What did your first hand painted teams look like?

[bigdawg43]

My first set was an old 500 that had the yellow and red men with it so what teams could I paint with those ……naturally steelers and bears. I know, I know how did I come up with colors for the bears from red men???? Well since I was a poor 13 or 14 year old I had to make due however I could, I figured steelers yellow pants, black shirt/helmet, brown and peach – skin tones. The bears- black shirts ( I know they are blue but didn’t then ) and white for the pants and socks. I AM IN BUSINESS!!!!!

I bought my paint from G.C. Murphy’s, along with a brush and thinner, and off I went. Steelers came out ok - black shirt/helmet, non painted pants ( yellow figures ) black sock stripes on white socks……DONE! Swann was #2 ( it was hard to paint #88 ) Stallworth #3, Bradshaw #1 and I think Webster was # 5. I am not sure that anyone of them made it past 10. Now for the Bears – black shrt/helmet, white pants/socks, black sock stripe – Vince Evans never looked so good. As with the Steelers, I don’t think that anyone on their roster was past #10 but that was ok. I let them dry and the following day they were ready to take the field.

I practiced with those guys for about a week before I sprung them on the neighborhood. First game was against the cowboys. I kept it an NFC game so I took the Bears and about 4 plays in I grabbed Vince Evans to line him up at LB ( the guys had to be ironmen back in those days ) and a big chip of paint fell off of his leg. Maybe it was all of the practice the week before. Maybe Vince played LB too hard. Maybe he played a mean QB. Not sure but now Vince was black, white, and red but still playing hard. I guess his team mates liked how he looked because throughout the game, they too, got chinks in their armor. The same thing happened with the Steelers when I used them so I spent almost as much time re-painting as I did playing.

All I want to know is where were you guys? How come no one told me to seal them? I thought we were supposed to lookout for each other? Don’t even try to use the there was no internet excuse. Fine friends you are. How about you? What did your first teams look like? I know you have a story, let’s hear it.