1965 Eagles

Here are the 1965 Eagles' cards, the 2nd of 4 seasons where the NFL cards were made by the Philadelphia Gum Company. 

This is the 2nd year of the 5-year reign of incompetence by head coach/GM Joe Kuharich. (Some of the moves prior to his first season were to unload Sonny Jurgensen and Tommy McDonald (to division rivals Washington and Dallas, respectively) for lesser players, essentially exchanging quality for quantity. 

The Eagles finished with a 5-9 record in 1965, good for a 5th place tie with the Cardinals (out of 7 teams). 

The Birds had two first-team All-Pro players on the squad - tight end Pete Retzlaff and tackle Bob Brown.

 

Clarence Peaks played 1964 and 1965 with the Steelers, but is still shown in his Eagles' jersey.

The fire sale continued after the season, with Kuharich trading Maxie Baughan and Irv Cross, both Pro-Bowlers in 1965 and both in their mid-20s, to the Rams. In return, they got a big bag of beans: 

for Baughan: 

DT Frank Molden - missed '66 and '67 seasons, then a backup for 1 season 

LB Fred Brown - missed '66 season, then a backup for 3 seasons 

RB Harry Wilson (draft pick) - played in 6 games over 4 seasons 

 

for Cross: 

CB Aaron Martin - played 2 seasons, 1 as a starting CB 

FL Willie Brown - played 1 season (7 games, no starts) 

Meanwhile, Baughan, who was named to 5 Pro Bowls as an Eagle, played in 4 more as a Ram, and Cross was a 3-year starter for the Rams.

Floyd Peters - DT

Floyd Peters played 6 seasons for the Eagles (1964-69), and was their starting left defensive tackle for 5 1/2 seasons (missing much of 1968 due to injury).

Peters was drafted by the Colts in 1958, but spent that season on their taxi squad. He began his career with the Browns, playing in Cleveland from 1959-62 and starting at right defensive tackle for the last 3 seasons.

He then played 1 year as the Lions' left DT, before coming to the Eagles in April 1964 (with running back Ollie Matson) for tackle J.D. Smith.

Floyd started 14, 9, 14, and 12 games over the next 4 seasons before missing all but 5 games in 1968. He returned to start all 14 games in 1969, his last as an Eagle. He made 3 Pro Bowls while with the Eagles ('64, '66, '67).

Peters was waived in the Spring of 1970, but hooked on with the Redskins as a player/coach for 1970. He played in 10 games (9 starts) in his final season.

Peters was a defensive coordinator for 6 teams from 1974-1994.

He passed away in 2008 at age 82.

Here are Peters' 1967 and 1968 cards. He also had a card in the 1965 set.


Where's Waldo Floyd?

Peters looks older than the head coach sitting next to him!

1968 Eagles

1968 is a low point in Eagles' history. (Well, one of them anyway.) After going 9-5 in 1966 and 6-7-1 in 1967, the Birds plummeted to 2-12 in 1968. The team lost their first ELEVEN games, then foolishly won 2 of the final 3 games, thereby blowing their shot at the #1 draft pick (O.J. Simpson).

After that fiasco, not only did the team get a new head coach and new GM, but a new owner as well (Leonard Tose).

The Eagles ended up with the 3rd overall pick, and those knuckleheads chose Purdue running back Leroy Keyes, who was less than adequate in his 4-year Eagles' career. Not only was he no O.J. Simpson, he wasn't even a Tom Woodeshick!

By the way, after the Eagles picked Keyes at #3, THE STEELERS PICKED JOE GREENE AT #4, then the Bengals picked QB Greg Cook at #5.

 ---

Here are the Eagles cards for 1968. After a 4-year hiatus, in 1968 the NFL cards were once again issued by Topps. (From 1964-67, NFL cards were produced by Philadelphia Gum Company, while the AFL cards were produced by Topps.)  Now Topps issued a combined NFL/AFL set beginning in 1968.

The downside for collectors is that while there were 12 cards per NFL team in 1967, now there were only 8 (and AFL teams only had 7 cards each).

The 1968 cards were split into 2 series. In Series 1, the NFL players appeared in the uniform of whatever team they were playing for in 1963, the last year Topps had taken NFL player photos.

Topps used new photos for most of the 2nd series cards:

.

1967 Eagles

1967 is when I started collecting football cards (although I didn't start watching the games until 1970).

After finishing in 2nd place in the 8-team East Division with a 9-5 record in 1966, the Eagles slid back to 6-7-1 in 1967, still in 2nd place, but in a 4-team Capitol Division (NFL realigned to 4 divisions).

There weren't too many highlights in '67. Their 2 biggest wins came against the expansion Saints (48-21) and 2nd-year Falcons (38-7), but the Eagles got roughed up pretty good by the Cardinals (48-14), Giants (44-7), and Colts (38-6).

2nd-year split end Ben Hawkins caught 59 passes for 1265 yards, but their leading rusher (Tom Woodeshick) only had 391 yards. Pete Retzlaff retired before the season, and Timmy Brown missed half the season with injuries.  The Eagles acquired 2 good receivers before the season - Mike Ditka (for 3rd-string QB Jack Concannon) and Gary Ballman (for FB Earl Gros).


Here are all the 1967 Eagles' cards. From 1964-67, Philadelphia Gum (not Topps) made the NFL cards. (Each team had 10 player cards, plus a team card and logo card.) I accumulated all these cards in 1967 except Timmy Brown, Earl Gros, and Gary Ballman.

.

The D-Line

Here are the Eagles' defensive lineman (mostly starters) who had football cards in the Topps or Philly Gum sets of the time.

Don Hultz played for the Eagles from 1964 to 1973. The starting left defensive end from '65-'67, he was replaced by #1 draft choice Tim Rossovich in 1968, but regained a starting spot (at LDT) when Rosso was moved to MLB midway through the 1970 season.

Floyd Peters was the starting LDT from 1964-69, except for missing 2/3 of 1968. He made 3 Pro Bowls during his time in Philly.

John Meyers was acquired from the Cowboys after the 1963 season, and started at right tackle from 1964-1967.

Rookie Gary Pettigrew replaced the veteran Bobby Richards at right end to start the 1966 season. After 2 years there, Pettigrew moved inside to RT, starting most of 1968-71 there. After a season on the bench, Gary was the starting left tackle in 1973, and was traded to the Giants after 4 games in 1974.

Mel Tom joined the Eagles as a linebacker in 1967 and was soon converted to a defensive end. He started all but 1 game at right end from 1968 to 1972. After 4 starts in 1973 he was dealt to the Bears.

Tim Rossovich was the Birds' top pick in 1968, and when he wasn't eating glass or setting his hair on fire, he played left end for 2-plus seasons. After 5 games in 1970, he was moved to MLB, replacing the veteran Dave Lloyd.

Ernie Calloway started 8 games at left tackle as a rookie in 1969. After 5 games there in '70, he moved to left end (replacing Rossovich) with Hultz returning to the starting lineup at tackle. In '71 he was a swingman – sharing left end with rookie Richard Harris and right tackle with Pettigrew. He started 5 games in 1972, and that was the end of his career. (I have a recollection that he was traded to the Chiefs, but the record doesn’t show any playing time there.)

Like they did 3 years earlier, the Eagles took a defensive end with their #1 pick in 1971. Richard Harris started 10 games at left end as a rookie and 13 more in his sophomore season. With Pettigrew and Calloway both gone by 1973, Harris started 10 games at right tackle, then played his remaining 4 seasons with the Bears and Seahawks.

Will Wynn was a 7th-round pick in 1973 and started 8 games at right end (replacing the departed Mel Tom). After 27 starts at left end from '74-'75, Wynn started every game on the right side in 1976. After the season, coach Dick Vermeil decided Wynn wasn't "his kind of player" and sent him packing.


Other short-term starters:

Randy Beisler (normally a guard) started 8 games at left D tackle in 1968, his 3rd and last season with the Eagles.

After 11 years with the Patriots, Houston Antwine finished his career with 1 season in Philly (1972), starting 9 games at right tackle as the Birds patched their D-line.

Long-time Jet Gerry Philbin shared the left end job with fellow import Dennis Wirgowski. It was Philbin's final season after 9 with the Jets.

After 3 seasons with the Patriots, Dennis Wirgowski finished his career with 8 starts for the Eagles in '73.

With Pettigrew and Harris leaving after 1973, there were no defensive lineman remaining from prior to 1973.  

Joe Jones started 13 games at right end in his 1st season with the Eagles, and 5 more in 1975.

Defensive tackle Bill Dunstan started 7 games in ’73, 7 games in ’74, and 14 games in ’75.

Ex-Bill Jerry Patton started all 14 games at RDT in 1974, his only season in Philly.

Other Eagles’ draft picks Mitch Sutton (7) and Willie Cullars (1) made a few starts in 1974.

Rich Glover played 1 season (1975) with the Eagles, starting all 14 games at left tackle.

Blenda Gay started 8 games at right end in ’75, and ’13 games at left end in 1976. He was shot and killed in a domestic dispute just after the ’76 season.


The ’74 to ’75 Eagles was the era of ”The $400 Defensive Line” (what with waiver pickups costing $100).

Dick Vermeil began a major housecleaning along the D-line, bringing in Manny Sistrunk and Carl Hairston in 1976, and in 1977 switching to a 3-4, with rookie nose tackle Charlie Johnson joining the team.

.

                             (Rossovich also started 25 games at MLB from 1971 to 1972.)


1969 Defensive linemen:

Ends: 82 - Tim Rossovich, 58 - Mel Tom, 83 - Don Hultz
Tackles: 72 - Floyd Peters, 88 - Gary Pettigrew, 57 - Ernie Calloway, 62 - Mike Dirks