1971 O-Pee-Chee Bill Frank #19 2nd Year Card Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Description

1971 O-Pee-Chee Bill Frank #19 2nd Year Card Winnipeg Blue Bombers Great nicknames are half the fun of vintage Canadian football, and Bill Frank's nickname, Frankenstein, tells you everything you need to know about how he played the offensive tackle position. This 1971 O-Pee-Chee Bill Frank #19 2nd Year Card Winnipeg Blue Bombers issue, his second O-Pee-Chee card after his 1970 debut, belongs to a journeyman Colorado import who took the long way to the prairies, playing for the Toronto Argonauts, the BC Lions, and the Denver Broncos before landing in Winnipeg, a career path the card back maps out with genuine admiration. The back designates him a Team Leader and one of the most consistent players on the club, serious praise from a league that measured linemen by who showed up and dominated every single week. At 6 foot 2 and 270 pounds, Frank was a sizable presence in an era when interior linemen were still built more like stevedores than athletes, and his durability in the trenches made him a fixture of the Bomber offence through the early seventies. The card itself is a fine example of the 1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL design, red border, white block letter name, framed colour photograph, football graphic, and the heavy blue and white team lettering, and Frank's portrait shows the steely eyed stoicism of a man who spent his Sunday afternoons in the pile. The series, 132 cards strong, remains one of the most collected Canadian football issues ever produced. examined through the protective sleeve, the corners are generally strong with only a slight soft touch at the top-right, but the right border carries a distinct tan and brown blemish at midpoint that appears to be a surface stain or printing flaw, along with a few small specks near the top edge of the photo frame, while the remaining edges are clean and the centering is about 55/45 left to right with the photo sitting slightly toward the right. No creases or wrinkles are present, and the photo surface itself is clean and well registered. The back is the Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, with English and French text on the tan cardboard, and it is not a puzzle back, since the reverse uses the cartoon and biography layout with the © O-PEE-CHEE and PRINTED IN CANADA line. A conservative raw grade in the EX range fits the overall presentation, and this Frankenstein card is a fun, affordable piece of CFL lore for the collector who likes his linemen with personality. Grade Estimate: EX 5