1970 O-Pee-Chee Ron Forwick #54 Edmonton Eskimos CFL Football Card EX 5

Description

1970 O-Pee-Chee Ron Forwick #54 Edmonton Eskimos CFL Football Card EX 5 Few cards capture the soul of early seventies Edmonton football like the 1970 O-Pee-Chee Ron Forwick #54, which shows the hometown defensive end crouched in a three point stance on the sunbaked Clarke Stadium turf, floodlight towers and the old CKXL Roosters Club billboard rising behind the grandstand. The photograph is a genuine time capsule of Canadian football culture, framed by the classic white border with the bold black FORWICK lettering, the small red Ron above it, and the Edmonton Eskimos caption running along the base. Forwick was pure Edmonton, a graduate of the city's storied Edmonton Huskies junior program who stepped into the Western Conference lineup and quickly became one of the most respected Canadian pass rushers in the league. The bilingual cartoon panel on the reverse celebrates his rookie of the year award in 1965, proof of how fast the six foot four, 245 pound defender established himself against imported American competition, and the biography line backs it up by calling him a hustler every time on the field and one of the league's best pass rushers, high praise in an era of smashmouth football against Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Calgary. The reverse is the classic Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, printed in black with English and French text presented side by side and a green cartoon panel at the foot, carrying the PRINTED IN CANADA imprint, and it is a bilingual text back, not a puzzle back. Collectors chasing the 176 card 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL issue know how difficult clean Edmonton cards have become, because this thin Toronto gum company product was handled hard by Canadian kids decades before vintage football cards became serious collectibles, and strong examples of the set's distinctive black bordered design now command real respect in the hobby. This copy works beautifully as a type card for the 1970 O-Pee-Chee look, as an Edmonton Eskimos team page builder, or as the cornerstone of a Ron Forwick player run. the front shows crisp bottom corners with only light touching at the top corners, most noticeably a whisper of whitening at the top right, the edges are clean with just a hint of roughness along the top border, centering sits at approximately 55/45, the color photo remains bright and glossy with no creases or wrinkles, and the black bilingual back shows matching light corner wear with the English and French biographies and the green cartoon panel fully legible. Graded conservatively at EX 5 because the honest corner touches and slight top edge roughness fall just short of near mint standards, this is an eye appealing, accurately described 1970 O-Pee-Chee Ron Forwick #54 for any vintage CFL collection. Grade Estimate: EX 5