1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL Tom Schuette #40 Bilingual Back Ottawa Rough Riders VG-EX 4

Description

1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL Tom Schuette #40 Bilingual Back Ottawa Rough Riders VG-EX 4 Offensive linemen rarely get the glamour shot, but the photographer gave Tom Schuette a memorable one, crouched in a three point stance with his number 56 jersey filling the frame and his eyes locked straight down the barrel of the lens. The 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL Tom Schuette #40 Bilingual Back Ottawa Rough Riders VG-EX 4 listed here is the first widely catalogued card of a man who became one of the most durable Rough Riders of all time. Schuette came out of East St. Louis, Illinois and earned first team All Big Ten honours at Indiana University in 1966 before signing in Ottawa in 1967, where he stayed for eleven seasons through 1977. Very few players in league history can claim four Grey Cup championships with a single club, yet Schuette won in 1968, 1969, 1973 and 1976, anchoring the interior line in front of Russ Jackson during the dynasty years and then again for the Tom Clements era teams. He passed away in August of 2024, which has quietly increased collector interest in his small card run. The 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL set that houses this card contains 115 cards, mirrors the second series 1969 Topps NFL design, and is one of the few vintage issues that placed CFL players in front of authentic Canadian stadium backdrops. The reverse of this card is a Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, with the biography set in both English and French, white text on black stock, the green cartoon panel joking that Tom teaches school in the off season, and the Printed in Canada line. It is not a puzzle back, and the data panel lists him as an import at six foot one and 245 pounds out of Indiana University. the front is free of creases and wrinkles but carries a network of fine surface scratches across the dark jersey and stadium background that are visible under angled light, there is a small red print dot near the upper border, the corners are reasonably square with light fuzz at the bottom right, edge chipping is light along the right border with one shallow nick, and centering sits close to 55/45 with the image slightly favouring the left, while the black reverse shows whitening and small chips along all four edges plus a rougher patch at the lower left corner, with no creasing and no writing. The conservative grade estimate of VG-EX 4 is set by the accumulated surface scratching and the perimeter chipping on the reverse rather than by any structural damage, so buyers get a crease free, presentable copy of a four time Grey Cup champion at a very reasonable entry point. Grade Estimate: VG-EX 4