1981 Topps #347 Don Bass

Since the Run and Shoot days, the University of Houston has had some great wide receivers who put up some amazing stats. But prior to that in the Veer days, the Cougars had some great pass catchers even if they didn't all have the big numbers.

One of those guys was tight end Don Bass who played at UH from 1975-77. He was a member of the 1976 team that won UH's first year in the Southwest Conference, won the Cotton Bowl, and finished #4 in the polls.

Although he never had more than 42 receptions in a season (compare that to UH in 2009 when 5 people had 42 or more receptions), he did lead the team in receptions in 1975 (38) and 1977 (42). Bass also led team in punt returns in 1975 and kickoff returns in 1977.

His biggest single game was probably vs TCU on 10/30/1976 where he scored 24 points, good enough for #5 in UH history.

Bass was named 1st Team All-Southwest Conference in 1977 and was an All-American Honorable Mention in 1976 and 1977.

After his college career, Don was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 3rd round of the 1978 NFL Draft. He played for the Bengals from 1978-81 and for the New Orleans Saints in 1982.

Today's card is the 1981 Topps #347. Now we're starting to get to old school football cards. Notice the lack of team logo or stripes on the helmet. From the 1970s to 1982, Topps did not have the rights to use them. So the helmet is airbrushed.

I remember owning plenty of cards from this set when I was younger. That includes the Joe Montana rookie which I still own although the condition isn't that great.