Eagles Oddballs - 1972 NFL Action (Sun Oil Co) Stickers
Collecting Sun Oil Company's 1972 stamp-book promotion, "NFL Action '72" is/was a massive undertaking. Handed out to patrons who bought gas at Sunoco and DX stations across the country during the Fall that year, the set clocked in with an amazing 624 stamps - 24 (12 offensive players, 12 defensive) for each of the league's 26 franchises.
Two different albums were produced to retain the stamps: a standard 56-page "Saver" album and a 128-page "Deluxe" version. Both albums were sold with six sheets of 24 starter stamps (144 total). Each team had two pages for placing their 24 stamps - each containing twelve marked spaces for a stamp. The player "box" has the player name, uniform number, height, weight, age and college they attended. In addition to unique player stories and photos, the Deluxe version also dedicates two pages to the history of each franchise.
Packs of nine perforated stamps were handed out with a tank fill-up - though some accounts I read while researching this post mentioned attendants were fairly liberal with their distribution. The Eagles were one of four teams to be represented on the single-pack covers (along with the Cowboys, Jets and Dolphins). Interestingly, updates to the set were made to reflect in-season transactions - resulting in an additional 82 stamps that were only available as by mail-order - in two different formats. The first way to obtain the updates was as part of a complete team sheet of 24 perforated stamps. The second was as a separate "update" set which were non-perforated and are typically harder to find. The update player stamps are a slightly longer and have the text, "New Player" in the white bottom margin.
The stamps themselves are fairly plain, with a two-toned border and player action photo inset in a white oval frame. Player name, number, position and team appear at the bottom of the stamp, under the action photo. Though fairly nondescript in design, the stamps were notable in that player photos featured team helmet logos - which until from 1970-1981 were omitted (and often airbrushed) from Topps-issued cards. With two updates (John Reaves and Larry Watkins), the complete Eagles set consists of 26 stamps. The set is not expensive - easily found individually for a few dollars, or as a team lot for less than $25.
Checklist:
- Henry Allison
- Rick Arrington
- Lee Bouggess
- Bill Bradley
- Harold Carmichael
- Ernie Calloway
- Tom Dempsey
- Mike Evans
- Richard Harris
- Ben Hawkins
- Don Hultz
- Harold Jackson
- Wade Key
- Leroy Keyes
- Pete Liske
- Tom McNeill
- Al Nelson
- Ron Porter
- Nate Ramsey
- Tim Rossovich
- Steve Smith
- Mel Tom
- Tom Woodeshick
- Steve Zabel
- John Reaves (UPDATE)
- Larry Watkins (UPDATE)