOON! Big Smilin' Football Guy has a leather helmet on, so we are going to the wayback machine for the trivia question. And we KNOW we are going way back when we look for a good Bears quarterback!!!

#20 - JIM JOHNSON, CB, 49ers

One of the more decorated DBs ever to play the game, Jim Johnson. Hall-of-Famer and quite possibly someone you never heard of.

Johnson was a great football player for the 49ers from 1961-1976. Starting out in the defensive backfield, the Niners moved him to offense in 1962. Johnson responded with 34 catches for an 18.4 yard average, and had a great 11-catch, 181 yard day against Detroit and a 90-yard TD catch against the Bears. San Francisco was 6-8 that year, with some young players on the rise, but injuries to QB John Brodie and HB-QB Bill Kilmer brought in vagabond journeyman QB Lamar McHan in, and they sunk to 2 wins in 1963. Johnson was used occasionally on offense, but had gone to safety for the most part.


While the team didn't improve much the next season, they did get above .500 in 1965 with the addition of a better running game with Ken Willard and John David Crow, and another go-to receiver in Dave Parks. Johnson had settled into the cornerback position by then. The defense had some very solid parts, with Johnson, Kermit Alexander and Elbert Kimbrough in the backfield, HoFer Dave Wilcox and Matt Hazelstine at linebacker, and Charlie Krueger on the line.

The Niners hung around .500 the next few seasons, with a drop to 4-8-2 in 1969. They surged to first place with 10 wins in 1970, as Johnson, Krueger and Rosey Taylor were the veterans of a younger defensive crew that had added Tommy Hart, Frank Nunley, Bruce Taylor, Mel Phillips and Skip Vanderbundt over the last couple of seasons. The offense had a solid offensive line, reliable Willard in the backfield, and Gene Washington the new "it" at WR. They edged the Vikings in the playoffs but lost to the Cowboys for the conference championship. Johnson was All-Pro the second year in a row.

For 1971, they added RB Vic Washington and TE Ted Kwalick became a big part of the offense. They won the NFC West again, and advanced past the Redskins before getting snuffed out by Dallas again. And again, an All-Pro year for Johnson.

Next year, 1972, Johnson made first team All-Pro for the fourth straight year. The 49ers won the division again, and were eliminated by the Cowboys again, this time in the first round. But many of the Niners vital key players were getting up there in years, and they couldn't hold on to their success.

In 1973, Johnson was 35, Krueger was 36, John Brodie 38. The team limped home to a 5-9 record, and Johnson did not make All-Pro or the Pro Bowl. He did return to the Pro Bowl in 1974, and the team registered some fine defensive games. Two shutouts in a row late, and two straight single-digit allowances. Unfortunately, the offense was mediocre at best...they lost one of those games 7-0 ad won one 7-6. 6-8 was the won-loss mark. Johnson stuck around a couple more seasons, but the Niners didn't hit postseason either one.

Johnson was the Niner's first round draft pick in 1961, and one of their all-time best selections. He was thought of as one of the best one-on-one defenders ever, and was certainly good enough to have been an effective offensive player as well.

His first football card is a short print from the 1962 Post Cereal series, and he was on a few Philadelphia cards while Topps was AFL-only. His first Topps card was in 1968. This card is the only game-action shot Topps used for his cards and it is a good one, apparently taken against the Giants on October 15, 1972 in a game the Niners lost.

A columnist once wrote that Johnson was the best defensive back never to play in a Super Bowl. Johnson has the Cowboys to thank for that.

Check out Jim Johnson's website HERE!!!!

CARTOON! Big Football Guy fumbles as crazy Al Davis ropes him as an Oakland Raiders draft pick!!! Roman Gabriel foils Crazy Al by going with the Rams......yeah, see how THAT turned out. RIP Al Davis, the football world ain't NEARLY as zany now.

#19 - DIRON TALBERT, DT, Washington

Diron Talbert is about to kick your butt and drink your beer. Though the card isn't in the greatest shape, it boasts one of the best pictures of one of the best defensive linemen of the seventies.

Like the back of the card says, Talbert was one of several brothers to play football. I only knew of Diron; there was a great feature on ESPN Classic...perhaps by Heywood Hale Broun...that interviewed both Diron and his older brother Don during a Rams-Saints game. Diron was on the Rams defensive line, and Don was on the Saints OL. This had to have been filmed in either 1969 or 1970. Diron was on the Rams from 1967 to 1970, then Washington until 1980. Don started with the Cowboys, then hopped to Atlanta from 1966 to 1968, the Saints for two years, then Dallas again in 1971.

Talbert was traded from the Rams to Washington as part of former Rams coach George Allen's anti-youth movement.  In a massive deal, the Rams sent Talbert, linebackers Myron Pottios, Maxie Baughan and Jack Pardee, guard John Wilbur, RB Jeff Jordan and a 1971 fifth-round draft pick for LB Marlin McKeever, Washington's first and third round draft picks for 1971, and Washington's third THRU seventh round draft picks for 1972. Whew.

All of the newcomers but Talbert would be a part of Allen's geriatric bunch that made it to the Super Bowl after the 1972 season to be beaten by the Dolphins.

Diron Talbert would go on to the Pro Bowl in 1974, and be a second-team UPI All-Pro in 1973. Amazingly this is his rookie card, though he had been around for about six years. He would miss the 1974 set, before becoming a Topps regular in the ensuing seasons.

By the way, the Rams' first three picks of the 1971 draft were Jack Youngblood, Isiah Robertson and Dave Elmendorf, mainstays for years. In 1972 their best pick was a fellow named Lawrence McCutcheon in the THIRD round.

Washington picked Cotton Speyrer in the second round of the 1971 draft, but he never played for them. 11th-round pick George Starke was a lifetime Washington player, getting in aver 150 games until 1984. They had no pick until the 8th round in 1972, where they took RB Moses Denson, who went to the CFL for a year before putting in two seasons for Washington. The only other player from that draft to make it into the NFL was WR Frank Grant in the 13th round, and it took him a couple of years to get past Charley Taylor and Roy Jefferson for playing time...

George Allen went 67-30-1 during his time in Washington, winning records every season. However, he only won two playoff games EVER, and those were in 1972.

CARTOON! Big Football Guy has the ball, a big grin on his face, and a giant "G" on his chest as he runs full-speed to the Big Leagues! For more information about the Grambling question, please refer to the Bob Atkins entry!

#18 - BOB ATKINS, S, Oilers

Here is Bob Atkins, making his debut on a Topps card despite having been in the league since 1968. He would get one more card, in 1975. He had a perfectly respectable career in the pros, starting with the Cardinals as a second-round pick and going to the Oilers with QB Charlie Johnson for DB Miller Farr and QB Pete Beathard. He was injured for awhile in 1973, and was done in the NFL in 1976.


Atkins came from Grambling. Looking it up on Pro-Football-Reference , I see about 110 other NFL pros from that storied college. Some great ones, too.

Just from Grambling alone you could have a starting defensive line of Buck Buchanan, Ernie Ladd, Willie Davis and Gary Johnson. Try running through that line. And your defensive backfield could have Willie Brown, Everson Walls, Rosey Taylor and Albert Lewis. A few Pro Bowls there.

Tank Younger was the first Grambling player to make the NFL, in 1949. The next one wouldn't be until Younger's last year in 1958 (Willie Davis), then the floodgates opened, thanks a lot to the AFL creating more opportunities for players like Willie Brown, Buchanan and Ladd. Do yourself a favor and look up some of the articles on how the AFL helped integrate football.

Back to Atkins and the Oilers. Despite having some pretty good players on their defense like Atkins, George Webster, Elvin Bethea and Ken Houston they managed to win just ONE game. They allowed the second-most points in the league and scored the second-fewest. That ain't a blueprint for success.

With their #1 pick in the draft and first overall, they took John Matuszak, who didn't come around for the Oilers and was in a Chiefs uniform the next season. With their second first-round pick they chose RB George Amundson, who averaged less than three yards a carry in his three-year career. They lost their first five games in 1973, brought in Sid Gillman, and went 1-8 the rest of the way.

Cartoon! Big Football Guy is confused by spinny ball thing! In case you can't read the off center scan, it says Garo Yepremian was born in Cyprus. Spinny ball thing bad!

#17 - WALKER GILLETTE, WR, Cardinals

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Walker Gillette. Gillette was a solid receiver for the Cardinals and Giants, but had the unfortunate start of his NFL career on the Chargers. He was drafted in the first round by San Diego to a team that had both Lance Alworth and Gary Garrison. Not a whole lot of playing time there.

Alworth went to Dallas the next season, but Gillette still did not get a lot of playing time. The Gray Ghost Garrison was still there, plus rookie Billy Parks had passed him on the depth chart and Jerry LeVias had been added from Houston. Still no playing time.


The Chargers dealt Gillette and another former first round pick Leon Burns to the Cardinals for RB Cid Edwards and WR Dave Williams...check Edwards' entry in an earlier blog for details of his career. In St. Louis Gillette found himself teamed with Ahmad Rashad and Jackie Smith at receiver on what should have been a pretty good offensive team.  It wasn't, with an unsettled QB situation, and the Cards finished 4-9-1.


Mel Gray came back from losing almost the year before to injury for the 1973 season, and, again, Gillette found himself an extra wheel on the bus. He was 6th on the team in receptions behind Gray, Rashad, Smith, and RBs Johnny Roland and Donny Anderson. Gillette was waived before the 1974 season.

Picked up by the Giants, Gillette helped a terrible team improve from 2-11-1 in 1973 to 2-12 in 1974. Wait, that's not an improvement. Anyway, Gillette could have been Gale Sayers wrapped in Jerry Rice and the 1974 Giants weren't going to win much. Gillette improved to 29 passes caught, third best on the team behind RB Joe Dawkins and solid TE Bob Tucker.

1975 would be Gillette's career year, as he led the Giants with 43 catches for 600 yards. The Giants still weren't very good. The next year would be the final one in the NFL for Gillette, as the Giants would demote him after some drops in favor of free agent Jim Robinson. Gillette was waived in early 1977. One Canadian newspaper had the Saskatchewan Rough Riders talking about bringing him in after that, but I could not see where he played for them or anyone else after 1976.

Talk about a tough career path.

 This 1973 Card was Gillette's rookie card, and the picture was used, airbrushed very badly into Giants colors, on his last Topps card in 1976. Topps couldn't find the time to get ANY pictures of Gillette on the Giants as his 1975 card was also airbrushed.

Walker Gillette was a Sporting News All-American from Richmond for 1969. On that same team were Phil Olsen (card 14) and Al Cowlings (card 16). Three members of that team in three cards!

CARTOON: Two Big Football Guys, one wide, one skinny. One appears to have lost his down, but his teammate has volunteered to help find it for him! TEAMWORK!

#16 - AL COWLINGS, DE, Bills

What must it be like to live in the shadow of a great player who went so wrong?

Al Cowlings was a very good college player, an All-American, followed O.J. Simpson from his neighborhood to USC and then the Bills. He wasn't a bad NFL player, never an All-Pro, but not bad. After this card came out, his first with Topps, he was dealt to the Oilers for a draft pick. He would have his second and last card as an Oiler in 1974. But that wouldn't be the end of his career.

Cowlings, then a linebacker, was dealt to the Colts in July of 1975 according to one newspaper article here. I could not find anything else to back that up, I do know that he signed with the Rams in Nov. of 1975. That article said he was cut by the Oilers in the spring...oh well...mysteries...

Some newspaper pundits called him "gimpy-legged" so one could assume his knees were failing. He was picked up by the Rams because they had lost a couple players to injury, and would be cut in Sept. of 1976.

Just in time for the fledgling Seahawks to snap him up! He lasted one game. waived by Sept. 30. (The same day the Seahawks signed Cowlings, they traded Ahmad Rashad to the Vikings for draft picks. Not a great day for Seahawk history.)

Cowlings ended up back on the Rams for 1977, and was cut again before the 1978 season. The only article I could find mentioning Cowlings and the Rams was one mentioning his part as O.J. Simpson's stand-in in the movie "Capricorn One."


When O.J. Simpson decided to give a second year a go with his home town 49ers in 1979, Al Cowlings was back in the league after a year away, and with his old friend. Well, kind of. He spent the first few weeks of the season on injured reserve after knee surgery. Coming back, he got into a fight with teammate Ron Singleton, which then-49er Tony Dungy talked about in this article. That's about all I could find about Cowlings on the Niners, and he and Simpson retired together. 

And now all Cowlings is remembered for is the drive he took with Simpson that everyone watched.

Cartoon! No Big Football Guy, but the kick is good! And the record for Lou Groza still stands!