Category Archives: University of Texas

Brown, James

utud11 brownCard: Upper Deck University of Texas 2011
Acquired: Spoodog Box Break, 2015
Failure: TTM 2011, C/o Home

James Brown is one of my favorite quarterbacks from my time growing up watching UT football.  I remember when one of the local news channels showed a high school highlight reel of Brown running down the sideline in Beaumont.  I knew he was the real deal. When he joined the Longhorns I remember sitting in my High School cafeteria telling my friends that James Brown was going to be the next big thing. It didn’t exactly start that way for James.

After redshirting in 1993, he battled encumbent quarterback Shea Morenz for the majority of 1994.  He’d solidify his starting role under head coach John Mackovic, with a comeback Sun Bowl win over North Carolina- ironically over future Texas head coach Mack Brown.  With the impending death of the SWC, Brown led the Longhorns to the final conference title and a 10-2 record in 1995.  As Texas joined the new and flashy Big 12 for 1996, they stumbled out of the gate early, but recovered in time to face defending National Champion Nebraska for the league championship. There would be his signature moment, in a stunning upset over Nebraska 30-27, with the infamous Roll Left play on 4th down, deep in their own territory.  Although Brown did not see the same success in an injury plagued Senior season, it did culminate with him being named MVP of the Blue Gray Senior Bowl.  James Brown paved the way for future black quarterbacks (Vince Young) to start at Texas, and at the time of his departure from the school held numerous passing records.

terminatorsBack then in 1997 there wasn’t really the farm system in place at Texas to get every prospect to the NFL level. It also didn’t help Brown that a tsunami of bad karma hit James in his final year at UT, along with the fact he was considered undersized to play the position (6’0″).

Keeping his football dreams alive,  James played a preseason in the CFL with the British Columbia Lions in 1998.  He’d then become the marquee player of the IPFL, playing for the Texas Terminators based in Austin during 1999.  The Terminators played at the Livestock and Rodeo arena at the edge of town, a non-air conditioned arena sarcastically known as ‘The Barn’.

james brownDuring the Terminators slaughter of the Colorado Crush that season, I caught one of the footballs as it bounced out of bounds. Afterwards I bought a James Brown jersey, that I still have along with the football till this day.  Brown earned Offensive Player of the Year Honors, as the team finished with the best record,  and played in the league championship.

ipflJames jumped at the opportunity to play for the Arena Football League the following year, joining the Nashville Kats.  He’d play with the team through 2001, and the preseason for the Georgia Force in 2002, and after a short stint in NFLE with the Scottish Claymores, returned to finish the season on the roster of the San Jose Sabrecats of the Arena Football League. The Georgia Force in 2003 resigned Brown again, but after only a few games, James went back to the NFLE to join the Claymores, but instead ended up on roster of the Frankfurt Galaxy. He played in the two-headed QB rotation with Quinn Gray, as the team won World Bowl IX. He played a third time with the Georgia Force in 2004 when he decided to hang up his cleets. James felt the urge to play again, and after the All American Football League folded before it even got off the ground, he played one final season for the CenTex Barracudas of the Intense Football League, guiding the team to the playoffs.

James has been a coach for a few years now, both at the high school and college level. He coached at Lamar University for a few years, and in 2014 became head coach at Sunnyside HS in Houston, Tx.

jersey brownI emailed James in 2011 at Lamar University to ask him if he could sign some memorabilia for me. A few months later he responded giving me his address and telling me to send it there. I gleefully put the cards in the mail, along with photos of his James Brown jersey, and an SASE. I never heard back from him again. A few months went by and I emailed him, but still never heard back. Recently I had a conversation with another collector who reported a similar result.  I was pretty disheartened.  Luckily at the card break that I had, one of my fellow collectors hit this card, so I pulled the trigger to make the trade and grab this card.

 

Williams, Aaron (2)

sage12 a williamssco11 awilliamsdor&s11 awilliamssp11 awilliams
Cards: SageHit 2011, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2011, Score 2011, SP Authentic 2011
Acquired: 2/26/14, Rudy’s Ribfest 4

Aaron had a difficult transition his first few years there in Buffalo, but you have to hand it to the Bills and Williams being patient with finding his role in the defensive system. After a change of head coaches and defensive coordinators, it looks like Aaron will be the team’s answer at strong safety. He started 14 games in 2013 and recorded 60 tackles, 4 interceptions, 11 passes defensed, and a forced fumble.  After the Bills were unable to come to a long term arrangement with free safety Jarius Byrd, the team upped its contract with Aaron instead.

I had a grand plan for Ribfest this year in order to hit as many of the locations as I could. Well, other than the traffic working against me, so were the guests of honor at the event, and the Rudy’s staff. They were incredibly clueless of who was going to be at which location, and who exactly any player was. It was frustrating. Still I made my first stop at the Round Rock location and waited him out. He arrived in style in a dapper, white 4 door Porsche. Aaron really liked his Donruss Rookies & Stars card and paused to show his friend the card before he signed. I got  him shortly after on these 4 cards. The 5th was his Topps debut card, but he claimed that the photo on the card was not of him. Chris Houston who was supposed to be there with him was a last minute scratch, so I bolted for the 183 location with little time to spare for Fozzy Whittaker and a mystery guest.

Cavil, Kwame (2)

utud10 cavil iconsCard: University of Texas Upper Deck Icons 2011
Acquired: In Person 2/24/2014, Rudy’s Ribfest 4
See Also: Kwame Cavil, Kwame Cavil (3)

I knew that Ribfest was taking place at a location near my place so I planned to hit two of the locations in anticipation of the event. Taking a  half day from work I called and harassed the employees at Rudy’s until I was able to nail down the names who were going to be there. I decided to go to Round Rock and 183 North. While Round Rock was a minor disappointment because of a no show, I knew Fozzy Whittaker was going to be at 183, but I had no clue who the other player was. Luckily another member of TAC was there to ID Kwame Cavil for me, who I should’ve recognized because he was wearing the Manor High School colors that he was coaching wide receivers at. Kwame had not seen this card and pined over it for a minute before he took a photo of it. While he did tell me he had seen the original UT card, he had not seen this one ever, so I felt obliged to offer an extra to him through the mail, if I could in a few weeks. Truly it is a damn fine card that celebrates the great players in UT history. While the back was a bit underwhelming its the really nice gold design and landscape presentation on the front that takes the cake.