GROOVY SET: 1967 Topps Football brings back memories of dominant Kansas City Chiefs, first Super Bowl

As the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs continue to put up strong numbers during the NFL’s regular season (13-1 through Week 15), their chances of becoming the first team to ever win three consecutive Super Bowls looks more realistic.

Meanwhile, while the 2024 season plays out, here is a quick look at the first Super Bowl, from January 1967, and, in particular, a Topps card set produced later that year—both with a solid Chiefs’ presence.

Originally billed as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game—later called Super Bowl I—the contest marked the first battle of its kind between the rival organizations, the relatively new American Football League (1960 inaugural season) and the National Football League, with roots back to the 1920s. In this milestone matchup the AFL champion Chiefs went up against the NFL title-winning Green Bay Packers, with legendary coach Vince Lombardi at the helm for the green and gold.

Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson fires a pass during Super Bowl I in 1967 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers. James Flores/Getty Images

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Played before a roughly two-thirds filled 94,000-seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and a TV audience of about 51 million, Green Bay held a 14-10 advantage at the half. The final two quarters, however, The Pack went into overdrive and pulled away to a 35-10 victory. Much of the game, like a lot of Lombardi-led wins, came down to battles in the trenches.

In the football card trenches in the fall of 1967 a torch was passed in a sense as the Philadelphia Gum Company, in the regular football card market for a few seasons, produced their final mainstream gridiron issue—and with only NFL players. Topps, meanwhile, rolled out their last solely AFL-based set.

Starting in 1968, Topps went on a long run of several years as the only major U.S. pro football card maker. It included both leagues for a couple seasons, and then, after the AFL and NFL completed their merger, all the franchises landed behind the NFL shield and on Topps cards beginning with the 1970 schedule.

While the 1967 Philadelphia Gum Co. set features 198 cards and dozens of future Hall of Famers, including some rookie cards of all-time greats, the 132-card 1967 Topps football offering includes about a dozen Hall of Famers and no big rookie cards.

1967 Topps Football complete set. Heritage Auctions

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In the ’67 Topps set Kansas City leads the issue with four eventual Canton inductees: quarterback Len Dawson (#61) and defensive standouts Bobby Bell (#69), Buck Buchanan (#71) and Johnny Robinson (#65).

1967 Topps Len Dawson card.

“Part of the attraction to the set was my locale at the time of the [first] Super Bowl, Kansas City,” said Weldon A. Wright Jr., ranked No. 11 for the issue on the PSA Set Registry’s Current Finest list.

Wright also likes the collection’s diminutive set size and it’s AFL-only theme. And his “childhood favorites” for the set are all Chiefs): Dawson, Buchanan and wide receiver Otis Taylor (#73).

1967 Topps Otis Taylor card.

But Wright said over the years other players from the issue elevated in value for him: Tom Flores (#16) as a Hall of Fame coach, Jack Kemp (#24) due to his political service, and Fred Biletnikoff (#106). The latter entry made the list due to time spent with Wright at a card show. A sidenote about the ’67 Biletnikoff: It was the third straight year that Topps used that image of the Hall of Fame receiver who spent his entire 14-year career as an Oakland Raider.

1967 Topps Fred Biletnikoff card.

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TOP-SHELF SNAGS

One of the most difficult 1967 Topps cards to find in high grade, including solid centering, according to the PSA Population Report, appears on card #68: Chiefs’ tackle Jim Tyrer, with 50 PSA 8s, six PSA 9s and no PSA 10s.

1967 Topps Jim Tyrer cards.

Collector Todd Gould, who has owned the Set Registry’s All-Time Finest 1967 Topps football set for over a decade, places the Tyrer card, the Miami Dolphins Joe Auer (#79) and a pair of San Diego Chargers, Tom Day (#117) and Leslie “Speedy” Duncan (#131), among the absolute most challenging cards to find in primo shape.

“The Duncan is the toughest card by far in high grade. I bought the first PSA 9 Duncan close to 10 years ago and only one other PSA 9 Duncan has ever been graded,” Gould said. A PSA 10 Duncan has yet to surface and there are only 26 PSA 8s.

1967 Topps Leslie Duncan card.

As mega card collector Jeff Mazzeo put it, “As I was trying to build my complete 1960s Topps [Football] run I only needed one card to finish and it was the ’67 Duncan, so I settled for a (PSA) 6.” Not only did Mazzeo round out his 1960s Topps Football run, he owns that decade’s top-ranked set registry collection of pigskin-related cardboard.

Among Mazzeo’s favorite 1967 Topps footballers: Joe Namath (#98) for his star power; Wahoo McDaniel (#82) for his crossover appeal (he was also a professional wrestler); and Jack Kemp for his crossover appeal (politics).

1967 Topps Wahoo McDaniel card.

For Gould, he likes the Namath, too, but also carves out extra praise for Duncan, Nick Buoniconti (#13) and KC’s Dawson.

1967 Topps Joe Namath.

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The Green Bay-born and bred Gould heaps high praise on the “cool” issue in several categories.

“It’s a fun set, one that can be put together fairly reasonably,” he said.

He also gives strong marks to its somewhat psychedelic design.

“It’s kind of a ‘hippy vibe’ that was going on back then, and it kind of manifested itself with the cards,” the longtime hobbyist noted.

Likely the strongest “hippy vibe” from the set comes on the two checklists (one finishes the collection), wax boxes and pack wrappers with their vivid coloring and overall artwork. Some of those empty wax boxes in decent condition normally trade hands for a few hundred dollars, while a nice wrapper easily brings $75 to $110.

1967 Topps Football wax box. Heritage Auctions

But wait, there’s more!

The pasteboards mainly first arrived in collectors hands via wax packs, but cello and rack packs also showed up in various venues for the ’67s. Each 5-cent wax pack came with a premium, a tongue-in-cheek “Krazy Pennant” with the Topps’ gang providing the unique spelling. A total of 31 pennants comprise the insert set, a mixture of AFL teams, U.S. colleges and fictitious centers of higher learning such as “Diskotech,” “Dropout U,” and, appropriate for the football set in general, “Psychedelic State.” The inserts spark modest interest.

1967 Topps Football wax pack promoting the “Krazy Pennant” inserts.

In 1968 the Milton Bradley Company produced “Win-A-Card,” a board game which came with a “starter” mixture of around 90 to 100 (it varied) Topps cards made up of 1960s Hot Rods, 1967 football and 1968 baseball.

A total of 132 cards make up a “Win-A-Card” set, and 33 cards (one quarter) of this card game are ’67 footballers, including Hall of Famers Biletnikoff, Buchanan, Namath, Winston Hill and Ron Mix. In some cases, the “Win-A-Card” football card fronts can easily be distinguished from a regular ’67 Topps sample because the board game cards were slightly miscut and include some of the 1968 “burlap” baseball borders.

LONG-RANGE PROSPECTS

As for the ’67 gridiron set itself, some collectors rate its appeal as “average” as it lacks certain levels of luster. Others, like Wright, focus on the issue’s collectability with its manageable size, distinctive look, the Hall of Famers it does possess, as well as another key point.

“There are also a number of collectors that have to have every card made. I think the set’s popularity will continue to rise as team collectors develop new fans coming of age,” Wright said.

In 1967 “speak,” Wright’s assessment is “groovy.”