Last week I added 1950 Detroit Lions Matchbooks to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. There are just two matchbooks in the set: Leon Hart, which is today’s “card” of the day, and Doak Walker. The matchbooks were sponsored by Ray Whyte Chevrolet. According to UPI, Ray Whyte was one of the original seven directors of the Lions.
Hart and Walker both won the Heisman Trophy, Hart in 1949 and Walker in 1948. (See the Gallery’s page of Heisman Trophy candidates.) Both were rookies in 1950, though Walker was drafted in 1949.
On the inside of the matchbook covers is a 1950 Lions home schedule. The Lions finished 6-6 in 1950, but from 1952 to 1957 they played in four NFL Championship games, winning three of them. All four title games were against the Cleveland Browns.
I am slowly adding Matchbooks to the Gallery. You can see my progress here.
Very cool, haven’t seen these before. Looks like a Universal manumark. They did a lot of innovative things with matchbooks.
Team oriented matchbooks are something that are completely new to me.