#1 Pete Rozelle

Card number 1 in the set is of former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.



What I think I remember about him:

He was the commissioner when I first started following the NFL. 

His work in television contracts for the NFL included the start of Monday Night Football, and built the NFL in to the hype machine that provides each franchise with large sums of money equally each year. 

He had his battles with Al Davis over his franchise move to Los Angeles and a proposed John Elway trade, and with Jim McMahon over headbands.


What I've found that interests me about him:

Pete was a nickname from his uncle. His real name was Alvin Ray Rozelle.

Between stints of working with the Los Angeles Rams before becoming commissioner, he worked for a public relations job that did marketing for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

After the 1956 Olympics, he returned to the Rams as their General Manager, and was voted to be the NFL Commissioner after three years as the GM.


The card front:

Since this is the first card of the set, I'll share my opinion of the look of the card here as well as my opinion of the photo.

I like the blue border and the name in white letters in the red box on the card. It is clean to read and the red box balances the red Swell logo in the top left corner.

Although my gut feeling is that the Pro Football Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary logo seems a bit big, I think it needs to be that size to be able to make out what it is. We'll see throughout the set if it obstructs any important parts of the photos.

The image of Pete Rozelle seems to be a standard portrait style publicity photo. It is a nice smiling photo.


The card back:

I like that the back is clean and readable, with an easy to read card number. The only tough part to read is the copyright information in its smaller dark blue on light blue, but that isn't something I want to grab my eye when I look at the back.

I'm using scans from The Trading Card Database for this blog, and the black ink on the back of the card seems to be darker on the card in hand. 


Pete Rozelle's profile at the Hall of Fame's website includes his enshrinement speech, as well of that if his presenter, Tex Schramm.

Pete Rozelle died of brain cancer at the age of 70, on December 6, 1996.

Comments

  1. FujiJuly 26, 2022 at 6:33 AM

    I really like cards produced by Swell. I think it has to do with their use of simple colors. The thing I like most about this card's design is the back. I like everything from the title, card number, and the black text within the white box... surrounded by the blue border. I just wish there were a little more basic bio stuff like date of birth.

    As for Rozelle, his name will always be the first I think of when I think of NFL commissioners. Like you stated...he was the commissioner when I first started following football.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JonJuly 28, 2022 at 5:35 AM

    It's interesting that both the NFL and NBA have had "problems" with headbands at some point.

    ReplyDelete

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