Happy 75th birthday to Randy “Rabbit” Vataha! Vataha was a wide receiver for six seasons with the New England Patriots and one with the Green Bay Packers. He was the Patriots’ leading receiver in 1971 (his rookie year), 1974, and 1975.
This is Vataha’s rookie card, a 1972 Topps. His jersey in the image is strangely airbrushed; it looks like he’s wearing a sweatshirt instead of a football jersey. My guess is that Topps didn’t yet have a color photo of Vataha, so they airbrushed and colored a black-and-white image of him–perhaps one from his Stanford days. I also suspect that the image on the card is backward, because on his other cards, his hair is parted is on the left. I did a search for the original photo, but couldn’t find it. Maybe a reader can dig it up?
You can see all of Randy Vataha’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
