This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/8/2013
Truly one of the more personal and intimate items to come off a football player's back is his shoulder pads, especially ones with over ten years of game use from one of the NFL's all-time great quarterbacks. These battered beauties come to you straight from Warren Moon's very own collection. He attests to their wear over the final ten plus seasons of his career as a member of the Houston Oilers, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs. So they date back to the late 1980's when the run-and-shoot offense in Houston was in full effect. They are equipped with an attached hard brace to protect the shoulders, chest and back that wraps around the hips and supports the player's core and midsection. The style of these Douglas, size Large shoulder pads is such that the blue interior padding contorts to the player's frame, perhaps the reason Moon wore them for so many seasons. Like a favorite pair of jeans, he wanted to be comfortable (and protected).
Besides the obvious wear-and-tear from the countless hits Moon took while wearing this under his NFL jerseys, there are some neat identifiers as well. A number "1" green sticker with the Douglas brand logo and "QBL" (for position and size perhaps) pressed into the outer plastic appears over the right chest with a partially torn purple "Moon" sticker over the left chest and a "58" sticker affixed above that. The back features the warning label affixed to the outer plastic on the left side with Moon's no. "1" decal and the Douglas brand sticker on the right. All the straps and buckles are present and functionable. The pads are essentially in as-issued condition notwithstanding the pounding they have received. You won't find a game-used NFL item quite like this one. It belongs in a museum.
LOA from Warren Moon.