Tag Archives: frankfurt galaxy

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.

 

Baker, Tony (2)

pset91 baker LLultwlaf92 tbaker PromoCards: Pro Set 1991 WLAF League Leader, Ultimate WLAF 1992 Galaxy Team card, Ultimate WLAF 1992 Promo Card
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o home
Sent: 1/29    Received: 3/13
See also:  Tony Baker

ultwlaf92 galaxyOutside of Stan Gelbaugh, I think the card companies were betting early on that Tony Baker was going to be a star of the young WLAF. Counting all the ones I’ve had signed, I think Baker had 8 cards or so.

I had gotten the Ultimate WLAF promo card inside a copy of Gametime Magazine back during a game back in 1992. There was very little difference between this card and the regular issue card. The regular issue had the team flag in purple, not orange, and the back promoted their contest for a $1,000,000- (that I seriously question whether or not anybody actually won).  I had gotten Kerwin Bell previously in person, but otherwise there was Gelbaugh, Eric Wilkerson, Pete Mandley, and Peter Najarian that I was aware of.

I had gotten Tony back in 2010, and realized after I had dug up the lion’s share of my cards, that I had missed one or two. I threw in the Galaxy team card- since he symbolized the team most to me in those early years, and sent it out with an extra promo for him to keep. Much to Tony’s credit he signed these 3 cards for me in about 40 days.

Carter, Jon

psetwlaf91 jcarterpset91 jcarter
Cards: ProSet 1991, Pro Set WLAF 1991
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o home
Sent: 1/27  Received: 3/17  (49 days)

The Skyhawks made Jon Carter their first selection (8th overall) among the defensive linemen in the innaugural 1991 WLAF draft.  He’d anchor down Raleigh-Durham’s 3-4 defense, finishing with 45 tackles, 3 sacks and a forced fumble. The Skyhawks finished a distant 0-10 in the standings though and were disbanded after the season, due to poor attendance. The remaining players from the team were placed back in the draft pool for the 1992 season. Thanks to Jon’s experience in the 3-4 defensive alignment, he easily fit well into the Franfurt Galaxy‘s defensive rotation.

Originally a 5th round pick of the New York Giants in the 1988 draft, he spent the whole year on IR with a back injury but was waived right before the beginning of the 1989 season. The Cowboys then signed him to their developmental roster, and he ended up contributing in 13 games that year.  At Pitt, Carter was a 4 year starter and co-captain his Senior year.

With 2 cards in the WLAF sets, it was a mighty struggle to locate Jon Carter due to the commonality of his name. It took a few years, but he resurfaced, and I took a stab in the dark at a resume I found online. I was surprised to say the least to get a response in under 2 months time.

Tac N/a       Sac 4.0       Fum 1       Int 0      Yds -.-    Avg -.-      Td 0      Lg -.-