An original Tudor order box from 1969. What dreams came inside?

Electric football has many special pieces: Large NFL teams, Super Bowl games, rare NFL uniforms (“yoked” Steelers), Big Bowls, AFL games, Joe Namath and Roman Gabriel quarterback figures. And the beauty of electric football is that we can all spread out a bit and have our own special interest.

Tudor Order Fulfillment form dated November 5, 1969. The address for the box came from the top left hand corner of this form.

But sometimes its the small or unexpected things that can mean the most. Back in the Jurassic era of electric football collecting, lots of ads were placed and lots of phone calls were made in tracking down those elusive pieces. On the bright side, things were relatively inexpensive, so more chances were taken on things sight unseen.

One day, back when the only way to get online was through dialup, the UPS man left a well constructed box  for me to disassemble. A game was inside, as were some teams, and there was also a smaller box. It was a little beat up, but when looking closely I saw something unique. It had a Tudor mailing label. 

This box had come from Tudor with a team order. The postmark was faded, but I could see it was dated November 1969. And not only did the box have a postmark, inside was the Order Fulfillment form that Tudor sent back with the order. This boy had received the Colts-D, the Oilers (D because that’s all that was available at the time), a bag of 22 deluxe bases, white, green, red, and gold numbers, and a Rule Book 500.

Considering the number sheets he ordered, I wondered what other teams he owned? Gold would have been the Saints, or Redskins in dark; green would be the Eagles or Packers in white; red would mean white Cardinals, 49ers, or Redskins. And all of his teams would have been from 1969 or earlier. What a wondrous group of teams he already had.

But the real place to let your imagination run wild is with this scenario. You’ve sent your $5.95 off to Brooklyn (176 Johnson Street) and you’ve been waiting anxiously. Then one day you come home from school and a box from Tudor is waiting on your kitchen table. Imagine picking up the box, your heart racing, breaking the packing tape and sticking your hand inside and…NFL magic. 

It’s a moment many of us have never forgotten. The Unforgettable Buzz it truly was.

Earl