Happy 70th birthday to Sammy White! White played wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings from 1976 to 1985. He was named the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1976, and he was chosen for the Pro Bowl in 1976 and 1977. White played on the 1976 Vikings team that went to Super Bowl XI–but lost to the Oakland Raiders, 32-14. That was the Vikings’ last trip to the Super Bowl.
Today’s card of the day is White’s 1977 Holsum Bread football card. It is one of 22 cards in the set: 11 Vikings and 11 Green Bay Packers. This regional set was printed for Holsum by Topps; curiously, the word “Holsum” does not appear anywhere on the cards. A Topps copyright line appears on the backs, though.
Topps, inexplicably, misspelled White’s first name “Sammie” on the card, as it did on all of his cards from 1977 to 1980. Including two Holsum cards and a Vikings Team Leaders card, the misspelling appeared on seven cards total. Beckett picked up the error and ran with it, too. Topps finally got it right in 1981, halfway through White’s ten-year career.
I really like this set. I got the Fred Cox from it not too long ago.