Happy 70th birthday to Rik Bonness! Bonness played linebacker for four seasons in the NFL: one with the Oakland Raiders and three with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was a member of the 1976 Raiders team that beat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI.
Today’s card of the day is Bonness’s 1974 Nebraska Playing Card. There are 54 cards in the 1974 Nebraska Deck: 52 players, coach Tom Osborne, and Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. Bonness is one of at least fourteen players in the deck who went on to play in the NFL. Unfortunately, the people who designed the cards spelled his first name “Rick,” which is an error.
Bonness also appeared on a 1973 Nebraska Playing Card, and, much later, on a couple of Nebraska Cornhuskers tribute cards. As far as I know, he never appeared on a card as a pro.
You can see the full deck of 1974 University of Nebraska Playing Cards in the Gallery.