Porter, Rufus ‘Roof’

Gameday 1992, #469

CARDS: Fleer 1990, ProSet 1989, Skybox 1992, Action Packed 1990, Action Packed 1991, Gameday 1992
ACQUIRED: TTM 2021 & 2023, C/o Home
SENT: 1/19/21 RECEIVED: 1/25/21 (6 days)
SENT: 9/25/23 RECEIVED: 10/13/23 (18 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Rufus Porter was a big, rangy LB that played college ball at Southern.
  • Going undrafted in 1988, he signed with the Seattle Seahawks and was a surprising diamond in the rough found by the franchise.
  • Recorded 16 special teams tackles, and saw time as a defensive end and nickle situations later in the season.
  • Recorded 10.5 sacks, and led Seattle with 4 forced fumbles in ’89.
  • Had another 10 sack appearance in ’91, and a 9.5 effort in ’92.
  • After two consecutive down seasons with the Seahawks, Rufus took his game to New Orleans in ’96.
  • Earned a gameball for his play against the Colts that season.
  • Played one final season in Tampa in 1997.

ACCOLADES:

  • 1988, ’89 Pro Bowl
  • Steve Largent Award 1991
Fleer 1990, #272

NOTES:

Rufus was blessed to come onto the NFL scene and get in on nearly all the big sets from the Big Bang of cards during the late 80s and early 90s. As he was on all my set needs, I got him on two cards back in 2021 and then realized he was in every other set. I didn’t want to put him on blast so soon after he started signing so I waited 2 years to ask for his autograph on these remaining set needs.

Oddly Rufus appears in the Action Packed series 3 times, almost scoring a trifecta at #256 in every set- only to appear as #257 in 1992.

It can not be emphasized how awesome many of these cards are. The neck roll was obligatory for many of the linebackers during this period and the Action Packed 1990 and the Skybox Impact ’92 really show it off. If you wanted to be an intimidator, a neck roll was a first good step.

Porter appears in all Tecmo Super Bowl games. He was affectionately referred to as ‘ROOF!’, By the Kingdome faithful who would yell his name after he made a big play.

Jaeger, Jeff (2)

Gameday 1992, #351

CARDS: Score 1990, Gameday 1992, Topps Stadium Club 1992, Action Packed 1992
ACQUIRED: TTM 2023, C/o Home
SENT: 6/8 RECEIVED: 9/7 (81 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

I had a set need in Gameday 1992 to knock out, but I also had a curiosity in getting the Action Packed 1992 dual card signed by him and Jeff Gossett. After I got Jaeger, I got Gossett shortly after on the card. Great dual auto card.

Action Packed 1992, #128

Givins, Ernest (4)

Gameday 1993, #61

CARDS: Gameday 1993, Skybox Premium 1993, Fleer 1995, Action Packed All-Madden Team 1990, Pro Set 1992, Fleer 1990, Playoff 1992, Playoff 1993
ACQUIRED: GTSM 2023

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

Well since the last time I wrote Ernest, he stopped signing TTM. Such is the life of the game. I had been fortunate to get him many times both in person and TTM, so I was fine with spending a little extra cash to get these last cards knocked out of him.

Action Packed All-Madden Team 1990, #34

For some reason my tickets weren’t popping up properly on the app. The gatekeepers were treating me like I was trying to cheat the system, but yes indeed I had 8 cards I wanted to be signed by Ernest. Since we couldn’t get it to work in time, they had to manually key it in for me. It almost completely ruined the experience for me, but I was able to go behind the curtains and meet the players that way and they gladly signed for me.

Ernest protested because Curtis and Haywood were excited I was wearing an original 1990s #80 Houston Oilers jersey, as at one point during Jeffires and Duncan’s careers they both wore that number, while Givins stuck with 81.

I had enough time behind the magic curtain to ask him how it was going with tutoring his nephew and trying to get him into a league. He said he’s still at it. Curtis immediately chimed in and started talking about how Ernest was trying to teach his nephew how to drop his shoulder and juke off the LOS- something Givins excelled at doing in the slot. Givins then went on to mention that he was trying to get his nephew to pick up gymnastics, because that really helped Ernest as a receiver take his game to a new level.

Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.