Wednesday, August 24, 2016

The Cover Art of the "Great Teams, Great Years" Series by Merv Corning

LOOKING BACK
By John Turney

In 1973 and 1974 NFL Properties, Inc. and NFL Creative Services through McMillian Publishing released what what many thought was going to be a larger series of books called Great Teams, Great Years. Only nine were released, not the anticipated (by fans anyway) 20 or so. 

Each had a different author, but the cover art was all done by the same person, Merv Corning. It was some of his best work to date. At the Super Bowl in Jacksonville the NFL had a gallery displaying quite a lot of NFL art and I was able to see the originals of the Rams and Lions covers. They were quite special, close up.

Here are the covers with the Cowboys cover featuring Bob Lilly, the Chiefs cover shows Ed Budde, the Giants has Y.A. Tittle and Alex Webster, the Lions features Roger Brown sacking Bart Starr, while the Rams cover shows Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy and Merlin Olsen harassing John Brodie, the Redskins features Larry Brown and Charlie Harraway. The Browns shows Jim Brown, the 49ers features Gene Washington and the Steelers show Terry Bradshaw.

Enjoy:










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6 comments:

  1. John HornAugust 27, 2016 at 8:03 PM

    Those are great books for any NFL historian to have in their collection. I purchased my set from the Big League Co. in Hinckley, MN around 10 years ago. I believe they still sell them on eBay.

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  2. cdw83September 30, 2017 at 6:26 PM

    Some of my favorite books to read in my dad's used book store growing up in Columbus, Ohio. Learned a lot about the history of the NFL. Thanks for post John!

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  3. Miss Felony StrutterJuly 16, 2018 at 2:54 PM

    You can find them in Amazon. I am a Cowboys fan, I have 95% of ever book on the Cowboys ever written. I put this top 5 in regards to the entire team info up until 1974. I loved mine so much, I bought an NYG on for a friend, I like it to and bought that and the Redskins. They are really nice. Get them while you can.

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  4. Miss Felony StrutterJuly 16, 2018 at 2:59 PM

    Oh yeah the artwork and photos in these books are truly top notch.

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2023 at 3:01 PM

    Two things…
    - I’m not sure about the other teams, but the 49ers also had another cover featuring Ken Willard
    - How did they forget to do a book on the Colts?

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    Replies
    1. John TurneyJanuary 30, 2023 at 5:57 PM

      There was supposed to be a more complete set with volumes coming out in 1974 etc---but I suppose sales were not high enough to continue---not sure but that is best guess. Not aware of the Ken Willard cover--if you ever see a link to a photo please post it...would love to see it.

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