Tag Archives: cincinnati bengals

CFL, NFL

Turner, Elbert

Card: StarPics 1992
Acquired: In Person, Houston Oilers Training Camp 1992

In 1992, speedster and flanker Elbert Turner was drafted by the Houston Oilers in the seventh round. The Oilers had lost two receivers during Plan B in the off-season and were hoping that Turner would be one of those guys to fit the bill in their run and shoot offense.  I’d get his autograph during training camp in San Antonio. Unfortunately he didn’t make the final cut with the team, but was picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals who hoped to put his world class speed and All-American hurdling skills to the test.  Elbert would stick on their practice squad for that season and 1993. He’d head to Canada to keep playing football, and eventually hook on with the Saskatchewan Roughriders where he’d suit up for 15 games and through 1995 before retiring.

NFL

Foster, Barry

Card: Action Packed Rookies 1990
Acquired: TTM 1992, C/o The Pittsburgh Steelers

Barry Foster. Quite an interesting player and career, but first a segway. I started playing fantasy football way back in 1990, so when my friends ‘discovered it’ in 1992, they casually omitted me from the league draft for some reason. The commissioner allowed me to join the league after their draft and I quickly assembled a competent group of free agents and players that included Barry Foster and Gary Clark into a team called the ‘Pennsylvania Pinto Beans’. I would dominate the first two weeks of the league until complaints from other owners arose, and the commissioner unceremoniously disbanded my team, stating that my team was ‘stacked unfairly’- even though my team was built from street free agents and no draft choices. Whatever.

I sent off for Barry during that season, partially because of my fantasy football success, and also because I am enamored with the Action Packed series of football cards. The embossed figures and gold lines really felt- well manly, and were just exemplary cards to get autographed.  I thought that Barry’s autograph was a fake- because it is so ‘pedestrian looking’ but after researching his signature it does appear to be this simple. Barry Foster was a fullback from Arkansas drafted by the Steelers in the fifth round of the 1990 draft.  After a rough start in a game I saw on TV where he was assigned to the kickoff team in his rookie season and let a live football bounce past him on a kickoff, Foster slowly improved and eventually find himself inserted into the starting lineup.

By 1991, Foster had become a bruising powerback and after an injury plagued year, really turned on the jets in 1992 with 390 carries, breaking Franco Harris’ team rushing record. Barry was voted to the Pro Bowl after the season and was the AFC offensive player of the year.  Unfortunately injuries limited his effectiveness the rest of his career. Barry would start off strong each season, but his body frame couldn’t sustain the 16 game schedule. In 1995 he was signed by the Carolina Panthers, but failed the physical- to which he was quickly signed by the Bengals and retired. (He appears I believe on Tecmo Super Bowl Final Edition as a member of the Panthers, even though he never played a down for them.)

Barry had always been looking ahead, and loved coaching. He had been budgeting his money for retirement. At one point I had heard a rumor that he was a cop, but this turned out to be untrue. Foster would become a part of the NFL’s minority coaching fellowship and by 2003 was coaching in the NFLE for the Rhien Fire. He also participates in junior sports and football camps for kids.

G/Gs   62/44   Att 915   Yds  3943  Avg 4.3  Td 26   Lg 69 |
Rec 93   Yds 804   Avg 8.6  Td 2   Lg 42


Arena, NFL

Clark Jr., Bernard ‘Tiger’

Card: Action Packed Rookies 1990
Acquired: In Person, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp 1991.

Part of Jimmy Johnson‘s first recruiting class at the University of Miami, Bernard Clark was a player who showed up in big games, winning the MVP award of the 1987 Orange Bowl National Championship Game making 14 solo tackles in the game. In another shining moment, Bernard almost singlehandedly end Notre Dame’s 23 game winning streak in the Orange Bowl in 1989, pulling down an interception and making 17 tackles.

He parlayed these big performances into being drafted in the 3rd round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1990, but never started a game. In 1991, he spent 12 games with the Bengals before being cut and playing for the Seahawks for 2 games. He subsequently was picked up by his college coach Jimmy Johnson who was trying to create competition at middle linebacker in 1992 where I’d get his autograph in training camp that year. After he was cut, he would then play for the Orlando Predators of the AFL in 1994 and 1996.

After playing professional football, Bernard then pursued a career in coaching with a variety of stops at the NCAA Division I level before returning to coach in Florida and then Hampton. As of 2010, Bernard continues to climb the college coaching ranks now handling linebackers for the University of Pittsburgh and his college coach Dave Wannstedt. Clark’s nickname is “Tiger” – given to him by his parents when he was a baby because of his loud growling.

Games 24   Tac 0  Sac 0  FF 0   Int 0  Yds 0 Avg 0 Td 0