This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/10/2010
In the summer of 1913, Knute Rockne and Gus Dorais could be seen on the beach at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio doing things with a pigskin that almost any onlooker would never in his life have seen before. They'd work on throwing the football back and forth, overhand of all orientations, and then Knute would run down the length of the beach and Gus would launch the ball into the air and Knute would run under it and attempt a catch. Novel and perhaps even odd as it may have seemed to onlookers, these two famous Notre Dame roommates forever changed the game that summer. Although the forward pass had already been put into play at a few other schools, Notre Dame's dramatic 35-13 upset over heavily favored Army at West Point that fall officially put the forward pass attack on public display, and the game would never be the same. Offered in this lot is a tremendously sharp example of Knute's iconic 1955 Topps All American issue that marks this important milestone in the development of American football. One of just 15 total examples graded MINT 9 by PSA, it features an impressive MINT or better perimeter around a bold and still glossy obverse that insignificantly favors the left edge but to a degree just beyond the maximum tolerance for GEM MINT. Arguably one of the finer examples of this key early gridiron issue not already locked up in the hobby's best collections.