O - Pee - Chee O - Pee - Chee was a 20th - century Canadian company that produced candy , and later trading card s . It was started in London , Ontario in 1911 by two brothers , John and Duncan McDermid . Today , the O - Pee - Chee brand of trading cards are produced by The Upper Deck Company . Young Canada ' s Favourite ( written by O - Pee - Chee Company in 1989 or 1990 ) . The name O - Pee - Chee is an Aboriginal word meaning " the Robin " as is found in " The Song of Hiawatha " by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . It also happened to be the name of McDermid ' s summer cottage in Grand Bend . Back in those days , it was probable that a favourite juvenile expression might have been " Oh , it ' s peachy ! " Hence , the name O - Pee - Chee Gum Company . In 1921 , O - Pee - Chee Gum Company was sold to a trust with the intent of incorporating the Company and changing its name to O - Pee - Chee Company Limited . Initially , it was incorporated as a public Company with five shareholders and four directors - all members of the McDermid family . The sales for the first year of operation of O - Pee - Chee Company Limited were $ 177 , 389 . 84 with a profit of $ 4 , 766 . 92 . The products manufactured were chewing gum , mints and various types of popcorn - especially Krackley Nut . In that year , there were 30 employees in the plant and the annual payroll was $ 31 , 614 . 38 , including management salaries and bonuses . The McDermids owned and operated both O - Pee - Chee Company Limited and Somerville Paper Box Limited until 1944 when they sold the Somerville business to Garfield Weston . In 1945 , O - Pee - Chee Company Limited was changed from a public company to a private company . For many years , National Novelty Company was a subsidiary of O - Pee - Chee Company acting as a retail outlet , selling candy goods over the counter , and also servicing gum vending machines in the area . In 1928 , a manufacturing facility was built at 430 Adelaide Street in London . Initially , this plant was erected primarily to supply a substantial export gum business to the United Kingdom . From 1928 until 1989 , this plant housed some of the most modern gum and candy making equipment available in the world . During the depression years , the Company operated mainly at a loss . In 1933 , a licensing agreement was signed with a Buffalo firm to manufacture and sell a line of paraffin chewing gum and novelties . This allowed O - Pee - Chee to sell these products in Canada as well as in Great Britain and Ireland . About this time , Frank P . Leahy joined the firm as Sales Manager and John Gordon McDermid , the son of J . K . McDermid , also became active in the business . With the arrival of World War II , accompanied by sugar and other commodity rationing , O - Pee - Chee Company existed mainly because of war contracts to supply dried egg powder to Europe and the United Kingdom . Employees , who worked at O - Pee - Chee during the war , recall the incident when a boat carrying a load of egg powder was sunk in the St . Lawrence River by a German submarine and the shipment had to be returned to London for repacking . During this time , the only gum product manufactured was Thrills - a product which is still being sold today . D . H . McDermid passed away in December 1942 and J . K . McDermid died of a heart attack in 1945 at age 79 . J . K . was a charter member of the London Rotary Club and was an active executive of the Red cross and the Y . M . C . A . He was a prominent member of the Talbot Street Baptist Church and deeded his property to the congregation where the First Baptist Church now stands in London . John Gordon McDermid became President in 1946 and ran the Company until his death in 1953 . Under the able leadership of the new President , Frank P . Leahy , the Company flourished in the late 50 ' s . In 1958 , a licensing agreement was arranged with a manufacturer in Brooklyn , New York , which dramatically increased the future potential of O - Pee - Chee Company . Subsequent to this , in 1961 , Frank Leahy purchased the Company from the McDermid estate . About this time , another licensing agreement was signed with a large candy company located in St . Louis , Missouri . These two licensing arrangements , which still exist today , allowed O - Pee - Chee Company to manufacture and market the products of these two firms in Canada . Immediately , new products became available to the Canadian market which substantially increased the Company ' s sales volume , allowing for more efficient manufacturing and marketing techniques . In the early 60 ' s , Beatlemania overtook North America with O - Pee - Chee Company having the rights to manufacture and market the Beatle Bubble Gum Cards for the Canadian market . This was followed by other movie and T . V . " spin off " cards such as Batman , Happy Days , Charlie ' s Angels and Superman . In recent years , Star Wars , The Empire Strikes Back , Return of the Jedi and E . T . have been the card gum phenomena which O - Pee - Chee has produced . The Company also sells N . H . L . Hockey Cards and Major League Baseball Cards which have always been very popular to children and collectors in Canada . After working at O - Pee - Chee Company for nearly fifty years , Frank Leahy died suddenly in 1980 . Gary E . Koreen , his son - in - law , who had been active in the business since 1968 , became President and is now the owner of the business . In 1989 , O - Pee - Chee Company moved into a new plant in London East which accommodates all Manufacturing , Raw Material and Finished Goods Storage plus Offices and Employee Facilities . This investment improves present manufacturing capabilities and provides for future growth and expansion . O - Pee - Chee sports cards : 1958 to 1995 . In 1958 after O - Pee - Chee Company entered into an agreement with the Topps Company , it began marketing 1957 - 58 NHL cards and then 1958 Canadian football cards . Starting in 1961 after O - Pee - Chee Company was purchased by Frank Leahy , printing and packaging for these Canadian football ( 1961 and later ) and NHL ( 1961 – 62 and later ) cards were done in Canada . The O - Pee - Chee Company produced the annual O - Pee - Chee NHL series from 1961 - 62 to 1992 - 93 , the O - Pee - Chee WHA series from 1974 - 75 to 1977 - 78 , and the O - Pee - Chee Premier series from 1990 - 91 to 1994 - 95 . Here is a picture of one of the most highly sought after 1980 ' s hockey rookie cards of Patrick Roy ( 1986 - 87 O - Pee - Chee Hockey ) . In 1965 , O - Pee - Chee started printing an annual Canadian baseball series which was similar to the American Topps baseball series . It produced an annual baseball series from 1965 to 1994 , however only in the last two years did the O - Pee - Chee set feature a unique design separate from Topps . From 1991 to 1993 , O - Pee - Chee Company also created a separate baseball brand entitled O - Pee - Chee Premier . Similar to the Topps / O - Pee - Chee baseball parallel , the Topps Company created an American parallel to the O - Pee - Chee hockey cards . The first Topps hockey series was printed in 1967 and was based on the 1966 - 67 O - Pee - Chee series which featured the Bobby Orr rookie card . The Topps Company then produced an American parallel " Topps hockey " set from 1968 - 69 to 1981 - 82 and from 1984 - 85 to 1991 - 92 . French language required on cards . In 1970 , due to Canadian federal legislation , O - Pee - Chee was compelled to add French - language text to the backs of its baseball cards . It also happened to be the year after the Montreal Expos began play in the majority Francophone province of Quebec . The practice of making bilingual cards had already been established for hockey . While O - Pee - Chee baseball sets were typically smaller than their Topps counterparts , its hockey sets for the Canadian market were larger . O - Pee - Chee also occasionally produced independent card sets of particular interest to Canadian collectors , such as one for the 1973 centennial of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police . Effect of hockey lockout . The 1993 - 94 hockey lockout and the accompanying damage to the baseball card industry hit O - Pee - Chee particularly hard . The company announced that it would leave the card business and refocus its efforts on candy . However a number of changing circumstances have kept them in the card business as well as candy . The 1994 - 95 hockey season would be the last for O - Pee - Chee as a full company , though the Topps marketing arrangement would keep the name alive . In 1996 , O - Pee - Chee was bought by Nestlé Corporation . In 1995 - 96 , Topps included O - Pee - Chee cards in its signature product as a parallel set . It would do the same in 1998 - 99 when it returned to the NHL market after a two - year hiatus . Later that year , O - Pee - Chee was re - introduced fully , as Topps used the company name for its Chrome set . One year later , O - Pee - Chee would once again have a base brand set . O - Pee - Chee cards would continue to be produced through the 2003 - 04 hockey season . Prior to the start of what would have been the 2004 - 05 season , the NHL and NHLPA did not renew hockey - card licenses with the Topps Company ( as well as In The Game or Pacific Trading Cards ) . Instead , the hockey market entered an exclusive five - year agreement with the Upper Deck Company to produced licensed NHL cards . In 2006 , Upper Deck entered into an agreement with O - Pee - Chee to revive the O - Pee - Chee brand . Upper Deck ' s initial O - Pee - Chee Hockey product was released during the 2006 - 07 season . Vintage O - Pee - Chee cards are much sought - after today for their market value , and cards for popular players such as Howie Morenz , Georges Vezina and Maurice Richard command high prices .