The Nostalgia Files: Super Jock Football

One toy I fondly remember from the '70s (maybe given as a gift in 1977) was Super Jock Football. If you don't remember the Super Jock toys, they were plastic humanoids, about 8 inches tall, and when you pushed down the head, a body part would move. The baseball Super Jock swung a bat. The basketball Super Jock shot a ball with his arm. The football Super Jock was a kicker, booting a plastic football toward goalposts that came with the toy.

I don't recall owning this toy for beyond a couple years. I did have the soccer and basketball Super Jocks, but the kicker was the signature toy of the series. Plastic toys, especially ones with moving parts on which you slammed your hand onto, don't last long, so I can't remember if it got lost in the toybox or just broke. Or, if I just got bored with it. I can remember using the Super Jock basketballs as whiffle balls, so either I did lose interest or was good at multitasking my toys.

Years later, I would love to get Super Jock Football again. And maybe the other toys in the series as well. My sports-themed office is coming together nicely, with small MLB pennants lining the walls, old baseball hats hanging from the ceiling, a framed Wrigley Field print above my desk and a Marquette banner adorning a closet door. How cool would Super Jock Football be in this room, perhaps on the shelf above the Wrigley poster? In fact, how cool would be the whole series: baseball, soccer, basketball and hockey?

However, I foresee one problem. Even if I did find these on eBay (and they aren't as cheap as I'd prefer), I would want to play with the toys. I'd want to kick field goals and shoot baskets and take slap shots. And if I at age 42 want to, I know the boys will. I'd let them of course, but again, cheap plastic toys and the force of eager kids won't bode well for the Super Jock kicker's neck and legs. That's the problem with going to eBay to reacquire your childhood. You spend a lot for something, then don't want to treat it like it's a collectible.

Then again, I'm not collecting for value or appreciation, or to sell again someday. I'm collecting the memories. 

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