1972 O-Pee-Chee Trev Ekdahl #41 BC Lions Offensive Guard

Description

1972 O-Pee-Chee Trev Ekdahl #41 BC Lions Offensive Guard Anchor your vintage interior line with the 1972 O-Pee-Chee Trev Ekdahl #41 BC Lions Offensive Guard, a tough and distinctly Canadian portrait that celebrates a homegrown prairie product who worked his way from Weyburn, Saskatchewan through Calgary high school football to the American college ranks and back to the CFL. Numbered 41 in the comprehensive 132-card 1972 O-Pee-Chee CFL set, the last true O-Pee-Chee Canadian football issue produced in London, Ontario and never duplicated by Topps, this card occupies an important place in the BC Lions team run that also features Sugarman, Golinsky, Eley, and Evenson in this same nine-card sheet, giving you the core of the Lions offense in one purchase. The front design is vintage O-Pee-Chee perfection with its bright blue LIONS header, TREV EKDAHL OG designation in bold black, and a forward-facing portrait of Ekdahl in the Lions orange jersey number 66 with thick white and black sleeve stripes, his classic seventies mustache and close-cropped hair framing a no-nonsense lineman’s stare that collectors love for its period authenticity. The back expands the narrative with the bilingual biography that is the hallmark of this set, noting From Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Trev played football in high school Calgary before going to Utah State with the French Originaire de Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Trev joua au football à l’école secondaire à Calgary avant d’aller à l’U. d’État d’Utah, listing him at six foot two and 235 pounds as a non-import Canadian from Utah State via Coach decision, a detail that underscores the CFL’s unique national and import ratio that made Canadian linemen like Ekdahl so valued. Historically Ekdahl protected quarterbacks and cleared lanes during a transitional Lions era that leaned heavily on the run, and O-Pee-Chee’s decision to feature offensive guards with the same photographic dignity as star running backs speaks to the set’s comprehensive, team-first philosophy that modern products rarely replicate. For collectors the card offers prairie pride, Utah State Aggies crossover potential, and the graphic satisfaction of the orange 66 jersey that displays brilliantly in any O-Pee-Chee blue-border lineup, while the bilingual back with green Garde offensif panel and small cartoon lineman adds that unmistakable Canadian charm. The 1972 O-Pee-Chee Trev Ekdahl #41 BC Lions Offensive Guard remains an affordable yet essential piece for completing the Lions set and for celebrating the Canadian content that made the CFL and O-Pee-Chee inseparable. This is a Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back and is not a puzzle back, displaying green French text, blue English text, card number 41 in a circle, and PRINTED IN CANADA on the familiar tan cardboard stock. Through the sleeve the card appears crease-free and wrinkle-free with intact surface gloss, corners are lightly softened with a hint of whitening at the top left and bottom right, blue borders are relatively clean showing only minor speck chipping and the characteristic rough-cut OPC edge along the bottom, print registration is sharp with minor factory dots, and centering is approximately 55/45 side to side and 60/40 top to bottom on the front with the back biography centered well. A conservative grade estimate of EX 5 properly acknowledges the small corner touches and border micro-wear while rewarding the clean, bold portrait and solid centering, positioning the 1972 O-Pee-Chee Trev Ekdahl #41 BC Lions Offensive Guard as a strong collector-grade example that presents above its assigned grade. Grade Estimate: EX 5