Cards From the Best QBs of the Decade
Pro football in the 1950s kicked off with an immediate shakeup—the NFL and the All-America Football Conference would merge, adding the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Baltimore Colts to the league. The Browns would win the NFL championship immediately in the 1950 season and continue to dominate the rest of the decade, trading titles with Detroit and eventually ceding their dominance to Baltimore. The constant across all of these successful teams was their superb quarterback play.
Just as the teams changed and conferences aligned and shifted, the quarterback position would evolve, and the NFL would take its first steps into what we know now as a passing league—mostly off the backs of just a few men who pushed the game forward to levels never conceived of at the time.
Below, you’ll find the five best QBs of the 1950s, with Johnny Unitas at the top (even though he started his career halfway through the decade). At the point in time when each of these men hung up their cleats, nearly all of them would hold almost every meaningful career passing record as they constantly leapfrogged each other’s stunning stat boxes.
Of course, the ’50s also saw Topps and Bowman both making pro football cards, which led to some of the most iconic rookie cards and collections of Hall of Fame players in the sport’s history.
The Top QBs of the 1950s
1958 Topps Football #86 Y.A. Tittle
Player info
• Eventually went on to win AP MVP award in 1963, his penultimate year in the league
• at the time of his retirement, tittle held the records for career passing yards, tds, attempts, completions, tds in a season (36), tds in a game (7), games played (176) and career total offense (29,338)
Set info
• 132 total cards
• Over 34 hall of famers in this set
card back
• Vitals, 1957 passing stats, lifetime stats, and a “football fun” scratch-off factoid asking: “What is Y.A. Tittle’s nickname?
1952 Bowman Football Large #1 Norm Van Brocklin
Player info
• Split QB duties in ’51 with bob Waterfield – Van Brocklin would also split QB duties in the championship game, but won the game with a 73-yard td pass
• in 1951 he set the record for most passing yards in a game (554) becoming the first Qb to throw for over 500 yards in a game
Card info
• 144 card set
• coaches featured for each team
card back
• vitals, previous season stats, and a bio about his 1950 passing champ season. in 1951 he had the second-most passing yards – behind only his teammate waterfield
1955 Topps All-American #12 Otto Graham
Player info
• won 7 combined NFL and aafc championships
• three-time upi NFL mvp/opoty (1951/53/55)
Card info
• 100 card set featuring the absolute best of the best in the NFL at that time
card back
• a recap at his fantastic years at northwestern and how his QB play transitioned to Cleveland where he threw for a “fantastic” (for the time) 55.4% completion percentage
1958 Topps Football #2 Bobby Layne
Player info
• Three-time NFL champion in detroit
• was credited for creating the two-minute drill and held every major passing record when he retired in 1963
• Created the iconic “curse of bobby layne” that
Card info
• 385 total cards with 18 insert sets and three parallels (black, gold, and topps collection)
card back
• Vitals, previous year and career stats up to that point, and a recap of his 1957 year in which he suffered a season-ending leg break. 1957 would be his final full season in detroit
1960 Topps Football #1 Johnny Unitas
Player info
• 1959 was his first ap MVP win – would win again in ’64 and ’67
• three-time NFL champion and one-time super bowl champion
Card info
• 132 card set
• set includes metallic stickers of each team
card back
• vitals, 1959 stats, career stats, and a scratch-off “football funny”
