1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL Wayne Giardino #39 Bilingual Back Ottawa Rough Riders EX 5

Description

1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL Wayne Giardino #39 Bilingual Back Ottawa Rough Riders EX 5 Few cards capture the swagger of Canadian football's greatest dynasty quite like this one, a lone linebacker jogging across an empty Lansdowne Park pitch in the black and red of a team that had just won back to back Grey Cups. This 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL Wayne Giardino #39 Bilingual Back Ottawa Rough Riders EX 5 single comes from the 115 card set that O-Pee-Chee produced in Canada using the same photographic layout Topps used for its second series 1969 NFL issue, the key difference being that the CFL cards place each player against real stadium and field backgrounds instead of flat studio colour. Giardino is a genuinely underrated name in Ottawa history. Born in Peterborough and raised in Florida, he arrived from Florida State in 1967 and immediately won the Gruen Trophy as the top rookie in the Eastern Conference, then settled in as a starting linebacker and dependable backup fullback for nine seasons. He collected three Grey Cup rings in 1968, 1969 and 1973, intercepted six passes and returned three of them for touchdowns, added three more touchdowns on fumble recoveries including a 146 yard return in 1972 that still ranks among the longest in league history, and was inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame in 2014. He lived in Almonte, Ontario for more than fifty years, which is exactly what the cartoon panel on the reverse celebrates. Speaking of that reverse, this is a true Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, printed in English and French on a black background with white type, a green cartoon panel and the Printed in Canada line at the lower left. It is not a puzzle back, and the vital statistics list him as a non-import at five foot eleven and 195 pounds out of Florida State. the photo surface is clean and free of creases or wrinkles with only faint handling scuffs and a few tiny white print specks in the stadium seating, the cream borders show light even toning, the top right and bottom left corners carry soft fuzz rather than true rounding while the other two remain reasonably square, edge chipping is minimal with a couple of shallow nicks along the right border, and centering runs roughly 55/45 left to right with an even top to bottom presentation, while the black reverse holds solid colour with light white flecking at the edges and no writing or stains. The conservative grade estimate of EX 5 reflects that soft corner pair and the light border wear, since black backed vintage shows every flaw and graders punish it accordingly, but the card presents strongly for the grade. Grade Estimate: EX 5