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More Stories From Jimmy C., And Old Catalog Finds

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Good morning, everyone. Can you see our friend Jimmy Corcoran‘s dad King Corcoran in the above photo? Look carefully, because he’s not on the field.

That is the King on a knee on the sidelines between #24 and #48. He is wearing a green jacket over his uniform,” said Jimmy, when he sent me this photo of straight-on kicker James Patrick “Happy” Feller. He actually sent me a different straight-on kicker photo first, but we’ll come back to that after another edition of Story Time with Uncle Jimmy Corcoran. Take it away!

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In my father’s last game as an NFL player, a loss to the Raiders in the pre season of 1971, he got cut along with straight-on legend Mark Moseley. Yes, they got rid of Moseley for Happy Feller. (JV: Bet they weren’t too happy with that decision in the long run…)

He didn’t play one play and got cut a few days later. Here is the clipping with more crazy King stuff…he would never go quietly when cut.

(JV: Click to enlarge. Apparently the Daily Times copy editor had a bad night, but you get the gist of the story)

Carl Weathers played in this game. My father remembered him. Do you know when we saw Rocky in 1976, Carl Weathers was not famous yet, and during the movie my father recognized him from playing against him. The King had a weird talent…he could look at a guy’s face while he had his helmet on and remember him. I know after the Raider game my father went up to talk to Lamonica and Stabler. He lived for that type of stuff. Carl Weathers was not a big name on the Raiders, but my father remembered seeing him after the game on the field.

The same thing happened when we saw an episode of Cheers that aired on January 26, 1984: “Cliff’s Rocky Moment.” My father recognized Lewis the mailman.

He said, “I played against that guy in the WFL.” When the credits rolled it was Sam Scarber, the RB for the Detroit Wheels and Southern California Sun.

(JV: And apparently for Edmonton, too…but back to The King being cut by the Eagles)

His time with the Eagles was brief. He played well against Washington, 6-9 with a TD. We thought that was going to be enough to get the number 3 spot but it wasn’t.

I was told by people who knew the situation, that he played well enough to earn the number 3 spot. Some say he was better than (Rick) Arrington, but Jerry Williams absolutely hated my father. He ended up playing for the Norfolk Neptunes in ’71 after the Eagles cut him. He won the ACFL Championship and had a party for the team at our house in Maryland that lasted two days. Even the cheerleaders were there.

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So, in the King’s case, all’s well that ends well. Or, if you read the newspaper clipping, oil’s well that ends well…

Anyway, I said Jimmy sent me another great kicker photo, with some more commentary.

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When do you ever see this: two straight-on kickers in the same picture! There is even a King connection to this one…my father’s old buddy from the Jets Jim Turner (#15) and his holder Norris Weese, who my father played against in the WFL. So bizarre to see two straight-on kickers, for today’s fans that is like seeing dinosaurs, they have been gone from the NFL for almost 40 years now.

…..

Thanks, Uncle Jimmy! I had seen that photo before, but as thoroughly awesome as it is, I can’t put it on my Wall of Kickers. I have a policy against putting Raiders on my wall. Besides, I already have Errol Mann (the Raiders kicker in the above photo) as a Detroit Lion (top right in the photo below).

Speaking of Raiders, I wanted George Blanda on the wall…as an Oiler (top left).

I’m always changing the wall, so I don’t know if it will ever be finished, but it’s in a good place for now.

 

 

 
  
 

Some Lesser-Known Vintage Christmas Catalog Finds

While I am a big fan of capitalism, I have absolutely no team spirit for the phenomenon known as Black Friday. I left the house yesterday to buy groceries and nothing else. At home I spent my time entertaining a very dear friend of the family, then I went online and reminisced about the old way to shop for Christmas: from department store catalogs.

If you grew up in the golden age of the JC Penney, Montgomery Ward, and Sears catalogs, have I got a website for you! The musetechnical.com site is an absolute treasure chest of vintage catalogs from 1930 to the middle of the 2010s. Today, I’m going to focus on the 1970s, because that’s when sports merchandising really took off. I know, I know…we only care about what’s worn on the field here at Uni Watch, but many of us developed our love of good-looking uniforms through the (mostly) good-looking items in these books. I wish I could post photos of these pages for you, but I’ll have to settle for providing links to the site’s pages.

Any child of the ’70s and ’80s is well aware of the explosion of NFL merch which began in earnest around 1972. Before that, you’d see some NFL kids’ pajamas and a smattering of other things. But did you know that as far back as 1971, the NHL got into the catalog game? And you could buy wall clocks of almost 60 college mascots.

The following year, you could take to the ice dressed almost like an NHL player, and you could choose from a wide variety of NFL posters. I think I had the one of Dick Butkus in pass defense, but man…what I wouldn’t give for a Jim Bakken poster now!

By 1973 the NBA and MLB dipped their toes into the sea of catalog sales, and the NHL expanded into the sleepwear market. All three pulled their toes out of the water for a time, while the NFL dove in deeper. JC Penney even signed Miami’s Dick Anderson and Pittsburgh’s Jack Ham to appear in full uniform…although for some reason they took Ham’s facemask off.

In 1976, college football sweatshirts were available. I know a certain someone who wouldn’t appreciate USC depicted in gold helmets, and hey…Purdue doesn’t look like Purdue there!

A year later, adults could wear their school’s logo and colors as well. Then in 1978, Broncos fans could keep their kids dry with an orange(?)-helmeted Broncos parka. Whoopsie…

As the 1970s came to a close, MLB got back into the catalog game with replica jerseys, t-shirts, and caps. The NBA wouldn’t make another appearance until some time in the 1980s, but that’s another story for another day.

 

 

 

That's It For Today...After Another Walk-Off FG

Don’t say I can’t roll with the times. While I *really* miss the end-of-season Oklahoma/Nebraska rivalry (which included one of my favorite plays ever), I think my favorite rivalry these days is Iowa/Nebraska. And just like last year, this year’s edition gave us another chance to celebrate a walk-off field goal!

Whatever you’re doing this long holiday weekend, I hope it’s enjoyable. Take care, everyone, and I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow for another Sunday Morning Uni Watch.

 

 

Comments (18)

    Yeah, Happy Feller did not work out as the Eagles kicker. It’s a vivid memory watching the 11/7/71 Eagles-Redskins game, an extremely rare chance for my Eagle-fan family to see our team on television while living in Northern California, and as big underdogs, the Eagles rose up and played Washington very evenly. But Feller missed no less than four field-goal attempts and Philadelphia settled for a 7-7 tie. The TWIPF segment described it thusly: “Four times Philadelphia was betrayed by Happy Feller’s erratic toe.”

    Sigh, Errol Mann’s holder in your photo is my first favorite football player and reason I’m a Lions fan, Greg Landry – who passed away just last month.

    One of my favorite Lions as well. And one of my favorite Blitz and Wranglers.
    Rest in peace, Greg Landry and the USFL.

    Carl Weathers ended up playing for the BC Lions after his NFL stint. He would spend a lot of time in Vancouver filming projects after his time with the Lions.

    Fun fact. The minigolf scene in Happy Gilmour was filmed literally a stone’s throw from the Empire Stadium location where Weathers played with the BC Lions. Of course, the Russian arena for the big fight in Rocky IV was also literally a stone’s throw away from the Empire Stadium location too.

    link

    My father played briefly for Montreal in 1972, but he wasn’t there long enough to cross paths with Carl Weathers again.

    In the 1973 JCPenney photos neither Anderson nor Hamm are wearing their game helmets. Anderson usually wore a Dungard facemask and Hamm’s helmet isn’t even drilled for a facemask (maybe it’s drilled for a Riddell plastic 2-bar). Maybe they brought their uniforms but the photographer wanted to use prop helmets instead.

    Hmmm…since the replica Steelers helmets show the logo on the wrong side, I wonder if the steelmark was applied to both left and right hemispheres.

    A few years after my Oilers helmet, I got one of those Steelers helmets. Either it had one logo, or it was easy for Dad to remove because when I gave it to my nephew (who painted it to be a Packers helmet) it only had one.
    As I’m typing, I just recalled that the helmet came without a stripe. Dad gave me a strip of his yellow electrical tape to fix it.

    Wow-what a fun tale about The King…thanks for sharing that, Jimmy!
    Was born too late (fun ChrisH fact: I was born in Philly during the 1971 Eagles/‘Skins Week 11 matchup)-but I bet when I share this with my older siblings, it’s possible they’ll recall your dad’s playing days with both sets of Birds (Philly and Pottstown) and the Bell – and maybe some of his colorful commentary and dapper dress.

    Good stuff, JV!
    I have nothing but fond Christmas Wish Book memories…and wasn’t at all disappointed when I got Cowboys gear from my old man (even though I specified the catalog #’s for corresponding Eagles clothing).
    “…you could take to the ice dressed almost like an NHL player, “. – I must say I like the orientation of the Penguins logo shown there.

    That’s weird…but not bad. And then I noticed the Canucks and Blues are incorrectly labeled as the Blues and Canucks.

    A couple weeks ago, I watched the old Rockford Files episode starring Rob Reiner as King Sturdevant. Great episode–always reminds me of King Corcoran.

    KeetDat Pho, they took my father’s character for that episode right out of the book the Forgettables, right down to the part that the King was an altar boy.

    – I love those stories of old football players and “the way it used to be”… makes me wonder if your Dad would have wanted a fee from his appearances on Uni-Watch,
    (wouldn’t blame him I love clicking on these stories)
    – I used to love writing the Wish Book catalog numbers down of the things I wanted on my Christmas list for my Mom and Dad.
    -I kind of think that Sears could have morphed their Wish Book into a website providing cheap shipping for every item and had a chance to became Amazon before Amazon…

    A fee? LOL! the King would show up anywhere for free, you just needed to provide him a coke and a hamburger. He used to get paid to be a judge for the Miss Maryland pageants, he told me he would have done them for free.

    Had Broncos made this their new helmet, they would be among the best in NFL. Instead, one of the worst.

    My mom worked at JCPenney here on Long Island when I was a kid, so we’d (my sisters and I) often get to “pick out” our gifts from the Christmas catalog (while Mom reaped the benefits of a 15% employee discount). I can remember most of these pages like it were yesterday. I received the NY Rangers kit with the salad bowl helmet and odd Rawlings gloves from the ’72 book (ssshhhh!- I later became a fan of the more local Islanders!). The Rangers’ crest was made of heavyweight vinyl, and served a dual purpose of not only representing the home team, but acting as a goalie chest-protector as well. We got the little mini-rink too, from the same page- I remember the ground was way too frozen to pound in the substandard stakes (they bent), and the “liner” was essentially an enormous Hefty trash bag which stiffened in the cold and was impossible to shift and shape to the flimsy “rink” walls. Needless to say, there was no skating in my back yard in the winter of ’72-’73, that I’m sure of.

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