The Long-Forgotten NFL Action Team Mates!

Back in 1977, a company named Pro Sports Marketing released a line of NFL football player action figures, which could be customized with number stickers to make any player you wanted. Named NFL Action Team Mates, they were a forerunner to modern sports figures like Kenner’s Starting Lineup and McFarlane’s multiple sports figure lines.

If you’re unfamiliar with them, that’s because they weren’t readily available even in the 1970s, and they are incredibly rare to find today on the secondary market. They were primarily available through retail catalogs.

The highly-poseable figures were crafted much like Mego figures, only with much lower quality. The plastic used on the poseable bodies was cheap and thin, and the rubber bands holding them together didn’t hold up to heavy play. Even so, the 7-inch figures looked great, and the customization option was a nice option for kids who wanted to use the enclosed stickers to “make” their favorite player. Every NFL team got figures, with both white and black players available. The figures were primarily sold through the Sears and J.C. Penney catalogs of the time.

In many cases, the figures were sold with numbers already attached, usually with the most popular player for that team. As a kid growing up in Dallas back in the day, I found the figure at a local Sears with the number 12 on the jersey, for Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach. My local Sears also had a number of Baltimore Colts figures, likely because the Cowboys and Colts faced off in the Super Bowl V, and Sears figured kids would want an opponent.

As a kid, I really wanted a Roger Staubach figure when I saw it at my local Sears, but with Christmas approaching, I had to wait to get it. Unfortunately, when my parents went back to get one for me, they had sold out. As an adult, I did eventually find one over 20 years later (thanks eBay), but it was in terrible condition.

This scan from a 1979 Sears catalog featured the figures, which sold for $6.49.

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There was even a field made for the figures, complete with goalposts, benches, and yard markers.

This picture appears to show a stadium backdrop, which was reportedly sold with the stadium set. We haven’t been able to confirm that, however.

This scan from the 1982 Sears Wishbook shows the price of figures dropped to $5.49.

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This YouTube video provides more information on the NFL Action Team Mate line.

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