The Topps set of 440 N.F.L. cards has 11 Armed Forces Fans of the Game.
From the Nov. 30 New York Times
Topps Salutes the Troops With Trading Cards
By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI
Published: November 29, 2008
This year’s Topps N.F.L. card set includes two Tomlinsons: LaDainian, a running back with the San Diego Chargers; and Wyat, a staff sergeant based at the United States Army Recruiting Battalion in Kansas City, Mo.
“It’s an unbelievable thrill,” said Wyat, a Kansas City native who grew up rooting for the Chiefs. “Some of the guys here have been teasing me about it. They’re now calling me Rookie Card.”
Sergeant Tomlinson, 29, is one of 11 Armed Forces Fans of the Game nominated by their home teams. Their cards are among the 440 that make up the Topps set. Randomly placed in packs of 10, the armed forces cards have become collector’s items.
“We wanted to pay tribute to our soldiers in some fashion,” said Clay Luraschi, the director of product development for Topps. “We went to the N.F.L. and they were totally on board with it, and immediately began asking teams to nominate soldiers from their respective cities.”
The other Topps trading card troops are Capt. John C. Cochrane Jr. of the Navy (nominated by the Jets); Col. Marc Hendler, New York Army National Guard (Giants); Lance Cpl. James A. Lenihan, Marine Corps Reserve (Cincinnati); Specialist Mark M. Middlebrook, Army (Jacksonville); Maj. Sean Ryan, Army (Denver); Sgt. Philip LaBonte, Michigan Army National Guard (Detroit); Cpl. Ryan M. Lenser, Marines (Green Bay); Senior Airman Gabriel Bird, Louisiana Air National Guard (New Orleans); Sgt. Christopher Ames, Marines (Arizona); and Sgt. Traci Williams, Army Reserve (Seattle).
The rest of the story is here:
I will have a part two to this story tomorrow. That's Mark at the bottom of the illustration.
7 comments:
Love this story!
~AirmanMom returning to her blog...
That is amazing! I hope I can find some of these.
Wohoo! Congrats Mark. That's really neat to see.
What a great honor.
I wish I had an autographed one for my collection.
Matt went to the Pats and Sea Hawks last Sunday. Somebody gave them 50 yard line front row seats behind the Pat's bench. A good thing they won, because he was letting his mout write a check his ass was going to have a problem covering.
Congrats to Sgt Mark.
It's good to see a loyal fan get some recognition.
Wonderful, Just plan wonderful!
Pops
remember when you posted about his card before!!
what a cool honor!
now THAT'S something he can tell his grandkids about!
hope he's healing well.
Infantry Dad....yipee for Matt! that's awesome!
Thanks everyone. Been a fun week. Dad, good for Matt. At least got to see a game.
Post a Comment