Michigan family discovers rarest football card collection in history
By Eric Pfeiffer

The "anonymous" John Dunlop card, first issued in 1894.

A Michigan family was cleaning out an old farmhouse and accidentally stumbled across a long-sought after collection of football cards worth thousands of dollars and considered perhaps the rarest such collection in history. The set is highlighted by an "anonymous" card of former Harvard football player John Dunlop, which was first issued in 1894.

The Dunlop card alone is reportedly worth $10,000, according to Lou Brown, president of Legends Sports and Games. "If it was in the right condition, it could be worth up to $60,000," Brown told Yahoo! News in a phone interview.

"We get a lot of calls from a lot of people saying they've got something, and usually it's not what you expect," Brown tells local affiliate Fox11. But Brown says this set is something different entierly. "It's the 'Holy Grail' of football cards," he tells Fox11.

The Dunlop card, created by the Mayo Tobocco Works of Richmond Virginia, is called "anonymous" because it did not actually feature Dunlop's name. The entire set is considered the rarest football set in history.

Brown tells Yahoo! News that the Dunlop card is being put up for sale by the Robert Edward Auctions this May.

There are only 10 Dunlop cards known to still exist, with some valued as high as $18,000. The entire collection is the first ever to dedicated to football players. And since there was no NFL at the time, the set focused entirely on the nation's 35 best Ivy League college players, according to the site FootballCardShop.com.

You can view some of the other rare cards from the collection here.

The family also discovered several rare boxing cards, first issued by the same tobacco company in 1890. "I was hoping there might be some baseball cards in there too," Brown, who has been trading cards professionally for over 35 years, told Yahoo! News. "But I'm pretty excited with what they did find."

Brown says the set will be evaluated for their estimated total worth, then either auctioned or purchased by Brown's store directly.

The trading card industry has faced many obstacles in recent years, with competition for fans' dollars and attention going to video games and other non-sports trading card collectible games, like Pokemon and Magic the Gathering. Steven Merriam of the Bleacher Report has written about the decline of the sports trading card industry, placing at least some of the blame on the industry itself for targeting children instead of adults. "Cards are predominantly bought by adults anyway, so I believe they should go back to the way they used to be," Merriam wrote.

"It's a whole different deal now," Brown tells Yahoo! about the ever-changing industry. His own collectible shop, first opened in 1988, now has an entire room dedicated to gaming and other non-sport collectibles.

Pet dog saves 2 girls, but loses her face
By Julie S. Alipala
Inquirer Mindanao

BEAUTY OF THE BEAST. Christina Bunggal plays with a horribly disfigured but treasured family pet Kabang in Zamboanga City. JULIE ALIPALA/INQUIRER MINDANAO

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The story of Kabang is one more heartwarming take on the familiar theme of the pet dog as lifesaver.

Cousins Dina Bunggal, 11, and Princess Diansing, 3, were walking across Nuñez Extension on Dec. 14 not knowing that a speeding motorcycle was bearing down on them. At the crucial moment, Kabang, the Bunggal family’s dog, emerged from nowhere and jumped into the motorcycle’s path.

The cousins stumbled but were otherwise unharmed. The motorcycle driver, likewise unharmed, took them to hospital for treatment of their bruises.

Eyewitness Jovito Urpiano said Kabang (a Visayan term that means “spotty”) shielded the two girls from certain harm.

Urpiano was in an eatery on his noontime break from driving a tricycle and saw how Kabang stopped the motorcycle from hitting the girls. The dog’s head landed directly on the motorcycle’s front wheel, and as it rolled, her snout got stuck in it.

“I thought somebody threw the dog on the motorcycle, but I could not see anyone who might have done that,” Urpiano told the Inquirer. He said it later came to him that Kabang had intentionally blocked the motorcycle’s path to save the girls.

A hero

Rudy Bunggal, Dina’s father who works at a nearby vulcanizing shop, also saw how Kabang saved the lives of his daughter and niece.

“The bones holding her upper snout were crushed, and we could not do anything to save it. We just pulled her off the wheel,” Bunggal said.

Thus freed, Kabang ran away as fast as she could and went missing for two weeks. When she finally returned to the family home, she looked very different.

But her human family could not care less.

“It does not matter if she’s ugly now. What is important to us is she saved our children and we cannot thank her enough for that,” Bunggal said.

“Kabang is a hero,” said his wife Christina.

Milk and porridge

Bunggal said Kabang’s heroic act might have been triggered by her closeness to Dina and Princess.

He said he found Kabang as a puppy near the family home a year ago. “We raised her like she was ours. We gave her Bear Brand (a milk brand) and porridge,” he said.

Buying milk for the dog was a big deal for the family, according to Bunggal, because he and his wife, who sells candies, have a combined daily income of only about P150.

Christina said that as Kabang grew, she was fed the same food that the family ate. “We did not mind if she was an addition to our expenses. We regarded her as part of the family,” she said.

Bunggal said Dina and Princess always played with the dog. “They even sleep together,” he said.

He recalled that Kabang had no history of wandering outside the house, which was why, he said, “we could not believe she went out when she sensed that the girls were in danger.”

Veterinarian Anton Lim of the Tzu Chi Foundation said Kabang’s act of saving the girls showed that she was grateful to the family.

Back to old self

Lim has been treating Kabang for her injuries and has administered antibiotics so her wounds would heal faster.

Kabang now uses her paws to eat. She is back to her old self, and has resumed playing with Dina and Princess.

And she is expecting puppies, according to Christina.