• That’s No Happy Meal Cup (1972)

    Scanning through the recent eBay auctions, this caught my eye.   It’s a 1972 Burger King cup featuring then-San Francisco 49ers linebacker Frank Nunley.   Nunley patrolled the middle for Bump Elliott’s Wolverines from 1964-1966, earning all-Conference his senior season. I was able to connect with Nunley who explained why his face ended up on BK cup. “Len Rhode, 49er offensive tackle, owned a few Burger Kings around here.  Still does,” Nunley wrote me.  “He featured a different 49er each week. I think that is where this came from.” It was during his stint in SF that Nunley earned his nickname, “Fudge Hammer”.   According to Matt Maiocco’s book, San Francisco 49ers, Nunley owes the nickname to his NFL teammate Stan Hindman.   Apparently Nunley didn’t possess an intimidating physique but could drill opposing players with the best of them, as in, “he looked like fudge but hit like a hammer.”   Naturally I needed to get a few memories on Nunley from 1964 team captain Jim Conley, who once again did not disappoint.  Enjoy: Frank Nunley was a freshman when I was a senior.  I remember his first significant contribution to our 1964 team occurred when Dr. Barry Dehlin got a knee injury.   He came running into the defensive huddle and asked, “What do I do?”.  I told him that Bill Yearby and I…