Category Archives: WLAF

NFL, WLAF

Mandley, Pete

Card: ProSet 1989
Acquired: In Person 1992, San Antonio Riders v. Montreal Machine
See Also: Pete Mandley (2)

Northern Arizona’s very own Pete Mandley stood at 5’10”, 190, setting all sorts of receiving and returning records for the school, parlaying it into an NFL career. Pete heard his name called in the second round of the 1984 draft, and initially was utilized by the Lions as a kick returner. In 1985 he’d switch primarily to punt returns where he found his niche.

One of the more formidable returners in the league, Pete had 403 yards on 38 returns and a touchdown. Mandley nearly duplicated those numbers again in 1986, with 43 returns for 420 yards and a touchdown. He then became the team’s primary receiver in 1987 pulling in 58 receptions for 720 yards and 7 touchdowns (- the most for a Lions receiver since 1968,) and again had similar numbers leading the team in catches with 44 for 617 yards and 4 TDs. For Pete’s efforts in 1987 he was named a Pro Bowl alternate.  With Plan B in full swing, Mandley signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1989. In 12 games he had 35 catches for 476 yards and a TD, before a largely forgettable 1990.

Sitting out a season, Pete attempted to reinvigorate his career by signing with the WLAF. Picked up by the Montreal Machine in 1992, Pete would put on a clinic for the young franchise setting marks across the board in receiving, punt returning, and yards from scrimmage. His presence certainly helped stabilize young quarterback Michael Proctor, as Pete had 45 receptions for 605 yards and 4 touchdowns. Mandley would almost spoil the Riders 1992 season opener with a devastating punt return for a touchdown in the 4th quarter, but the Riders managed to pull the game out. He’d finish the season with 16 returns for 150 yards, a 9.4 average and a TD. Despite accounting for the majority of the Machine’s offensive firepower, Pete did not find himself on the All World squad.

I only had Mandley’s ProSet 1989 card, but Ultimate and Wild Card aggressively made cards of his that were not released until after the season opener. Still Pete recognized me as a fan, smiled, and signed my Lions card. After retiring from pro football, Mandley struggled with leaving it behind and even resented the sport, but over the years has rekindled the fire and interest he’s had in it.

In 1993, Pete was inducted into the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks Hall of Fame. He is also an entrepreneur, and owns numerous businesses in the Phoenix area.  Mandley’s family is notable as they avoided tragedy when one of their young children took ill and prevented them from boarding Northwest plane flight 255, which crashed and killed all but one, in 1987.

NFL
Rec 172    Yds 2370       Avg 13.8        Td 12       Lg 56
Kr 35   Yds  630   Avg 18.0   Td 0   Lg 37  |      
Pr 162   Yds 1511  Avg 9.3    Td 2    Lg 81t

WL
Rec 45     Yds  605     Avg 13.4    Td 4    Lg 61
Kr 7    Yds 103    Avg 14.7   Td 0    Lg  22  |    
Pr 16     Yds  150    Avg 9.4   Td  1   Lg 73t

Arena, NFL, WLAF

Simmons, Stacey (2)

 Cards: Pacific 1991, Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o Stacey Simmons Sports Training
Sent: 6/11/10   Received: 1/11/12  (579 days)
See Also: Simmons, Stacey

A track man, Stacey was part of a team at Florida that set the nation’s fastest time in the 4×200 relay with 1:26:31.  The first pick of the Colts in the 4th round of 1990 that played both receiver and punt returner, Stacey saw playing time also with the Buccaneers, before heading over to the Orlando Thunder in 1992.  After a short off-season with the 49ers, Stacey found a home for 8 seasons in the Arena Football League playing for the Tampa Bay Storm, winning two AFL Championships.

I have to give credit to Sotl for this find, as I had given up on this one some time ago. Seeing his name on the website, I easily recognized him as a member of the Orlando Thunder and nudged him a bit for those autographs and amazingly they arrived a bit over a year and a half later setting a new record at a fat 579 days.
He also included a nice note for it taking so long and welcomed me to check out his site at www.staceysimmons.com. It’s amazing looking at these autographs from the two posts gotten some 20 years apart, and realizing that the autograph is authentic, because the signature is still the same.

WLAF

Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks

Coach: Roman Gabriel
Stadium: Carter-Finley
Record: (1991) 0-10

BACKGROUND:

The Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks were one of the ten founding members of the WLAF in 1991. Owned by Carolina sports enthusiast George Shinn, the team boasted former LA Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel initially as GM, -who later took over head coaching duties as well.

Johnny Walton (who was best known as a quarterback in the WFL of the 1970s, and HC of the Boston Breakers of the USFL during the 1980s,) was the offensive coordinator. Doug Kay was named the defensive coordinator of the Skyhawks and future CFL GM Jim Popp served on the staff as well.

The Skyhawks colors were decided early on. The team wanted red as the definitive color of the franchise. As the area is considered the birthplace to modern flight, the design firm wanted to come up with something futuristic looking and unexpected- so instead of a bird, the franchise went with rocket trails. The logo itself felt abstract- or influenced by Memphis design style.

Carter-Finley Stadium was to serve as the backdrop to the team’s future and it boasted a reasonable seating capacity of some 50,000 at the time.

Things seemed optimistic enough for the young franchise.

The Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks won the first overall pick of the specialist portion of the draft and went for offense, choosing the No. 1 wide receiver, the No. 2 running back, the No. 3 tight end and the fourth quarterback.

1991:

The Skyhawks marquee players were NC product Mark Maye at quarterback, linebacker Shawn Woodson, and defensive end Jon Carter. Paul Wulff- future Washington State head coach, played center for the franchise.  

The team opened its first game on USA Network at Sacramento where Raleigh-Durham went to lose its first contest 9-3. Right out of the gate, the team lost promising QB Mark Maye to injury for the season. Joe Pizzo stepped in at quarterback for RD and guided them until Bobby McAllister supplanted him in the lineup due to ineffectiveness. Woefully none of the quarterbacks would finish with over a 55 quarterback rating, highlighting the team’s issue at the position.

The team got walloped by the Orlando Thunder 58-20 in week 2. (The 58 points stood as a league record.) By the time the team played their first home game- in week 3, fans were clearly discouraged, but nonetheless a season high 17,000 showed up for the Skyhawks. They’d play a close game to the Frankfurt Galaxy 30-28, but that is as close as the franchise ever got to winning. 

One could point to the running game as well. With the Skyhawks playing from behind or getting little penetration on the line, the team’s leading rusher was Darryl McGill with 187 yards. The team finished with a woeful 748 yards and 7 touchdowns on the ground. Receiving was the bright spot for the franchise. Marvin Hargrove  finished as the team’s leading receiver with 38 catches and former Duke star Clarkston Hines had 614 yards.

The defense had its share of issues, but boasted Quentin Riggs as the team’s leading sacker with 4. Jon Carter, Shawn Woodson, and Ezekial Gadson would all tie with 3 a piece.

In the secondary, Peda Samuel chipped in 3 picks, but the true black hole back in the secondary was Pat McGuirk. McGuirk finished with 6 interceptions- good for 3rd in the league, but as an ultimate slap to the franchise, he wouldn’t be nominated for the All World Team at season’s end.  

Near the end of the 1991 season only a paltry 4,200 showed up to see rematch between R-D and Orlando. The writing was on the wall for the 0-10 franchise, and the Skyhawks would be euthanized.

NOTES:

Players were reallocated to the draft pool for the next upcoming season, and the Ohio Glory would replace them in the WLAF for 1992.

Since the Skyhawks were only in existence for one season, only ProSet made cards for the franchise.

LEGACY:

Although Carolina proved to be a disastrous venture for the league attendance wise, surprisingly the market grabbed the expansion Carolina Panthers in 1995 where it has enjoyed NFL football ever since.

Raleigh-Durham itself hadn’t been mentioned seriously for Spring football until 2019- as AAF ‘owner’ Tom Dundon lived in the area, however that league folded before the expansion process even began.  

HC- Roman Gabriel
QB- Bobby McAllister, Mark Maye
OL- Paul Wulff
WR- Clarkston Hines
DL- Jon Carter
LB- Shawn Woodson
DB- Ray Jackson, Pat McGuirk

At this time I am still missing autographs on these cards from:

ProSet WLAF 1991:  Darryl McGill & Marvin Hargrove.

Promotional Commerical for the RD Skyhawks tickets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sd9AcPr2JU&list=UUwErpZzjTR1EgdyLR3GDkMA&index=8&feature=plcp