Yesterday I added 1980 Kansas City Chiefs Police football cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. It’s a small set, containing just ten cards, and only eight of them are player cards. The remaining two cards are generic Offensive Team and Defensive Team cards, on which the players are not identified.
Gary Spani was one of the lucky eight players to get a card in the set. Spani played linebacker for nine years with the Chiefs, and he was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 2003. He was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame the year prior. Strangely, though he was a standout player both in college and the pros, he never appeared on a regular issue (i.e., Topps) football card.
Most interesting about Spani’s card, though, is the player in the background, number 71, Dave Lindstrom. Notice that Lindstrom’s name is misspelled “Lindstrum” on his jersey. I’ve seen plenty of cards with misspelled names, but this is the first I can think of that pictures a misspelling on a uniform.
Lindstrom played defensive end for eight years with the Chiefs, but he never appeared on a card of his own–not even in a minor set, as far as I can tell. After retiring from football, he became a successful businessman and community leader in Kansas City. He even ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020.
You can see the rest of the 1980 Chiefs Police set in the Gallery.
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