Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
By September 1973, Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka were among the most recognizable figures in professional football, fresh off the Miami Dolphins' perfect 17-0 season in 1972 and a Super Bowl VII championship. Nicknamed "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" for their close friendship and shared backfield duties, the two running backs had become as well known for their off-field camaraderie as for their on-field production. This Esquire cover, which depicted the pair dressed as Old West gunslingers, played directly into that nickname, turning a sports profile into a piece of cultural iconography that extended well beyond the football pages. The timing of the issue is notable, arriving in the months following Miami's second consecutive Super Bowl appearance, when the Dolphins' dynasty was at its peak and national interest in the team's personalities was correspondingly high. Kiick and Csonka's celebrity by this point extended beyond typical athlete coverage; the pair had already been the subject of a widely discussed Sports Illustrated cover the previous year, and 1973 saw the release of their co-written book, Always on the Run, with sportswriter Dave Anderson.
This Esquire issue is closely tied to that book, since its cover feature drew from the same material, giving readers an early look at the pair's account of their time with the Dolphins, including their relationship with coach Don Shula and the internal competition that shaped the team's backfield rotation. That connection between a major sports memoir and a general-interest magazine's cover treatment reflects how thoroughly professional football had entered the broader cultural conversation by the early 1970s, no longer confined to the sports press alone. Esquire's decision to feature two athletes in such a stylized, costumed cover image also reflects the magazine's broader editorial sensibility of the period, which favored wit and visual personality over straightforward reportage. For collectors, this issue represents a specific convergence of sports history and magazine publishing: a moment when two football stars at the height of their fame were treated as cultural figures worthy of Esquire's particular brand of irreverent, image-driven storytelling. The choice to present them as Old West dandies rather than in football gear also signals how comfortably the magazine moved between sports coverage and broader cultural commentary, a hallmark of Esquire's editorial identity in this era.
The issue's value to collectors, then, comes from this dual identity: it is simultaneously a piece of Miami Dolphins memorabilia and a representative artifact of early-1970s general-interest magazine publishing at one of its more stylish moments. Readers encountering this issue today are seeing both a snapshot of peak Dolphins-era celebrity and a document of how a literary-minded magazine like Esquire chose to package that celebrity for its audience. That combination is part of what makes the issue a recurring point of interest within Esquire magazine collecting circles, where sports-adjacent covers from this period are often singled out for their crossover appeal.
About the Publication
Esquire, founded in 1933, established itself early on as a general-interest magazine for men, blending long-form journalism, fiction, humor, and cultural commentary with a literary sensibility that distinguished it from more straightforward lifestyle or sports titles. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, the magazine built a reputation for publishing major American writers and for tackling politics, social change, and culture with a distinct editorial voice, often pairing serious journalism with sharp visual wit on its covers. Esquire's audience during this period tended to be well-educated, culturally engaged men interested in ideas as much as lifestyle, a readership the magazine cultivated through its mix of investigative writing, fiction from notable authors, and commentary on the rapidly shifting social landscape of the era. The magazine's format typically combined a handful of substantial feature articles with shorter cultural pieces, fiction, and service content like fashion guides, a structure this September 1973 issue follows closely. Esquire's willingness to feature athletes alongside political writers and literary fiction in the same issue reflects the magazine's broader ambition to speak to the full range of a sophisticated reader's interests rather than specializing narrowly in any one subject.
Key Highlights Inside
- Cover feature on Miami Dolphins running backs Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka, photographed in costume as Old West dandies. The image played on the duo's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" nickname, which had followed them since their early years as Dolphins teammates. The cover arrived during the height of their fame, shortly after Miami's perfect 1972 season and consecutive Super Bowl appearances.
- Material connected to Kiick and Csonka's 1973 book "Always on the Run," co-written with sportswriter Dave Anderson. The book offered an inside account of their years with the Dolphins, including their relationship with coach Don Shula and their rivalry with fellow running back Mercury Morris. Esquire's cover treatment gave the book early national exposure beyond the sports press.
- "The Sun Sometimes Sets on the American Empire" by Tom Miller. Esquire regularly published long-form political and cultural commentary alongside its lighter features during this period. A piece with this title fits the magazine's recurring interest in America's global standing during the early 1970s.
- "Why So Hasty, Mr. Csonka?" feature article. The piece appears tied to the same Kiick and Csonka cover package, extending the magazine's sports coverage beyond the cover image itself. Esquire often paired a cover personality with a more pointed or questioning interior feature rather than straightforward praise.
- A special Fall/Winter Fashion Guide with designer previews. Seasonal fashion coverage was a regular component of Esquire's editorial calendar, reflecting the magazine's role as a style authority for its male readership. Pairing fashion content with hard-hitting journalism and sports coverage was typical of the magazine's broad-spectrum approach in this era.
- Fiction including "Roller Ball Murder," along with additional essays and letters. Esquire was known throughout this period for publishing notable short fiction alongside its journalism. The inclusion of speculative or genre fiction like this reflects the magazine's willingness to mix literary ambition with more commercial storytelling.
Condition & Rarity
Surviving copies of this issue are generally evaluated using the same standards collectors apply across vintage general-interest magazines: cover gloss and corner sharpness, spine integrity, absence of subscription labels or mailing stickers, and overall page condition free of tears, foxing, or moisture damage. A copy described as showing only light wear consistent with its age, without major structural flaws, would be considered in solid collector-grade condition for a magazine now more than fifty years old. Given the issue's age, some minor cover softening or light handling creases are typical and generally expected rather than treated as significant flaws. A plastic protective sleeve is a common and effective safeguard for issues of this vintage, helping prevent further handling wear, UV exposure, and humidity damage, though it has no bearing on the grade of the magazine itself. As with most 1970s general-interest titles, unlabeled newsstand copies tend to be more desirable to collectors than subscription copies, since they typically present cleaner covers without label residue or address imprinting. Newsstand copies also tend to have seen less repeated handling over their distribution life compared to copies that were folded for mailing. For an issue built around a striking, costume-style cover image like this one, cover presentation carries particular weight in overall condition assessments, since the visual is central to the issue's appeal. Pages free of yellowing, brittleness, or prior tape repairs are typically considered the benchmark for a well-preserved copy of this era.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
An Esquire issue built around a cover this distinctive, two NFL stars styled as Old West outlaws, doesn't come up often, and this one captures Kiick and Csonka at the very height of their Dolphins fame. If this particular issue isn't available, it's worth browsing the broader Esquire magazine collection for other issues from this title's long run of culturally sharp, well-written covers. Collectors focused on the era itself may also want to look through the full range of 1973 magazines for other issues from the same year. Each of these collections offers a different way into the period, whether the focus is this specific title's editorial voice or the broader cultural snapshot of a single year. A single year's worth of magazines often tells a more complete story than any one issue on its own, especially for a year as eventful as 1973. Browsing by publication can also help collectors trace how a title's visual style and editorial tone shifted across consecutive issues. Whichever angle appeals most, these collections are a useful starting point for going deeper into this period of magazine history.