Four NFL teams have retired #12. Three of them honored franchise legends. One retired it for their fans.*
The Buffalo Bills retired the number to honor Jim Kelly, but have also honored the fans as well.
If you're a fan of football, you've probably heard the Seattle Seahawks fans referred to the 12s at some point. It stems from the 12th man, which according to Wikipedia originated at Texas A&M in 1922.
In their franchise history, there has only been one player to wear #12. I wasn't familiar with him until a few weeks ago when I decided to research the history of the 12s. The name Sam Adkins popped up on Football Reference:
The seller had it up for auction, but I was busy doing something when it ended so I missed out on it. The auction didn't receive any bids and the seller listed it again with a best offer option. They accepted my $2.50 (+ $1.48 tax & shipping) offer and the rest is history.
I have no idea whether or not this autograph is legit, but I can't imagine a lot of people are going around forging his signature. That being said, whoever originally owned this signed index card wrote some notes on the back.
Don't worry baseball fans. I don't anticipate any more football posts in the near future. Just wanted to share this not-so-random signature of a guy most of you probably aren't familiar with the day after the 12s got a chance to celebrate the second Super Bowl win in franchise history.
Go Hawks!
Happy Monday and sayonara!
Overtime
By the way, here are two new card blogs to add to your blogrolls:
The first one is Tom's return to the keyboard. He'll be showing off his Angels and Patriots PC.
#2: Divas Hockey Ink
The second one is for hockey and Olympic fans.
I'm super excited to see Tom back in the mix and happy to welcome RR to the blogosphere.
Congrats on your team winning!
ReplyDeleteCongrats in the Seahawks W! That's a cool little autograph you were able to get
ReplyDeleteThe Seahawks deserved that win 100%, congrats. Thanks for the shoutout.
ReplyDeleteI've always found it interesting to see the player(s) that wore a number before it became famous/retired.
ReplyDeleteOh and thanks for the tip on Tom's new blog.
ReplyDeleteSunday is the first time I ever heard that 12 thing in Seattle. My daughter asked why they were carrying around a 12 flag and I said I didn't know, I couldn't think of a Seattle player that wore 12 and it seemed weird that they would carry around Tom Brady's number when going against the Patriots. So she googled it and told me about the 12th man thing. Seems like a cheap copy of a basketball 6th man.
ReplyDeleteThe Steelers don't give out #12 (Terry Bradshaw) but they've never officially retired it for some reason
ReplyDeleteGlad to see some new blogs!
ReplyDeletejohnnys trading spot - thanks john! gotta celebrate the wins where i can take them. not sure when the a's will win another world series... or if the padres will ever win one :D
ReplyDeleteginko -5 - thanks. one of those athletes that are not known by the majority of fans, but a cool keepsake for a seahawks fan
batting out of order - welcome back! hoping both teams are back in the playoffs next season.
jeff b - yeah, me too. i remember research which a's wore #42 before it was retired by the league. very happy tom is back behind the keyboard
adame - it's essentially the nickname for seahawks fans. glad the players shouted them out, because the 12s sure make a lot of noise at centurylink field. in regards to basketball, i've always thought of the 6th man as a player. do loud and proud fans of certain basketball teams call their fans the 6s?
shlatbotnik report - that's crazy. they should just retire it. didn't he help them win four super bowls?
matt - me too. the more the merrier