Card Fable

Former Chargers tackle Ron Mix learned several years ago that many of his fellow Pro Football Hall of Famers were living on not much more than Social Security and a modest league pension—maybe $1,500 a month, total. Says Mix, a lawyer in San Diego, "For most of us in the Hall, except for the Joe Namaths and the Mike Ditkas, you go through the week's activities in Canton, where they tell you how great you were, then you have to wake up Monday and scratch out a living like everyone else."

Three years ago Mix asked each of the 130 living members of the Hall of Fame to sign 2,500 trading cards that would be specially designed for them. The cards would be sold in sets for $1,675, with each Hall participant—the long-forgottens and the big names alike—receiving an equal share in the profits. All but II Hall members agreed. "This wouldn't have worked without Na-math, Dorsett, Butkus and those guys," says Mix, "but they saw it as a way to give back to guys who loved the game as much as they did."

Mix commissioned designs for each of the participating Hall of Famers and shipped the 2,500-card batches to the players in the spring and summer of 1998. Before he shipped Doak Walker's Cards, Mix learned that the Hall of Fame running back had been paralyzed from the neck down in a skiing accident. After talking to Walker's wife, Skeeter, who said Doak was still on board, Mix sent the batch. Soon Walker's signed cards arrived in the mail. With the help of Skeeter and using a hand and wrist brace, Walker had: spent time every day signing DOAK until he got about 2,000 cards done. "Signing was the highlight of his day," says Skeeter.

Two other Hall members—Tom Fears and Weeb Ewbank—signed their cards shortly before they died. Fears, who suffered from Alzheimer's, had the project explained to him every day by his wife, Luella, before he sat down, pen in hand. He finished about; 1,600 before he died earlier this month. "Imagine that," Mix says. "He made the decision 50 different times to help his fellow Hall members."

Mix, who markets the cards out of his house, says sales have been brisk. If the sets sell out, each participating Hall of Famer should get $18,000 or more. "For at least 40 guys, their share in this project will be more than their average salary over their NFL career," Mix says. "For some it will be more than they've earned in years."