As I continue to try to go back in time to find some of those classic sports design items from my youth, I continue to surprise myself with what I come up with. As a lifelong Bengals fan, I have a good memory of some really classic Bengals stuff. Back in 1981, the Shell Oil Company put out a great set of illustrations of the Super Bowl Bengals team.
The set included six different hand illustrated prints featuring some of the Bengals biggest stars. Each week you were able to visit your local Shell gas station to try and get your hands on the next edition in the set. The art prints were one of the first pieces of memorabilia to collect featuring the new striped helmets and uniforms.
The set featured my favorite NFL player, quarterback Ken Anderson. Anderson was at the prime of his career at the time of the release of these prints. Another print featured NFL Hall of Famer and Bengals offensive lineman Anthony Munoz protecting his quarterback. The rest of the set included images of running back Archie Griffin, punter Pat McInally, defensive star Ross Browner and fan favorite, linebacker Reggie Williams.
These classic prints bring back some great memories of the quest each week to get your hands on the next piece of the set and the satisfaction that came with completing it. They are a great reminder of a special time for Bengals fans and commemorate some of the best players in team history. These little known prints also provide a really great look back at the early days of the famous striped uniforms and helmets.
There was a Shell station up the street from us that had these featuring Browns players when I was a young 'un. These things were so dang cool! Thanks for reminding me of these... I'd completely forgotten about them!
Posted by: marc | December 23, 2009 at 09:26 PM
If I recall correctly, these things weren't small prints. They were like 14x18 or something like that. A really nice giveaway.
Posted by: marc | December 23, 2009 at 09:28 PM