1971 O-Pee-Chee Lefty Hendrickson #38 CFL BC Lions

Description

1971 O-Pee-Chee Lefty Hendrickson #38 CFL BC Lions This 1971 O-Pee-Chee Lefty Hendrickson #38 BC Lions card is a sharp piece of West Coast football history from an era when the two way end was still a staple of the Canadian game. Hendrickson earned a scholarship to the University of Oregon, a fact the card back highlights with the headline Went to Oregon on Scholarship, and he was an Honorable Mention selection in the tough Pacific Eight Conference during his college days, a credential that carries real weight given the calibre of that league. He joined the Lions in the late 1960s, four seasons before this card was issued, and by the time this 1971 release hit the shelves he was a dependable veteran target and a useful special teams contributor, the kind of player who filled out a roster but was beloved by the Empire Stadium faithful for doing the unglamorous work. The 1971 O-Pee-Chee CFL set organized all nine teams by section, and Hendrickson's card falls in the BC Lions run alongside future legends of the franchise, making it a natural pickup for anyone building the complete team set or the full 132 card checklist. Cards from this issue were printed in Canada and sold almost exclusively in the Canadian market, which is why clean examples are tougher to source today than their American counterparts, and why collectors value them as true north of the border relics. In the 1971 season Hendrickson hauled in fourteen receptions for 154 yards and a touchdown while also contributing on kickoff returns, the kind of versatile production that made the old school end position such a valued roster spot. The BC Lions section of the checklist is one of the most actively collected runs in the set, and linemen and ends from that section are far scarcer in clean condition than the skill position stars. the surfaces are clean and free of creases, wrinkles, and surface marks at scan resolution, the red border remains vivid and evenly applied, and the corners and edges show no chipping visible in the scan, with centering that appears well within the normal tolerances for this frequently off centre issue. The reverse is the classic Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back with the biography printed in both English and French and the PRINTED IN CANADA line at the base, and this is not the puzzle back variation. For the team collector or the set builder, this 1971 O-Pee-Chee Lefty Hendrickson #38 card is a clean, well kept original ready for its next home. Grade Estimate: EX 5