SOLD 1971 O-Pee-Chee Peter Dalla Riva #106 Hall of Fame Montreal Alouettes

Description

1971 O-Pee-Chee Peter Dalla Riva #106 Hall of Fame Montreal Alouettes The 1971 O-Pee-Chee Peter Dalla Riva #106 Montreal Alouettes card belongs to one of the great rags to riches stories in Canadian football. Born in Treviso, Italy, Dalla Riva moved to Hamilton as a boy, left school after grade seven, and was working in a steel mill when he was discovered playing amateur ball, a discovery that launched a fourteen year Alouettes career that would end in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. By the time this card was printed he was starting his fourth season and was already accepted as a tight end star, having blossomed into a fine receiver the previous year with forty catches for 692 yards, all while playing through the aftermath of a knee operation noted right on the card back. Dalla Riva would go on to become a three time CFL All Star in 1972, 1973, and 1975, and a three time Grey Cup champion in 1970, 1974, and 1977, catching the touchdown that sealed the 1977 title from none other than Sonny Wade, his teammate in this very set. He retired in 1981 with 450 receptions for 6,413 yards and 55 touchdowns, his number 74 was retired by the Alouettes, and he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1993 before being named to TSN's Honour Roll of the league's top fifty modern era players. His touchdown catch from Sonny Wade in the 1977 Grey Cup, the same quarterback he shares this sheet with, remains one of the defining plays in Alouettes history and ties these two cards together beautifully for the team collector. The 1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL set captured all nine teams in one 132 card, red bordered release printed only in Canada. the surfaces are clean and free of creases, wrinkles, and surface marks at scan resolution, the red border remains vivid and evenly applied, and the corners and edges show no chipping visible in the scan, with centering that appears well within the normal tolerances for this frequently off centre issue. The reverse is the classic Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back with the biography printed in both English and French and the PRINTED IN CANADA line at the base, and this is not the puzzle back variation. For Hall of Fame collectors, Alouettes fans, and 1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL set builders alike, this 1971 O-Pee-Chee Peter Dalla Riva #106 card is a clean, well preserved original from the earliest days of a legendary career. Grade Estimate: EX 5