Tag Archives: British Columbia Lions

CFL

Johnson, Alondra

Card: Jogo 1992
Acquired: TTM 1992 C/o The CFL

When I sent cards to the CFL as part of a blitz package, the league was kind enough to send me more cards with autographs on them from the Jogo 1992 set. Most NFL fans probably don’t have a clue who Alondra Johnson is but that’s okay because he blazed his own trail North of the Border terrorizing offenses for 16 seasons in the CFL. A 2009 CFL HoF inductee, Johnson (from West Texas A&M) played in 6 Grey Cup Championships winning three (1992,1998, and 2001) with the Stampeders. Originally signed as a free agent by the British Columbia Lions in 1989, Johnson would play for them for three seasons before he signed with Calgary in 1991 playing for head coach Wally Buono. 1998 would be punctuated by Alondra getting the CFL’s most valuable defensive player award and in his career he’d be named a 6 time Western All Star and 3 time CFL All Star. He’d suit up for the Stamps an additional 12 seasons and a final one in 2004 with Saskatchewan. In 2007, Johnson signed a one day contract to retire as a Stampeder. At the time of his retirement, Alondra’s 1095 career tackles ranked second all time in CFL history. In 2005 he was inducted into the West Texas A&M Hall of Champions, and in 2010 he was inducted into the Stampeders Wall of Honor. Johnson once described his playing methodology as, “Speed-times-force-times-mass equals serious punishment.” At last glance Alondra is living in Los Angeles, planning his next move.

G 248       Tac  1095       Sac  45        Fum 16     Int 17      Yds n/a     Avg -.-    Td 1    Lg N/a

CFL, NFL

Austin, Kent “Five”

Card: All World 1991
Acquired: TTM 1992, C/o The CFL

Kent Austin won the CFL Grey Cup MVP honor in 1989 and also the CFL Coach of the Year Award in 2007 but before this his career started way back in 1986 as the third string quarterback of the  St. Louis Cardinals.

He’d head north after the season where Kent would play for the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1987-1993 experiencing tremendous success. Afterwards he’d play one season a piece for the British Columbia Lions (winning his second Grey Cup), Toronto Argonauts, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers retiring after the ’96 season.

Kent Austin decided to pursue coaching and has had stops in the CFL as both coordinator for the Argonauts and Roughriders and is the first coach to win a championship as both head coach and player of the same team. He headed back to the college ranks to coach at Mississippi and most recently took the head coaching job at Cornell in 2010. Listed below are his CFL statistics.

Att 4700    Comp 2709     Yds 36030   Pct 57.6%
Td  198  Int 191   Rat  79.1

CFL, NFL

Fernandez, “Swervin’” Mervyn

Card: Fleer 1990
Acquired: Dallas Cowboys Training Camp 1992

Mervyn Fernandez got a better offer so he packed his bags and headed to the Great White North of the CFL, where he became the poster child for the British Columbia Lions in 1982 winning the Western Division’s honor for the most outstanding rookie. He’d help the team win the Grey Cup in 1985 finishing a monster season up with 1727 yards and won the Most Oustanding Player award that season. In 1987 Al Davis would convince him to join the Raiders organization, where he’d play for the next 6 seasons and the burner would lead the NFL with a monster 26 yard average per catch in 1988. In 1989 he’d follow that up with 1069 yards on 57 receptions. In 1992 I’d get Swervin’ Mervyn’s autograph at Cowboys training camp along autograph alley when the Raiders came to town. He’d then head back up north in 1994 and rejoin the BC Lions for one final season and retire.

Mervyn since retirement has amassed a long line of awards from his time in the CFL, being inducted into the British Columbia Lions Wall of Fame, the Lions All-Time Dream Team and named in 2006 as one of the CFL’s Top 50 players of the modern era. Surprisingly Fernandez has not been inducted into the CFL HoF, but hopefully his time will come soon. Listed below are his Raiders statistics.

Games 86    Rec 209      Yds 3764       Avg 18.0       Td  19      Lg 85T