The TRUTH be told... The 1961 Sears All-Star Football Catalog

49er's Sears 1961 All star Catalog

Ok, this is pretty cool.  I don't own this (I saw this too late on Ebay, but wouldn't have bought it for the price it sold for) but, it's content is what the "Cool" part is.  I love finding out about the history of a 49er item (memorabilia) that I've bought.  Some of the important things I like to figure out about each item is;

1. The Date.
2. The Manufacture.
3. Was it sold as part of a set? 
4. What did it first sell for?
5. And, any additional detail.

So, when I saw this little catalog, I felt I uncovered the Holy Grail of information about a few of the collector pieces I have in my collection.  

The football Uniform

Inside the 49ers 1961 Sears All Star Catalog - Pages 1-4

As a kid growing up, as soon as I was hooked watching the 49ers every Sunday morning, I wanted to be like my football heroes; John Brodie, Gene Washington, Dave Wilcox, etc..., and I wanted a full uniform like they had.  Every Christmas a 49ers Uniform was on my Christmas list.  I wanted the entire set, the Helmet with the SF logo, the shoulder pads, pants and shoes and of course a Jersey with the number 12.  

I never received a uniform because my mom was the sole provider for 7 kids, but as an adult I now have a full uniform set just like in the ads above, I'll share that in future posts.  But, it's so great to see the uniforms and other clothing from that era.  

I LOVE the sweatshirt shown on the 2nd page in the center section. I especially love the classic "Shootin' 49er" logo they used on those sweatshirts.  I want one of those.

I would also go for the jacket on page 3.  That kid looks like a lineman from the 60's too. 

The 49er Bobber & The Roko Doll

49er's Sears 1961 All star Catalog - Bobbleheads & Roko Doll

I have several Bobblehead figures, but I love how the bobble on the left side sold for what looks to be $1.99, oh bring back those days. 

In seeing this catalog I was shocked to see a few items that they sold at Sears, like the doll on the right side, known as a Roko Doll by Columbia Toy Products. 

1961 Roko (Gund) Doll from Columbia Toy Products

Close Up of the 1961 Roko (Gund) Doll 49ers emblem

First I was shocked by the $3.95 price..."OH I WISH", these dolls in the pristine shape of my guy go into the hundreds.  I have 3 of these, but only this one is in the great shape and with the 49ers "Shootin' 49er" logo like the rest of the 1961 catalog items.  Also, the back of his neck has the date stamp so I knew he was a product from 1961 before I looked at the catalog.

The Fred Kail Statues

49er's Sears 1961 All star Catalog - Fred Kail Statues

One of those items I was shocked to see in the catalog was the Fred Kail statues.  If you're a sports collector you know the story and cost of these statues.  Look at the price these originally sold for...WOW!  Plus, I didn't know they had cutesy names like "Big Joe Jolter" and "Big Bruce Bruiser" for the 10" high figures and "Little" in the name for the 5" high figures.  Pretty cool.  Boy, if I knew back then what I know now, I would have bought Kail Statues as an investment.

I would love to find the original Thermos picnic kit on the left side and the binocular set.  How cool that would be, but I haven't seen anything like it before.

The Weico & Hedy Glassware

49er's Sears 1961 All star Catalog - Weico & Hedy Glassware

The part I was most intrigued with was this page from the catalog.  I have both of these items in my collection.  The Weico 49ers ceramic stadium ashtray is a standard collector piece (I think I have two) and again I love the original price, $3.98

But the true kicker was to see the "Ashtray" and a "Martini Set" for sale in a boys catalog, REALLY!... Classic!  

New Info: I didn't realize that this Hedy set from Daycor, Inc. was a Martini set.  I have a collection started and I'm missing pieces to it.  And from the ad in the catalog, now I realize I'm missing another piece, a metal football shaped swizzle stick/stirrer.

1960's Hedy Glassware collection

1960's Hedy shot glass collection sizes

So the collection of the Daycor, Inc. distributed,  Martini Set designed by Hedy should now consist of;

9 3/4" Carafe
9" Flask with plastic/metal handle Metal football shaped swizzle stick/stirrer

5" Round Glass Ice Bucket
Large Whiskey Glass - 4"
Medium Whiskey Glass - 3.5"
Small Shot Glass - 3"
Mini Shot Glass - 2 3/8"
5.5" Drinking Glass - Tumbler
4"x4"Ashtray w/ dual football shaped metal cigarette holder
6"x6" Candy dish - Single
6"x12" Candy tray - Double
8"x8" Snack plate - Single
8"x16" Double Snack tray - Double
10 3/4" Large plate - Single
10 3/4"x21 1/4" Double Large tray - Double

Man, I hope this is it.  I'm feeling like a hamster in a spinning wheel, the closer I think I'm getting in completing this collection, the more I find I'm missing more pieces...uggghhhh!  This is a true challenge.

The Sears 1961 All Star Catalog - OPPS!

I am stunned that Sears didn't put one of it's own NFL products into the catalog though.

1961 Sears-Roebuck San Francisco Team NFL Helmet Display

Sears sold these helmet displays (in back of the bobbles, plates & balls) for each NFL team and this is dated and noted to be a Sears-Roebuck product in the back.  I'm sure they caught the problem for the 1962 catalog.   

Still it so fun looking into the past Niner collectables.  
 

Go Niners ! ! !

Rah..Rah..Rah.. Who Needs A Rally Monkey Anyway? GO NINERS ! ! !

1970's & 80's 49ers Hand Puppet cheering fans

Several years back, one of my sisters who lives in Oregon saw something I haven't collected yet and sent it to me.  A 49er fan hand puppet.  I had no idea that something like this existed.  So as I searched around I found that there were various dolls or puppets that cheered. So, I've decided to share a few that I've collected.

1970's Cheering 49er hand puppet

First I have a circa 1970's Red uniform hand puppet.  When I say hand puppet, I mean you slip your hand inside the jersey and two of your fingers slip into a mechanical holster and then you're able to control his hands/arms to reach out and punch, or wave this 49ers pennant.  Some descriptions call these puppets punching puppets, I just reference them as hand puppets, since your hands control them.  Both sides of his helmet has scrapped SF logos, but still obvious he's a 49ers fan.

1980's 49ers Fan Hand Puppet

This 1980's hand puppet has some 49ers font used during the 1984 Superbowl era, so that's why I've dated him in the 80s.  None of these puppets or dolls have any real distinct markings to date them.  This guy has WAY TOO MUCH MAKEUP!.  Blue eye mascara?  Come on.   But you've got to love his turtleneck, awesome dude.

1960's 49er Miner Cheering in the stands

This cherub faced 1960's old miner doll has seen better days, but truly a remarkable find.  He's carrying a small 1960's logo styled pennant (I actually have it's bigger brother hanging on my rafters here in the 49ers den).  He has a hard plastic face with awesome color, for it's age.  Unfortunately, his feet, which look like rolled paper, are probably missing his boots or whatever miners wore in that day.  But still he's part of the mini cheering section in the den.

The 49ers den cheering section

 GO NINERS ! ! ! 

America's Sweetheart 49ers Cheerleader Doll

 I'm not one to have dolls, for most guys a GI Joe was the closest thing we got to a doll, and even then it was known as an "action figure".  I have hundreds of 49er Starting Lineup and McFarlane action figures, but not dolls.

For my collection I made an exception.  I recently saw this America's Sweethearts 49er Cheerleader Doll for sale and thought about the young girls and women that are fans of the 49ers too and thought, "...Ok, you should get it...not everything is guys and hard hitting in football".  So true.  There are beauties on the sideline with cheers ringing out and dances being danced.  So I pay homage to them with this "Doll". 

49ers Cheerleader Doll out of box

As far as dating this doll, I'm figuring 1990's to recent,  due to first, the condition of the doll and box, practically new.  But also the logo had the darker red in the logo which was part of the logo change back in 90's until to 2000's.  This doll comes with a certificate, Pom Poms and keeps her hair very neat with a hair net, odd to see a doll with a hair net, but hey what ever works right?

If anyone reading this has more information, I invite you to send me a text about it and would appreciate it.

So, these are some of the puppets and dolls in my collection.

1961 Columbia Toy Products ROKO 49ers Dolls

Twin 1961 49er ROKO Dolls

These are 1961 ROKO 49er Dolls 

Some folks call these "Gund" dolls as well, but I'm not sure if they're Gund.

I don't know much about these dolls other than the obvious things. They're constructed of hard rubber heads and hands with plush fuzzy material for the torso and any other parts with color. And there is canvas type material for the legs and shoe area. The colors of the helmets are the early 1960's Silver with red stripes and no SF logo yet, that came in 1962.

CU of Roko Doll 49ers Shield

There's supposed to be a NFL Team shield on the chest of each doll, one has the 49er's shield but it's really faded and hand sewn to keep it from falling off.  The material of the shield is super fine cotton material.  It's hard to see, but there's the classic 1960s shooting 49er with '49'ers' in bold lettering over him.

1961 & Roko head sta

At the back of the rubber head or neck area it's been stamped with "1961" and below that "ROKO".  Thus the ROKO name I've given it.  Now if this is a "Gund" I would love to hear from anyone about that information, but until then, it's a "ROKO" to me.

(this is the best picture I could take of the stamp)

Columbia Toy Products tag on the 1961 Roko 49ers doll

 There's a product tag on the side of the each doll that reads "Columbia Toy Products" the other side is so faded, I couldn't read it.  There's not much history to read up on them, other than they made all the NFL teams dolls and other character dolls like Popeye and such, so they must have done this for a while during the 60's.

UPDATE: August 1, 2013
 I was able to purchase a 3rd Roko Doll, in near perfect shape and shocked at the condition of this 52 and a half year old doll.  It's amazing it still has this much detail.  I'll for sure be sending this one up to San Francisco for the new museum.  I would say that this is a true HARD TO FIND collectable.

Vintage 1983 Tudor Games, QB’s Of The NFL Figure – 49ers Joe Montana

 Back in 1983 Tudor Games released a little figurine for each football team in the NFL.  These figurines were of the various quarterbacks in the league, for that time of the early 80's.  Seeing that in 1981, just 2 years earlier, the 49ers won their 1^st NFL Championship, the 3.5” 49er figure of Joe Montana was and still is a hot commodity.  

Vintage 1983 Tudor Games 49ers Joe Montana Figure

 I recently acquired this figure for a fair price.  The figure is new and still in it’s original packaging, a major plus.  Most of these figures are loose because kids would take them out and play with them.  So, they’re scarce to still be in the original package like this one.  Also, I just noticed, while shooting the picture for this blog, that the package isn’t 100% flawless.  I noticed that there’s sizable notch on the side of the package, but I’m still glad I’ve got it.  A rare and hard to find figure regardless.

Rare 1974 Tudor 49ers Strategy Jr. Football Game – NEW

Tudor Games has made a few items that I’ve collected these past several years.  

Rare 1974 Tudor Games 49ers "NFL Strategy Jr." Board Game - NEW

The Game, “Strategy Jr.” is a football board game that Tudor made and is up-to-date with the most recent “1974 NFL Rules Changes”, cool I need those new rule changes.  (I'd love to compare them to 2012 rules changes).

The first reason I bought the game was because my hero, John Brodie, was on the cover.  Then once I received it, I realized that it was still in it’s original shrink wrap with 3 different price tags on it. I guess it wasn't a quick seller.

Now, I’m glad I bought it, I love the look and that fact that it’s NEW old stock, very cool.

1960’s 49ers Hartland Lineman and Running Back Figures

Hartland figures in MINT condition can fetch a pretty penny.  Even restoration carries a hefty price, but as for me, I wanted some, but wanted mine to be different.  So…

Vintage 1960's Hartland 49ers Lineman & Running Back Figures

 

The first two figures I bought were older and without a stand for each,  no numbers stenciled on, yet I loved the fact that they were both so rustic.  I had a stand of a football field from one of my larger McFarlane Figures (I’ll be writing later about the TON of 49ers McFarlane's I have) that had already been opened.  So, I customized the field to have a lineman in the front, making room for the running back coming down field with the “Rock”.

My second running back (seen in the front right of the picture) was a great pick up.  It’s in much better shape than the first two, but is without a stand as well.  It's something I’ll eventually get.  I love these figures because of the age, the classic late 50’s early 60’s uniform looks and the Vintage style of all three together.

 

Recently, (June 2023), I found a Hartland figure complete for a very reasonable price, so I picked it up to add to the collection.  Outside of vintage dust on his stand, he's in great shape.  Love these figures for the historical value.

Vintage 49'ers Linebacker figure

 

 

Vintage Early 1960's 49ers Johnny Hero Uniform

Vintage 1960's 49ers Johnny Hero Uniform (1 in package one on a 60's GI Joe)

I've collected 3 of these 1960's Johnny Hero uniforms in their original packaging.  I took one out and put it on a 1960's GI Joe figure, cuz that was what they were made to go onto.  These uniforms came complete with the following;

1 - Uniform Jersey (Team colors)
1 - Team Logo'd helmet
1 - Uniform pants (Team colors)
1 pair sock liners
1 pair socks (Team colors)
1 pair cleats
1 football (hard plastic)

Now for some reason we all called these Johnny Hero, yet the packaging clearly says "Olympic Hero", go figure.

49ers 1983 Tonka Van and Figures

49ers 1983 Tonka Van and Figure set

Within the last couple of years I came across other collections from guys who collect other teams like the Giants, Bears, etc.  In their collections I noticed they had some toys with their team logo's made by Tonka, which dated back to 1983.  I found out that all the NFL teams had items made by Tonka back then, so I started looking around and eventually collected the two main items that Tonka made back then with each NFL teams logo and colors.

1983 Tonka 49ers Van, player and bench

First, is the 1983 Tonka Van with included a player and bench with opening sunroof and back door.  I found this collection was in great shape, but no original packing.  But still a great find for me.

New (Old) 1983 49ers Tonka "Players" figure and disk

Months later, I found a completely sealed 1983 Tonka NFL "Players" figure with plastic logo disk. Sweet!

I'm glad, now have both to complete the 1983 release of NFL teams Tonka toys.

Why The Blog?

As an young boy growing up in Oregon, whose father died at the age of 5, being raised by a drug and alcohol addicted mother trying to care for 6 other siblings, I found myself wanting to be lost in something that would temporarily take me away from the chaos of life.  Football became that getaway.

One typical misty Sunday fall day in Woodburn Oregon, I wanted to play some football with a friend up the street, Dennis Canady.  I knocked on his door and heard the constant crowd drone from the TV, it was a football game.  Dennis wanted to go outside, but laid on the floor, hands holding his cheeks and was glued to the TV watching "his team", the Vikings.  I asked who was playing and Dennis said, the "Vikings and the Niners", I questioned, "...the Niners? who are they?" Dennis mumbled "Oh, there not that good...it's a team called the 49ers, you know like gold miners from the 1800's, they're from San Francisco"  

That was 1967.  I like there Gold and Red uniforms, Red was always my favorite color plus, I liked the guy with the #12 on his uniform, 12 was my favorite number. So, I decided to cheer for that underdog team.  

As the game played on and I cheered for that Red and Gold team with the cool looking SF on their helmets and that #12 guy, Dennis was getting angrier and angrier.  See, that team that wasn't "...that good", won the game 27 to 21 on the road, in Minnesota.  Dennis was PISSED !  The rest of the afternoon our football play was really rough, Dennis was taking out the loss on me.

At sunset I went home and told my mom about the game, the team the colors and that they were from San Francisco.  She said, "I grew up in the 'Bay' area, I loved that area, you would love it too".

From that date forth, I became a DIEHARD 49er Fan.  Through the good, bad and sometimes awful times.  Remaining Red and Gold thru and thru.  I eventually became familiar with the names like #12 (John Brodie), Parks, Willard, Crow, Nunley and as time passed...Washington, Wilcox and the list grew and grew throughout the years.  Now as I live in Los Angeles, even my kids and now their kids are growing up Niner Fans.  Not to miss quote the Bible, I'm a true Christian man, but I'm reminded in Proverbs, 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.  And I know that applies in other aspects, but it also applies to the Niners in my household.

It's a little quirky why someone would like a team because of their colors, a number and a city you don't even live near, but hey that's the reason for my collection and passion.  The Niners.