I'm not a big football fan, but wonderful folk art football players keep finding me, and  I unable to resist them! This one, standing over two feet tall and wearing lucky number 7, is a whirligig with arms eager to swing 360 degrees if you or the wind give them a push.  I really love his face--painted with great bushy brows and eyes that look as if closely watching for a football to come flying his way, plus a a wonderfully 3-d sculpted nose. And then especially his carefully crafted real suede helmet with hand-painted seams matched by his cutout suede football!

26" tall, 8 1/2" across at shoulders; base is 14 3/8" across and 5 1/2" deep and in excellent vintage condition. On the underside of the base is carved "Willy", possibly followed by an H or maybe a B (or an 8!) This, and a baseball player whirligig by well known South Dakota based contemporary folk artist Kent Gutzmer, came from the same estate and so I would guess are of roughly the same age, likely 1980s-1990s.