Completed Set: 1982 Topps Football

 

 

My earliest memory of opening any kind of collectible pack is from 1983, when my dad brought home a copy of that year's Topps Baseball sticker album and some packs of stickers. Despite that, I do somehow have even earlier memories of the football card design you see above, which is from the previous year, 1982. I don't think I ever opened packs of those cards, but the classic banner and football helmet design is just etched into the deepest parts of my collecting mind. I may have only had a handful of those cards, and I'm not sure where they came from, but I know I had a few.

 

The football helmet design reminds me of something else from that time, too: The rows of coin-operated vending machines you'd often find near the exit of supermarkets or department stores. Because it seems like one of those machines always looked like this:

 

 

Mini football helmets! If you were a '70s or '80s kid, do you remember the excitement that came when you put the quarter in that slot, twisted the dial, heard those mechanical sounds that opened the chute, and then lifted the metal flap underneath to reveal which helmet you received?

 

 

 

That little plastic container with a random mini helmet inside was your reward for walking through the big store with mom or dad and helping them run their errands. And man, there was nothing like it. You even got to clip on the face mask and adhere the logos and stripes on the helmet yourself.

 

The finished product was a thing of beauty.

 

 

 

 

So re-enter 1982 Topps Football and that classic helmet art. You'd also see some classic uniforms. And classic dudes. Gritty, hard-nosed dudes. Just have a look at these three:

 

 

 

What a time to be a little kid watching football.

 

Ultimately, I'll put it this way: 1982 Topps is the first football set I've ever put in a binder. They're the first football cards of any kind—full sets, team sets, or singles—I've put in a binder. It's that nostalgic for me.

 

So let's jump into more.

 

For those of you who love orderliness and organization, you'll love this set. First off, it's arranged by team. Secondly, the teams are arranged in alphabetical order, by city. And on top of that, the players on each team are arranged in alphabetical order, by last name. Clean as a whistle.

 

However, despite all that solid orderliness throughout the set, 1982 Topps is also a set of polar opposites. To explain:

 

Just as with many football sets of the era, it features lots of headshots and photos of guys standing around on the sidelines. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Like, all 10 Baltimore Colts cards that start off the set. Here are just a few of them.

 

It's so pervasive that you won't see a base card that shows genuine game action until card #35, Fred Smerlas of the Buffalo Bills. 

 

 

 

Great photo. It just takes a long time to reach it. And the game-action photos after that follow a similar trend: few and far between.

 

However, before you get too down, here's the polar opposite part of it: The In Action subset. 

 

Behold these gems.

 

 

 

If you asked a kid in the 1980s to describe the game of football in one play, in one action, it might very well be a running back leaping over the pile at the goal line, like you see in the bottom center card. They might have even mentioned Walter Payton, specifically.

 

And those are just a few of many great-looking examples. The In Action subset is a whopping 66 cards deep, and if you were to put them consecutively in nine-pocket pages, you'd see definitively that Topps was capable of taking amazing photos back then. 

 

So maybe we give the company a little leeway when it comes to all the boring cards in the set.

 

But it's still disappointing that Topps seemed to reserve almost all the action photos for the In Action subset. Flip through the binder and you'll see page after page of static photos. So let's make the best of the situation, and try to find some variation and entertainment within all those boring "players on the sideline" cards.

 

 

 

Some of them were happy.

 

 

 

 

Some were bummed out

 

 

 

 

Some were just trying to cool off.

 

 

 

 

And some were stylin', profilin', or just chillin' out and enjoying the sunny afternoon.
(Looks like Reggie Rucker is about to put on the headphones and listen to some tunes.)

 

 

 You also have kickers and punters, of course. 

 

 

Those little one-bar face shields were so dorky.

 

But then there's also this guy:

 

 

 

Barefoot kicker Tony Franklin, in action! And look at the base card on the right to see what the guy actually looks like. You know he brings a lunch pail to the stadium every day that contains a couple of bologna sandwiches with mustard and a thermos of hot instant coffee. Maybe an individually wrapped Ding Dong or Ho Ho for dessert.

 

 

Next, here are a couple of horizontal subsets: League Leaders and Football Brothers.

 

 

Both subsets have a fairly simple yet effective designs. I like the big, bold "football brothers" banner, for sure.

On the subject of design, let's look at an example of a card back.

 

 

 

That brownish-yellow color could be a little lighter, which would have made the dark blue text easier to read. But all in all, it's not bad. I like how the football helmet design from the card front continues on the card back (top left). The "team record" section is a nice touch, even if Topps had to turn it sideways to fit.

And now, a fun fact: From 1970 through 1981, Topps did not have the license to use team logos on football cards. But as you can see, in 1982 that finally changed. Collectors must have been absolutely overjoyed to be past all those years of airbrushed helmets. Just look at these next three glorious old-school examples and tell me this set wouldn't have made you way more interested in collecting football cards if you were a kid back then. 

 

Collectors might have also been excited to get their hands on the very first cards issued of these three big studs and their all-pro status:

 

(Honorable mention to fellow rookies Cris Collinsworth and Freeman McNeil.)

 

And here are some of the other card types in the set.

Customary for Topps cards of the '80s, the set begins with a few record breakers like the one you see on the left. In the middle, you have an example of a team leaders card. I like how they gave space for two offensive and two defensive categories. (Rushing, receiving, interceptions, and QB sacks.) And on the right, a checklist. Those orange and brown colors feel like holdovers from the 1970s, but it was only 1982 here, so that makes some sense.

Finally, and interestingly, Topps did some promotional work for their other big football product of 1982—the sticker album and stickers. One sticker with a "coming soon" message on the back was inserted in each wax pack of 1982 football cards. Topps chose 16 foil stickers for the special promotion, including some big names like Dan Fouts, Joe Montana, and Lawrence Taylor. I've added those three to my collection, and placed them in a page at the end of the binder. Here's what they look like:

So that's 1982 Topps football. I'm very happy to have completed this set. I think I'll be taking the binder out and flipping through the pages more than I do some other sets I've got in binders.

How about you readers and collectors? What are your thoughts on '82 Topps football? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!