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MAIL TIME ✉ ⏰ at Shenandoah Sports Cards in Harrisonburg, VA - Unpackaging an NFL 🏈 HOFer!

Today's mystery card is a 1970 Topps Football Jan Stenerud rookie card. As a kicker and punter in college, I have a soft spot in my heart for placekickers. This particular card represents some trailblazing history for the Norwegian-born soccer-style kicker. Not only was Jan the first NFL player from Norway 🇳🇴, but he was the first dedicated placekicker to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991. Stenerud came to the United States 🇺🇸 as a college student in the 1960s on a ski jumping scholarship to Montana State University - Go Bobcats! As legend has it, Jan had finished his ski training and was cooling down by kicking a few footballs. When the head basketball coach saw Jan's kicking cannon, he immediately contacted the head football coach, who offered Stenerud a tryout. In 1965, during his junior year at Montana State, aided by a favorable tail-wind, Jan kicked a record-breaking 59-yard field goal, which is still impressive today! Stenerud was a two-sport All-American in college and went on to have a Hall of Fame career in the AFL-NFL, helping the underdog Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, thanks to his 3 first-half field goals. Jan is a frequent autograph signer at The National Sports Collectors Convention and I hope to get his on-card autograph on this beautiful rookie card before I send it in for grading. Thank you to eBay seller travelingtransitman_3 for helping me add to my pc (personal collection) with this Jan Stenerud rookie!