1984-85 Star Franz Trail Blazers

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The 1984-85 Star Franz Trail Blazers set has 13 cards: the full 12-man Portland roster of the 1984-85 season plus head coach Jack Ramsay, sponsored by Franz, the Portland bakery. Cards came one to a loaf of Franz bread, and complete bagged sets were sold too. It holds a second-year Clyde Drexler, a rookie-year Sam Bowie and the first card of Jerome Kersey.

The set at a glance

How the set was made

Star, Robert Levin's small Pennsylvania company, held the NBA license from 1983 to 1986 and made sponsored team sets alongside its base sets. This one was for Franz, the Portland bakery founded in 1906. starbasketballcards.com says one card was inserted in each loaf of Franz bread and that bagged sets could also be bought; Basketball Gold's print-run list says "plus bread issued singles" for both Franz sets. No source gives the dates of the promotion or where the bagged sets were sold.

The fronts have red borders, the Franz script logo at top right in place of Star's usual "STAR '85" and the Blazers pinwheel in a white circle at lower left; the team is printed as one word, "Trailblazers." The backs are headed "Trail Blazer Trading Cards" and numbered "x of 13," with a short bio, one line of stats from 1983-84, the NBPA logo and the Franz logo. Basketball Gold estimates 3,000 bagged sets plus the bread singles; starbasketballcards.com says about 3,000 sets.

Two Franz sets exist and the Drexlers are often mixed up on eBay. The 1985-86 set says "1986 Collector's Issue" across the top, writes "Trail Blazers" as two words and swaps three players for Ken Johnson, Caldwell Jones and Terry Porter. Kersey is #6 here and #8 there.

What collectors should know

• Condition: Basketball Gold has no condition notes for this set; well-centered BGS 9.5 copies exist of the Ramsay, Drexler and Kersey.
• Sealed bags: an original sealed bag proves the cards are original, not that they are mint; you can't see the centering or surfaces of the cards underneath. Resealed Star bags exist, and a GAI bag grade rates the plastic and seals, not the cards.
• Fakes: it is not one of the Type II sets (those are limited to 1985-86 #95-172, the 1986 Jordan set and 1986 Best of the New), and it was not among the sets remade for Shop at Home in 1997.
• Grading: BGS has graded Star since December 2008 and labels the set "1984-85 Star/Franz Portland Trail Blazers." PSA added it in March 2023 as "1984-85 Star Franz Bread." CGC began grading 1980s Star in May 2025; its announcement publishes no set list.

The key cards

• #5 Clyde Drexler: Basketball Gold lists it, with the 1985 Gatorade Slam Dunk card, as a second-year subset card; his rookie is 1983-84 Star #100. Check the top of the card before buying: no "Collector's Issue" banner means 1984-85.
• #6 Jerome Kersey: his first card. Kersey, a 1984 second-round pick, is not in the 1984-85 Star base set; Basketball Gold tags his 1985-86 Star #107 as his rookie card, so this one predates it. (Basketball Gold's glossary makes the same point about Terry Porter's 1985-86 Franz card: a subset card counts as a rookie only when the player has no base card.)
• #2 Sam Bowie: the second pick of the 1984 draft in his rookie season. Basketball Gold tags 1984-85 Star #162 as his rookie card; which of the two was printed first is not documented.
• #13 Kiki Vandeweghe and #11 Mychal Thompson: the team's top two scorers that season, Vandeweghe in his first year in Portland.

Sources

• Basketball Gold: 1984-85 Franz Blazers (our primary source; card images)
• Basketball Gold: 1985-86 Franz Blazers
• Basketball Gold: FAQs (our primary source)
• Basketball Gold: Common Misconceptions
• Basketball Gold: Glossary
• Beckett: "Star Crossed," a Star masterclass with authenticator Steve Taft
• starbasketballcards.com: 1984-85 Star Franz Blazers set (distribution, print run, card back)
• starbasketballcards.com: 1985-86 Star Franz Blazers set
• Trading Card Database: 1984-85 Star Franz Portland Trail Blazers
• Basketball-Reference: 1984-85 Portland Trail Blazers (roster)
• Wikipedia: Franz Bakery
• PSA: PSA expands grading to Star basketball (March 22, 2023)
• starbasketballcards.com: Unlicensed Shop at Home sets
• Sports Collectors Digest: PSA expands Star grading (March 22, 2023)
• All Vintage Cards: PSA grading Star basketball cards
• CGC: Now grading 1980s Star basketball cards (May 23, 2025)

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