The Hokie Pages

[87hokie]

Thanks Toshi.

What's in a name??

Yes the Hokie Bird's predecessor was actually a Turkey in a cage kept on the sidelines during the game...

The GOBBLER was the mascot presumably due to the table manners of the athletes at meal time...the term Hokie came from a non-sense cheer shouted obsessively by fans during those early years - They became known as Hokies by the opposing fans...what was intended as a snub became an honor...

the cheer is called Old Hokie...

Hokie Hokie Hokie Hi

Tech Tech V-P-I

Solarex Solarah

Poly-Tech Virginia

Ray Rah VPI

Team Team Team

The university has its roots as a Methodist Academy that operated as the Preston and Olin Institute from 1851-1872 It fell on financial hardship and was reorganized and the University was founded by the Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act of 1872...
and the name was changed to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College

in 1896 they added to the name and it was called - Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute Shortened to Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI)

in 1970 it was renamed Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

It has been called Virginia Tech pretty much ever since - most of this info is from Wikipedia but I have it somewhere else as well - Wikipedia is just convenient right now...

There was a brief period in the 80's where it was often referred to as Virginia Tech University - trying to make sure the public knew it wasn't a technical school but an actual university - everybody knew and that cumbersome moniker died a quick death...

Sorry to ramble on but it is a kinda cool school bio - they get a lot of grief for being an Agricultural school and there was even a t-shirt when I was there proclaiming it as

the Eastern Institute for Enlightenment and Intellectual Outgrowth or E.I.E.I.O

[legionofboom]

Keep it coming! This is what collecting is all about!

[87hokie]

Oddball Mall -

This and probably the next couple of posts will look at the ubiquitous (one of those 25 cent words for being everywhere) odd ball card. I think the definition is very subjective and varies from collector to collector. Certainly food issues, team issues and magazine inserts can be called "oddball" even when issued by the big card manufacturers. Basically they are a cool diversion from the mainstream card. To a degree since they or are a limited release product the Black Friday and National Convention cards by Panini would fit the definition of oddball.

I tend to ramble so on with the cards - While I would love to load up every card that I have the show off I don't want to go on and on about different sets or issues so I will try to hit some of the key parts of my collection while staying true to the orange and maroon (the official colors of Va Tech).

First up from the obscure depths is a game card from 1971



The cards pretty much showed stats for the players in order to conduct the game...



There were no player pictures but hey who needs a picture...

Here is another from Avalon Hill games... They came perforated in a sheet and had to be separated to play the game...they followed the gameplay of some of the battle games of the time (Panzer Leader, Squad Leader etc) I am sure they are still around but tended (IMHO) to be too complicated to play...

This one I don't have a clue about...I think the game itself was issued by some off the wall company...this one and the Avalon Hills cards are blank on the back.



I think this one is cool just because it is printed in Spanish.



This Fleer card was issued for the National in Cleveland. This is from a perforated sheet that was inserted in the local daily paper.



This promo for Panini Stickers showed up on Ebay...when it had Kam Chancellor on it - it was a have to have.



Though "technically" not a card (it's an 8x10) this 1967 Williams Portrait of Carroll Dale is just well done and very cool.



Stay tuned there will be more later this week.







This card came in a perforated sheet

[87hokie]

Why do the photos rotate themselves like that??? They are straight in Photobucket --- then they develop a mind of their own....ah well.

[hayn]

Why do the photos rotate themselves like that??? They are straight in Photobucket --- then they develop a mind of their own....ah well.

Yes, I've seen problems like this from other collectors. Please go on and on, I love the historical values as well as getting educated on the subject of "Hoakies". I just recognized a card you have of Eugene Chung, he ended up as a New England Patriot. I try to follow careers of Asian players, in this case Korean, just out of curiosity. Asians aren't built for the NFL, although I've noticed signifacant changes in just the past decade or so. Thanks for sharing!

Toshi

[87hokie]

Oddball Mall part 2

As I mentioned before I figured this train of thought would be several posts - I will start off with another Daily News promo sheet featuring David Wilson.





A cool retro from Topps - The Turkey Red Blankets -





Blankets and Silks were often used in cigar and tobacco boxes to serve as packing to protect the product. This was late 1800-early 1900's. Today's consumer packaging trends toward foils and plastics. The cool thing is that many of these silks and blankets were very colorful and showed a variety of topics. Country flags, animals etc. Search Ebay tobacco blankets for some examples. Often these silks and blankets would be incorporated into quilts or other sewn items.

My mom has a quilt that was made by her grandmother that has several of these silks incorporated into it.

1997 Pacific Silks: Where the Turkey Red Blankets were box toppers (I think) these were folded and inserted into packs - they unfold to about 4x6 inches.



Another category of purchase premiums is the food issued card. These may come with purchase at a fast food chain or through the submission of proofs of purchase...

McDonalds game pieces were issued in 4 different colors for each player depicted. I had to chase down 12 (4 each of 3 players)







King B discs - still can't find out what King B is but they issued disc for football and baseball for several years;







Breyers Ice Cream put out a series of Book Marks - here's one of Hokie Mike Johnson

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r606/87hokie/HOKIES%20-%20PC%20-%20NFT/Hokie%20Football%20Alumni/20150226_205414_zpseiee9vzy.jpg

From Kahn's Meats - the company is still around although part of the Consolidated Foods co. They distribute Ball Park and Hillshire products to name two



Another Mickey D's issue - the Mailer Magnet - I think this may have been a Buffalo regional issue - the "card" is a magnet that can be peeled out of the recess in the postcard...neat!



Here's an A1 Masters of the Grill card - no stats - the reverse of the card has a recipe...



One of the things about putting together this thread is it lets me go back through parts of my collection and remember the chase for certain cards and that accidental discovery in a flea market of card show bin!

The big limit on how many I can post at a time seems to be photobucket - or my computer - but the longer I jump back and forth to the bucket for picks the slower and more glitchy the process - so I have to log out and long back in later...

I will pick up with more oddball cards later...thanks for dropping by.

[hayn]

Wow, I think the "Turkey Red" is such an iconic card from a legendary set, have you ever seen the original "Turkey Red"? They are fantastic, great "Showcase" and keep 'em coming, I'm a big fan!

Toshi

[87hokie]

Oddball Mall continues 3rd installment

It's a good day to look through collections here - it is cold icy rainy - yuck.
So I will pick up with more food issues and see where it goes next!

First I know I have them but can't lay hands on them now so will post a picture sometime later - maybe as an "attic find" - I am talking about the Fleer Gameday McDonalds sheets. These used the same photo as the regular Gameday cards but came in perforated sheets of 6 cards - Now that I have addressed that nagging problem (I would forget something else unless I addressed it now) I can focus on what I am doing...

Some food issues were also 2nd glance cards - this one features the Jets :



It's not until you realize they are playing the Bills that you might notice number 78



Another oddball card was from the 1988 Monty Gum UK set- Issued in the UK it wasn't widely available. I found this one showing Victor Jones (Number 57) listed in an ad in Sports Collectors Digest almost 20 years ago now...The seller had listed the players shown in the card since they are not identified on the card - I did double check the info and it is correct -

These are small cards about the size of some of the modern mini inserts -



Okay where to go now but backwards - Actually I only covered part of the game cards. I guess the beauty of this type of thread is that I can skip around and unlike a thesis or corporate presentation I don't have to start over to keep things in a "Correct order"...

Anyway here are a few game cards from my collection. Some are from board games and some are sweepstakes type cards - kinda became like Pokémon in that I had to "catch theme all"

Bruce Smith showed up in this set from the 1989 NFL Franchise Game



Then there was the MacGregor NFL Action All Pro Board game that came out in 1988



This one has Bruce on it



1989 Parker Bros Talking Football



From Board games to CCG - Collectible Card Games -

NFL Showdown from Wizards of the Coast -

Shyrone Stith



The game required a card reader where the cards were swiped through - Apparently there was an issue with the foil finish and/or the glossiness of some cards - the "fix" was a black and white version



Bruce Smith from this year is the only Hokie in the Replacement issue

Anyway the reviews I found on the game said that the Card Reader sucked from the outset.



Donruss Red Zone was just a card game - No reader needed



From Game cards to Playing Cards?





These were just playing card backs with caricatures on the front...I think they were issued in team decks - not player decks - I don't even think Panini has that number of parallels in one set.





I will pick up with more next time.

[87hokie]

3rd oddball card installment

I usually wait a couple of days until I get back to another post. I wanted to go ahead and tie up some loose trains of thought...

First more game cards:

A few more Donruss Red Zone:







From a 1990 British Petroleum promotional game



I am not sure if this variant was intentional or a quirk of how the cards were printed but there were two different backs to this card -

Of course variant means parallel right?



I realize that am not the only one that chased down these cards from the Topps Football fever game...



But I might have been in a smaller minority that treated the differently dated cards as variants or parallels!

Of course there was the Fleer Million Dollar Moments game!!



Moving onto the pogs craze ... based on milk caps - the cardboard ones on glass milk bottles. Pogs at least was played by placing the pogs face down then hitting them with a slammer - trying to flip them face up...while I never played the game and wasn't around for the original milk caps - I did grab the Bruce Smith pog from Classic:



Their version was called Tonx



This next game piece may have been a corporate effort to make the paper football game collectible and retail...Flick Ball



Like Tonx I never played this version but did snag Bruce!



Okay I think I will wrap up this post with a couple of oddball issues from Chris Martin Enterprises:

The first is their dog tags issue from 1993 - Pro Tags





Bruce was in this set as well

While called dog tags they were card sized



They also issued card sized magnets called Pro Mags for a couple of years



Then they did their Pro Stamps peel off stickers - -



Until next time!

[87hokie]

Oddball cards - installment 5

So there's probably a joke hiding somewhere in the fact that I did 2 installments that I called the 3rd installment...

don't want to rush this but at the same time I am anxious to share my collection.

The local team sets in minor league baseball are fairly common, and for the most part easy to chase down if you are a fan of a given team. I know this is a football thread and I have wandered into "foul territory" so to speak ...but it stands to reason that on occasion there have been, and still are sets issued for local football teams.

Here are several Police set cards from my collection -

Tom Beasley - As far as I can find out - this is his ONLY card.









Robert Brown appeared in three sets issued annually by the Packers.





George Roberts - Dolphins punter



Cool action shot of QB Don Strock





Here’s Bruce Smith–



The Packers have issued lots of police sets through the years.

There were several consecutive years that featured Antonio Freeman





But why you may ask would someone collect 9 different cards of the same player?





the answer is that there are various versions of the card sets listing different sponsors on the back...once again variants aka parallels!!

The 1997 Packers - Freeman



1998



Packers 2K



I think this postcard was inserted in a Sports Illustrated for Kids Magazine - but I can't reliably recall...anyway it's pretty cool!



This is a good place to transition to magazine issues - cards that are included in magazines - often in perforated sheets.

Again SI for Kids is the most common now -



Bruce Smith



DeAngelo Hall



Okay 'bucket is lagging and getting glitch so that tells me it's a good place to wrap up until the next time!

[hayn]

I've seen several establishments selling the now well known Green Bay Packers Police Sets. What I liked about the Police sets is that they are very affordable.

My memory is not what it's used to be, so at times in the wee hours of the morning when I can't sleep, I'll re-read items of interest that I recognized. I re-read your thread once more and I was amazed and touched by how your grandmother incorporated the cloth protectors/fillers from the turn of the century into a quilt that you now own. I loved how you bring historical data with an item from your family that's very personal and now extends to you from over a hundred years ago. This is what the hobby is all about, the human experience. Thank you so much for that story and sharing something like that here on CCW. That's why this is the number one site for me!

Thanks for sharing,
Toshi

[Gforce083]

Nice variety of Hokies and products!

[87hokie]

More OddBall cards

Gary and Toshi Thanks for stopping by!

Here are some more magazine issues since I started that train of thought with SI for Kids.



As the card back says this is from a card price guide - not Beckett - I also recall seeing this magazine on the rack at a bookstore then and - the cards weren't perforated! The cards on the bound in sheet had to be cut - the card stock was impressively thick - unlike most that are perforated and have a thinner stock.

Here's the front



This one is more "typical" in that it is thinner stock and perforated. I think it's called Rookie Review...I have never seen it (the magazine) the card was acquired in a trade.

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r606/87hokie/HOKIES%20-%20PC%20-%20NFT/Hokie%20Football%20Alumni/20150226_212311_zpskjlavuho.jpg

Marcus Vick was given several chances by Coach Beamer to straighten up but ultimately got kicked from the team...but the Dolphins did give him a shot!!

One more - A two fer!!



I interrupt this thread of oddball cards for a special diversion!!



I have to go off on a couple of recent adds to the PC -

First as some of you know Schwood hosted a contest over on The Letter Game thread - my posts on that thread have been 100% Hokie cards...surprisingly I won the contest - Here are the highlights from the "prize pack" from Schwood:

Antone Exum 2014 Chrome Auto



Ryan Williams Freshman Fabric



Thanks Woody!

Next a couple of righteous Ebay finds!!

First this SICK 2014 Immaculate card:





Next this very unique Eddie Royal from Certified

http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r606/87hokie/HOKIES%20-%20PC%20-%20NFT/Hokie%20Football%20Alumni/Eddie%20Royal/20150312_005834_zpst1inmdqk.jpg

Then there's this awesome Thomas auto from Inception



And finally these from a recent trade with Rookie member Adam Reiniche, reinichea,







THANKS for the trade Adam!! AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY!!
Adam is Active Duty USAF and if I decode the address correctly is stationed in Europe!

Again Thank You for your service!

I will post more oddball cards next time!

Later

[hayn]

I like the "Longevity" card, you hardly see them around. Last time I checked, Longevity was a "Target" Exclusive product.

Toshi

[87hokie]

In the true sense of the Panini Game they have 2 versions of Longevity!!

One is the regular parallel within the Rookies and Stars product (which could be a retail or even Target exclusive....

They also have a full blown Parallel series issued in blaster boxes through Target with the LONGEVITY embossing on the front!

Too Crazy to keep track of