Schuckman: NFL SuperPro Club responsible for amazing childhood memories that never wane

QUINCY — The box smelled like you might expect from something that sat on a shelf in a basement closet for the last 35 years.

The white oversized envelopes neatly stacked inside the box aren’t necessarily white anymore, but they managed to keep their contents safe and pristine all this time. The fact nothing inside was damaged or creased is a minor miracle.

Opening each envelope led to a trip back in time, to a childhood relived.

What an amazing journey it has been.

My parents moved out of my boyhood home during the summer of 1990 and into the house they still own. I am the youngest of six siblings, and I was the only one to live at the house in Holiday Hills since the others were either married or had graduated from college by then.

The move meant everything I had collected in the house on Monroe Street was boxed up and hauled to a smaller house with a smaller bedroom and less storage. That explains why this box — there are probably others, too — ended up in the basement closet.

Recently, my parents decided the time to downsize is coming, so cleaning out the basement and the garage and all other storage areas is slowly taking place. That’s how these relics were unearthed.

All my dad said when he called was he had a box of memorabilia for me.

He hadn’t dug through it. He just put it to the side and told me to come by and pick it up when I had time.

Sunday morning, I spent some time with my parents, and before I left, my dad brought the box out of storage and set it on the kitchen table. I pulled a couple things off the top, including an old shoebox that had two collections of mini NFL helmets inside.

I knew immediately what they were, where they came from and what else might be lurking in that stack of envelopes.

As soon as I got home, I began unloading all of the memories.

In the early 1980s, the NFL offered a club for young football fans to join. It was called the “NFL SuperPro Club,” and by signing up, you received a package each month with a newsletter, pieces of memorabilia and other unique items tailored to the NFL and your favorite team.

It truly felt like Christmas once a month when that package arrived in the mail.

In some ways, it felt like that again Sunday.

I uncovered my official membership card, which not only made me a member of the NFL SuperPro Club, but also a member of the Dallas Cowboys chapter. In 1983, at the age of 10, with the Tony Dorsett poster on my bedroom wall, I was rooting for one team and one team only.

America’s team.

There were posters dedicated to the Cowboys. A calendar dedicated to the Cowboys’ silver season celebrating their 25th anniversary as a franchise was a keeper. But the SuperPro Club was more than a way to connect to your favorite. It developed a connection to the game and the league.

Among the treasures I found was a book titled “The Illustrated NFL Playbook.” It was 128 pages describing plays, rules, positions, strategies and terminology. The fact the Cowboys were featured on the cover was just a bonus. Each package contained a newsletter titled “SuperPro Signals,” and at the beginning of each season, every member received a message from NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle.

And as for those mini helmets, each set served a different function. One set had a magnet on the back of each helmet and came with AFC and NFC magnetic standings boards, while in the other set, every helmet was a push pin so you could make your own standings on a cork bulletin board.

It’s incredible to look at those helmets now and see which teams no longer exist or are no longer in their original city. The logo and color changes are just as amazing.

Times clearly have changed, but the passion for the game and the thrill of being a fan have never waned.

And I still have the membership card to prove it.