I just watched an old episode of the Fugitive, starring David Janssen. The interesting thing about it, is that it features several 1963 Topps Football cards. Johnny Unitas and Jim Brown's cards are both shown close up. The boy in the story(played by a young Kurt Russell); is the son of Lieutenant Gerrard, who is in constant persuit of Dr. Richard Kimble, the fugitive.
The boy obviously has a fondness for the cards. His father even states, "He'd never go anywhere without those cards." But at one point, he tosses the cards one by one, out a station wagon window, so as to leave a cardboard trail of breadcrumbs to mark his location.
Jim Brown is the first to be sacrificed, landing face up, on a dusty mountain road. Later in the episode, Dr. Kimble is thumbing through a few cards that survived. The camera pans in on a 1963 Topps #1 of Johnny Unitas.
I also remember a Lucy Show episode with some football cards featured around the same time period.
Just was fun to come across and thought I'd share.
There's no intrinsic value in cardboard, but there's a lot of value in doing something you enjoy!