1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL Gary Wood #85 New York Giants QB Ottawa Rough Riders

Description

1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL Gary Wood #85 New York Giants QB Ottawa Rough Riders Here is the crossover card of Ottawa's 1971 team run: the 1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL Gary Wood #85 New York Giants QB Ottawa Rough Riders single, featuring a quarterback whose résumé spans both the NFL and CFL. Drawn from the celebrated 132-card, red-bordered 1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL set — printed only in Canada and best known for Joe Theismann's first professional card — this issue gives collectors on both sides of the border a reason to chase it, because Wood is one of the few players in the set with a substantial NFL pedigree. Gary Wood arrived in Ottawa as a bona fide name. A 5'11", 190-pound signal-caller out of Cornell University, he spent five seasons with the New York Giants in the NFL and one with the New Orleans Saints, as the card back documents, famously backing up and occasionally replacing the legendary Y. A. Tittle in New York. The O-Pee-Chee cartoon playfully declares that "Gary is the shortest quarterback in the C. F. L.," while the biography praises his accurate throwing and effective running — traits NFL coaches consistently vouched for. Wood joined the Rough Riders in 1970 after Russ Jackson's retirement, competing with Rick Cassata (also in this set at #89) to fill the largest shoes in Canadian football. The reverse is a true Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back with English and French text and the "©O-Pee-Chee / Printed in Canada" credit — a biography back, not a puzzle back. The front presents very well, with a bright, close-cropped portrait in the black number 10 jersey, punchy red borders, and clean gloss. Centering is approximately 60/40 left-to-right, with a small dark print dot visible in the red border near the upper right — a factory printing artifact rather than damage. The corners show light whitening at all four tips with the bottom-left slightly softer, and there is minor edge chipping along the bottom border. The back has even tan toning, crisp bilingual print, and no marks or writing. No creases or wrinkles are found in either scan. Factoring the centering shift and print dot, we set a deliberately conservative estimate. NFL Giants collectors, Cornell alumni, and CFL set-builders all compete for this card, making the 1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL Gary Wood #85 New York Giants QB Ottawa Rough Riders one of the strongest sellers in the Ottawa run. Grade Estimate: EX 5