Today’s card of the day is a 1959 Wheaties CFL card of Ken Carpenter. Carpenter played running back and wide receiver for eleven years as a pro: 1950 to 1953 with the Cleveland Browns, 1954 to 1959 with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, and 1960 for the AFL’s Denver Broncos. He played in the NFL Championship Game in all four of his seasons with the Browns, with the Browns winning one of them, in 1950. His best season was 1956, when he gained 1515 yards from scrimmage for Saskatchewan.
Carpenter was the Roughriders’ head coach in 1960, but the team went just 2-12-2. He then went to Denver and played the last few games of the season for the Broncos. In 1962, he resumed his coaching career. Over the next ten seasons he coached for nine different teams in the CFL, NFL, and semi-pro leagues.
Carpenter is one of at least nine players in the 1959 Wheaties CFL set who also appeared on NFL or AFL cards. You can see the full set of Wheaties cards and all of Ken Carpenter’s cards in the Gallery.
