1989 Denver Nuggets Safety Set

You can believe me when I tell you I am not a basketball fan. While I can tolerate the college game, I have absolutely no love for the pro game.

I have to confess, however, the only pro basketball I have attended were two Denver Nugget games at McNichols Arena, when I lived in Denver. The first, I was part of the military honor guard presenting the colors at that evening's game. It was snowing like crazy that night, so we stayed for one quarter and then left.

I brought my family for my second Nuggets game, since it was military night and Denver was offering cheap tickets to the military. It was Jan. 17, 1991. I remember it vividly, because that was the same night President George Bush announced U.S. forces had invaded Iraq, turning shock into awe, as Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm.

The game was delayed for more than a half hour as Bush's speech was broadcast over the Jumbotron. Once the game resumed, the Nuggets went on to beat the Charlotte Hornets, 111-104.

A few months later, I would be deployed as part of Desert Storm myself, but that's a whole different story.

Back to basketball.

During the 1989-90 season, the Nuggets, Pepsi, 7-11, and Denver's Children's Hospital joined forces to offer a 12-card safety set. The cards were 4 - 1/8" x 2 - 5/8," with a nice action shot of the player on the front, with their name and number listed vertically along the right edge, and logos of the Nuggets, Pepsi, and 7-11.





















Being a safety set, the backs featured a white background with blue lettering, which included a safety tip from that particular player, as well as a number to call for a free KidSmart! Safety Quiz and poster.

All you had to do was buy a drink or a Slurpee, and you received two cards.

I believe the promotion only ran for about a month, but it got me to thinking, "I wonder what they do with those cards when they're done with the promotion?"

 Again, while I'm not a pro basketball fan, I am a card collector first and foremost, so the pack rat side of me took over. After talking to the managers of four neighborhood stores, I received a case full of cards from each of them.

I ended up trading away three of the cases (one of them actually went for a Scottie Pippen Rookie card, which I then flipped for a very nice batch of Tony Gwynn cards

 Eddie Hughes, Alex English, Walter Davis, Fat Lever, Michael Adams and Todd Lichti. Adams was a quick little player and was a 3-point machine, able to put the ball up from anywhere. English, however, I feel was the most exciting player on the team.

T.R. Dunn, Bill Hanzlik, Dan Schayes, Jerome Lane, Blair Rasmussen, and Time Kempton.

Which leaves me with part of a case left of a sport I don't particularly care for. If anyone is interested in owning one of these safety sets, let me know and I'll postt an envelope into the USPS with your name on it.

Stay healthy and safe out there.