1970 O-Pee-Chee Jerry Keeling #86 Calgary Stampeders CFL Football Card VG 3

Description

1970 O-Pee-Chee Jerry Keeling #86 Calgary Stampeders CFL Football Card VG 3 Every collection needs a workhorse copy of a key card, and this second example of the 1970 O-Pee-Chee Jerry Keeling #86 is exactly that, an affordable, honestly worn version of the most important Calgary card in the 176 card set, showing the Canadian quarterback great in his red number 10 jersey holding the football at the stadium. The story on the bilingual reverse is one of opportunity seized, explaining that Keeling took over after Peter Liske's departure and proved himself a more than capable defensive back in addition to his passing duties, the profile of a true two way Canadian athlete listed at six foot one and 190 pounds out of Tulsa. The green cartoon panel immortalizes the staggering pass Jerry lobbed for a 109 yard touchdown against Winnipeg in 1966, one of the longest scoring plays in Canadian football history, and the wider arc of his career makes this card especially meaningful, because within a year of this issue Keeling had quarterbacked Calgary to the 1971 Grey Cup championship, cementing a legacy that places him among the most celebrated Canadian born passers the league has ever known. Set builders assembling the 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL issue face a hard truth about the Keeling key card, namely that clean examples have grown expensive as vintage CFL collecting has surged, so a mid grade copy with full visual appeal and complete originality often represents the smartest possible purchase, delivering the identical design, photography and bilingual back as the premium copies at a fraction of the cost. The back is the classic Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, black bordered with English and French text side by side, a green cartoon panel at the base and the PRINTED IN CANADA imprint, and it is a bilingual text back, not a puzzle back. this copy shows a light crease near the lower left corner that reveals itself on close inspection under angled light, gently rounded corners with the most whitening at the top, a couple of tiny nicks along the edges, centering of approximately 60/40, rich surviving red color and gloss across the portrait, and a black bilingual back with matching corner wear while the English and French text and green cartoon panel stay completely legible. Graded conservatively at VG 3 because any crease on a fifty year old card caps the technical grade regardless of presentation, this 1970 O-Pee-Chee Jerry Keeling #86 is the sensible budget gateway to the key card of the Calgary series. Grade Estimate: VG 3