This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/10/2010
Next up for auction is one of the hobby's finest high-grade examples of Buddy Young's 1950 Bowman rookie issue, a perfectly centered specimen graded PSA 9 MINT. One of the first black men to play pro football, Buddy excelled in collegiate competition as well as in service football games with the Navy during WWII. These early successes helped the famously short-statured but good-natured speedster to pave the way for countless, super-skilled players like him to follow, though not many (if any at all) would have ever been able to catch Buddy, who, in many ways, was the first real archetype for today's elusive power backs. Though short-he was listed at 5'4" but was probably closer to 5'3"-Buddy was as quick and agile as any athlete in any sport, tying the world records for both the 45 and 60-yard dashes as an Illini, and then famously beating the Colts' mascot in a staged 100-yard race before a scrimmage at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. One of just 7 examples graded PSA 9 MINT.