Pro Set was a Dallas-based trading card company founded by Ludwell Denny in 1988. Denny had gained a card license that year after making and selling other NFL memorabilia in previous years. His licensing agreement with NFL Properties allowed Denny to gain access to its extensive photo library and become the first card maker officially associated with a professional sports league. Across the bottom of most of his company's cards was its designation as "The Official NFL Card", a distinction it held through 1991.

During its years in the business, Pro Set acquired licenses from several sports associations including the NFL, NHL, NASCAR and PGA Tour to produce trading cards.

In February 2021, Leaf Trading Cards CEO Brian Gray announced that the company had assumed control of the Pro Set trademark and of its intention to resurrect the brand.

History The first year that Pro Set released a product was 1989. The year marked the beginning of the modern era for pro American Football Cards. Score (who had entered the market the year before with baseball) also released a football product. For several years, Pro Set flooded the market with its product. The company managed to produce football sets through 1993. In 1994, Pro Set folded due to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, citing more than $800,000 in unpaid royalties to the NFL Players Association.

Remembering Lud Denny and Pro Set by Rich Klein, 8 Nov 2011

Pro Set made rookie cards of actual rookies (notably draft picks) and offered more color and action shots than Topps did. Pro Set claimed to have its own printing presses for its product, which could make and issue cards very quickly. For its first football card set in 1989, Pro Set released its cards in three series. The 1989 rookies were found primarily in the second series. Key rookies in the set included Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas, and Deion Sanders. The 100 card Series II set was sold in packs, but the packs averaged 11 Series I cards and 4 Series II cards per pack. These cards not only featured first round picks but featured later round picks. These cards were labelled as Pro Set Prospects.

At its peak, Pro Set had a headquarters, where 225 employees designed various cards. In 1992, Pro Set forecasted sales of $165 million. A free magazine was published by Pro Set called the Pro Set Gazette. It was mailed to 1.2 million collectors twice a year. Beckett Publications noted that in 1991, sports cards grossed about $1.9 billion in sales in North America, so Pro Set had a dramatic impact, albeit briefly.

Insert cards

Football There were a number of inserts in 1989 Pro Set football, including a 30 card subset of broadcasters. There were also Super Bowl insert cards for each game that had been played. There was also a card for NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle. Pro Set introduced an insert card for Santa Claus that was labelled as a coach card. The first year it was released was in 1989 and it was a dealer premium. It was inserted in packs in 1990 and 1991. The Santa Claus cards included Pro Set founder Ludwell Denny somewhere in the card. On the back of each Santa card is a parody of the poem "The Night Before Christmas" that has sportscard subject matter. Pro Set included other insert cards in its 1990 offering, such as Payne Stewart, a comic book character called Super Pro, which was a superhero in a football uniform, a tribute to the late Joe Robbie, and the Lombardi Trophy Hologram card.

Error cards

Football The 1990 Pro Set football card release has several errors and variations. Due to a contractual dispute, and his unwillingness to join the NFLPA, the Pro Bowl card of Eric Dickerson (No. 338) was withdrawn early creating a short print. Card #338 would be reissued with Ludwell Denny on the front and it was a promotional card not available in packs. Card #75 in the set was meant to be Browns Center Cody Risien, but the card was withdrawn early due to his retirement during training camp, also resulting in a short print. The most sought after variation from 1990 Pro Set is card #204 Fred Marion of the New England Patriots. This card is rather controversial because the card features San Francisco 49ers player John Taylor in the background and the belt from Taylor's pants came undone. The positioning of the belt gives the appearance that his private area is exposed, but it is just a shadow and the belt.

Other error cards and variations in the 1990 Pro Set football set include: Athlete Error Description Correction Description Barry Sanders 1a No ROY trophy on back 1b Shows picture of Barry holding the ROY trophy Joe Montana 2a back reads "Kelly-3,521 yards" 2b back corrected to "Kelly: 3,130 yards" Walter Stanley 15a #8 on back 15b #86 on back Chris Doleman 18a error back, wrong stats, "Townsent" 18b back corrected to 104.5 sacks for Taylor; "Townsent" corrected to "Townsend" Andre Ware 19a no draft stripe on front 19b draft stripe on front Mo Elewonibi 20a no draft stripe on front 20b draft stripe on front Percy Snow 21a no draft stripe on front 21b draft stripe on front Anthony Thompson 22a no draft stripe on front 22b draft stripe on front Franco Harris 25a wrong birthdate 25b corrected birthdate 3/7/50 Jack Lambert 27a wrong birthdate 27b corrected birthdate 7/8/52 Mike Ditka 59a SMALL FONT for "Hall Of Fame" on front 59b LARGE FONT for "Hall Of Fame" on front Rickey Dixon 63a no bio notes under photo 63b bio notes under photo Sam Wyche 68a no bio notes under photo 68b bio notes under photo Ozzie Newsome 75a wrong hometown 75b corrected hometown: Muscle Shoals, AL Johnny Holland 110a no name, number on back 110b corrected Perry Kemp 111a Ken Stills photo on back 111b corrected Sterling Sharpe 114a says he was born in Glenville 114b corrected birthplace: Chicago, IL Andre Rison 134a NO TRADE STRIPE 134b WITH TRADE STRIPE Mervyn Fernandez 152a Draft status incorrect 152b status corrected to "Drafted 10th round '83" Art Shell 161a Birthdate: 11/25/46 on back 161b Birthdate: 11/26/46 on back, large HOF print in banner on front Fred Marion 204a 49ers player with belt 204b 49ers players belt airbrushed out Morten Andersen 210a name in white on back 210b corrected (name in black) Eric Martin 216a name in white on back 216b corrected (name in black) Jim Mora 221a name in white on back 221b corrected (name in black) Charles Haley 289a incorrect fumble recovery stats 289b stats corrected to 5 total fumble recoveries Ray Perkins 319a no name or position on back 319b corrected Chris Hinton 343a no stripe 343b with traded stripe Randall Cunningham 386a Small Print On Front 386b Large Print On Front Dan Hampton 449a DE on back 449b DT on back Kevin Glover 496a C-G back 496b G back Wes Hopkins 607a Stat Categories Fumbles and Interceptions in Black 607b Stat Categories Fumbles and Interceptions in RED Rod Woodson 626a Red fumble interceptions header 626b Black fumble interceptions header Rod Bernstine 627a position listed as TE 627b position corrected to RB Anthony Miller 630a position listed as WR on the back 630b position listed as WR-KR on the back Leslie O'Neal 632a position listed as LB-DE on front 632b position listed as LB on front David Richards 633a position listed as G-T on back 633b position listed as G on back Curt Jarvis 657a no "Official NFL card" on front 657b "Official NFL card" added to front Terry Wooden 698a back number 90 698b back number 51 Pat Terrell 718a back number 41 718b back number 37 Oliver Barnett 723a position listed as DT on front 723b position listed as NT on front Johnny Bailey 743a Back says 46 743b Back says 22 Eric Moore 744a no prospect stripe 744b prospect stripe added Dexter Manley 772a mentions substance abuse problems on the back of the card 772b does not mention substance abuse on back Commissioner at Berlin Wall 785a back says "peered through the Berlin Wall" 785b "posed at the Berlin Wall" Various cards in the 1990 offering have three variations. They are as follows: Card 15: Walter Stanley, the number on the back of the card is 87. Card 134: Andre Rison, traded stripe on front, message Are You Missing Something is on the back Card 161: Art Shell, the birthdate of 11/26/46 is on the back, small HOF print in banner on front There were multiple Team Draft Day varieties of Jeff George. He was featured in his Illinois Fightin’ Illini uniform. One version had the Patriots logo on the front of the card. Another version was randomly inserted in packs of Series 1 football, and featured the card, but with the Indianapolis Colts logo.

Hockey

1990-91 Pro Set Hockey