Besides getting a variety of children’s books published he created, Ray has also been involved in the Spring football league scene. He served as an advisor at one point for the USFL. When writing him I went off on a giant tangent about Spring football and how important it is to me and these players. He kindly responded with a nice greeting card of his Darby the Dinosaur, and inside he wrote that he also enjoys watching Spring football as well.
Originally I sent Ray 3 cards, and included a Score 1991, forgetting that I had already acquired this as part of the Akron Acquisition back in 2011. I threw in his Topps card because Ray was one of the original players who dolled themselves up with the eye paint back in the day. His Pro Set 1990 photo is an extremely underrated action shot perfectly encapsulated on this card.
I had never even seen the Pro Set 1991 of Jerome Henderson before, so I was really eager to order it and ship it out to him for an autograph for some reason. It made it easier since the Star Pics card was a set need. When Classic and Star Pics arrived on the scene in ’91 as exclusively college products, we initially laughed at them. The competing designs were busy in the margins, with the Star Pics going with the footballs, and Classic laughably going with the leopard print. Still- they all are great looking photos, and Jerome was kind enough to add his autograph to all 3 of them for me.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
