Another Chuck Noll custom, 1956 Topps style

In this space on June 20 I presented my custom 1954 Bowman-style custom card of Hall of Fame Steelers coach Chuck Noll when he played for the Cleveland Browns.

I mentioned that I had more than a half-dozen scans of Noll from his playing days.

When I chose the '54B format for my Noll custom, I hadn't really intended to create more than one "card that never was." 

However, as sometimes happens, a visualization of a different Noll card kept haunting me. 

Last weekend I decided to do a second Noll custom, in the manner of 1956 Topps. I've mentioned before that '56T is one of the favorite football sets from my childhood, so I didn't need to stretch too far to make this card.

Noll is pictured on my custom in Cleveland's home brown jersey. Veteran vintage football card collectors may recall that all of the original 1956 Topps Cleveland Browns player cards -- there are nine of them -- show the players in their white away uniforms. 

As a nod to that tradition, I converted the photo I was using to a white jersey. It was more work than I expected; I can't seem to find a "reverse colors" button in my Elements 11.0 software. Because I've got nothing but time, and I view it as a learning process, I persevered and got the job done. 

There is another difference between my custom and "real" 1956 Topps football cards. On all of the '56s I've created (Unitas, McGee, Starr, Morrall), I've included a career-highlight cartoon on the back; genuine '56T had generic trivia cartoons not specific to the player.

With both a '54B and a '56T Chuck Noll custom under my belt, I don't think I'll feel compelled to do any others.

Chuck Noll custom card 1954 Bowman

I can't tell you anything about Chuck Knoll that you haven't heard in the days since his death or that you can't easily find with a google search.

I can tell you that while I've seen no fewer than seven photos of Noll from the late 1950s in Topps Vault auctions in the past couple of years, he never appeared on a Topps card during his days as a guard-linebacker with the Cleveland Browns.

He was slighted by Bowman, as well. In those days when football card sets comprised fewer than 200 cards, the so-called "skills players" got most of the spots on the checklists.

Fortunately for today's collectors, the Cleveland Browns in the 1950s produced many team-issued picture sets, premium photos, etc. Chuck Noll can be found in such sets as:

• 1954 Fisher Foods
• 1955-56 Team-issue 8-1/2" x10" pictures
• 1956 Team-issue 6-3/4" x 8-1/2" pictures
• 1958-59 Team-issue 8-1/2" x 10-1/2" pictures
• 1954 and 1958 Carling Beer premiums

Noll was also included in Kahn's Weiners card set of 1959, perhaps his most expensive card.

And, of course, since the early 1980s he's been on dozens of cards from second-tier card companies as Steelers coach.

My contribution to Noll's football card legacy is a custom card in the style of the 1954 Bowmans, one of my favorite football card sets from childhood.