Six degrees Fuji challenge

While reading The Chronicles of Fuji I saw a challenge that seemed interesting.

I immediately thought about a card that Topps put out, and wondered if I could come up with the six degrees of separation between the two players.

2010 Topps - Gridiron Lineage #GL-BP



As it turned out, it wasn't as hard as I thought.

1961 Topps #77



Starting point: Jim Brown played for the Cleveland Browns from 1957-1965.

First degree: Gene Hickerson

1972 Sunoco Stamps NNO



In his Hall of Fame career from 1958-1973, Gene Hickerson blocked for Jim Brown. In his last couple of years he played on the offensive line with the Browns current radio analyst Doug Dieken.

Second degree: Doug Dieken

1991 Action Packed Whizzer White Award #17



Doug Dieken manned the offensive line for the Browns from 1971-1984. During this time he probably had to block the next degree player at practice many times.

Third degree: Clay Matthews II

1990 Pro Set #353



Right now, everyone can probably figure out where the next degree is going to come from. Clay Matthews (whose father Clay also played in the NFL) played for the Browns from 1978-1993 before finishing his career with the Atlanta Falcons from 1994-1996. However, for our purposes, he is the father of the next degree player. And I chose this card for Clay's hair, to show the similarity with his son.

Fourth degree: Clay Matthews III

2009 Topps Kickoff #140

 



This Clay Matthews hahass played for the Green Bay Packers since 2009. Of course, Green Bay is a division rival of Adrian Peterson's Minnesota Vikings, and plays them twice a year. Both players also would have been on the same Pro Bowl teams together on multiple occasions. (I suppose if you don't want to count Pro Bowls I could then add an extra step with wide receiver Greg Jennings, who played with both teams/players.)

Fifth degree: Adrian Peterson

2014 Topps #32 variant



I couldn't find a card with both Clay Matthews and Adrian Peterson on it, but I thought this one of Peterson scoring would be appropriate. In 16 regular season games against the Packers, Adrian Peterson has 14 touchdowns.