Tag Archives: indianapolis colts

NFL, University of Texas

Cosby, Quan

  

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Cards: Score 2009, Upper Deck 2009, Press Pass 2009, Press Pass 2009SE, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2009, Upper Deck Star Rookies 2009, Playoff Prestige 2009, Pacific 2009.

Acquired: 2/16/2013, Longhorn Neighborhood Foundation Bowling Tournament, GMC Texas NFL Tour 2013. 3/15/2014 Longhorn Neighborhood Foundation Bowling Tournament.
See Also: Quan Cosby (2)

dor&s09 cosbypp09 cosbyQuan Cosby had some great seasons for the Longhorns as one of Colt McCoy‘s go to targets at receiver. He also had a habit showing up when it counted, making the winning TD grab in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl.  He finished his career at UT with 212 catches for 2,598 yards and 19 touchdowns.

At 5’9″, 196 many teams felt he was a bit undersized and he went undrafted. He quickly found a home with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals offensive system was predicated around their superstars, Carson Palmer, Cedric Benson, and Chad OchoCinco. He was able to pac09 cosbypp09 cosbygrab a roster spot as a return man for the franchise while he honed his receiving skills buried on the depth chart. Over two seasons he grabbed 6 receptions for 71 yards. Cosby was very valuable at punt returner. In his rookie season Quan had 40 punt returns, (2nd in team history at the time, since surpassed,) for 474 yards. Both numbers led the NFL. In 2010 Cosby had 30 punt returns for 225 yards, but the team had been building up the receiver depth chart with guys like former Longhorn teammate Jordan Shipley. Quan was simply caught in a numbers game and was made a free agent after the season. He split the 2011 seasonudstar089 cosby poff09pres cosbywith 2 franchises: the Colts and the Broncos, where Denver put him back to work again as a punt returner. He signed with the Jaguars in 2012, where he was reunited with Shipley.

Again, Cosby was another player I got from the LNF Bowling tourney. I was very lucky to get him as he was walking out the door at the end of the day and he was kind enough to sign these two cards for me. Of note, Cosby is apparently a talented Baseball player, and spent a few years in the Angels farm system before joining the Longhorns in Austin.

sco09 cosbycosbyI decided on a whim to go a bit early and try to get him at the GMC Texas NFL tour that was going on in November of that year. The prize of the day was VY but I thought a nice consolation would be another Quan card. Why not? With little or no line for Cosby’s early start time, this allowed for him to chat with each and every fan. He was very accommodating and took a photo with me. Much to my surprise he also asked me about my thermal, and asked me where I had gotten it, telling me that he, “Liked my style.” He also gave me this pretty nice autographed photo to boot.

Cosby was also just penciled in by the Texas Longhorns to replace Rod Babers on their sideline reporting. Quan told me he had originally found out through Twitter because he had started receiving congratulations about the job. He said he was nervous because his interview was going to happen the day after the event we were currently at! I told him not to worry and that he’d do a great job. When I asked him how badly the Sooners were going to beat Texas, Quan said that he, “Had ultimate confidence in Case and that the Oklahoma team was young. We’d stand a good chance at winning.” I brushed it off as homerism, but you know what- he was right. I look forward to seeing Quan at future events around town now that I have restocked on his cards.

Overall, the GMC event was fairly well run. I did get the autograph of every player that attended that I wanted and to boot, the quality of the photographs were outstanding and on good Kodak photo paper.

I went to the 2014 Longhorn Bowling Tournament, hoping to – well… sneak in, utilizing one of my contacts from the 2013 event, but unfortunately he wasn’t there, so I felt my time there was inappropriately spent. On the way out I decided to spam Quan with a bunch of cards. After patiently waiting for him, he signed all my cards, and told me he hadn’t seen many of them before. He also broadly smiled when I told him he was right about the Longhorns beating Oklahoma.

NFL

Allegre, Raul

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Card: Fleer 1990, Score Supplemental 1989
Acquired: 2/16/2013, Longhorn Neighborhood Foundation Bowling Tournament

Raul was the last autograph that I got from the LNF Bowling Tourney. It was one of the more memorable ones as Rod Babers came up and harassed Allegre about his picture on the back of his 1989 Score Supplemental card. He laughed and remarked about how young he looked, and Rod told Raul’s son that he looked just like him. Raul is an extremely active member of the NFLPA and is Vice President of the Austin chapter. He’s an ESPN Deportes commentator and has also handled the color commentary for Monday Night Football in Espanol.

Raul Allegre excelled at soccer in high school, which led him to become a kicker in football. He attended Montana and then later the University of Texas where he was 67/69 on extra points and 28/46 on field goals. A free agent signee by the Colts in 1983, Allegre stepped in and actually went to the Pro Bowl following the 1985 season going 16 of 26 on field goals and 36 of 39 on extra points. Following the 1985 season, Allegre lost a pitched training camp battle to Dean Biasucci. He did not see action until midway through the 1986 season, when he was an injury replacement for the New York Giants. He held the position down with the Giants through their 1986 and 1990 titles. He was notable during his stint with the Giants for his accuracy under pressure. Cut in 1991, he quickly signed with the Jets, but retired in 1992 after losing out to Jason Staurovsky in training camp, citing lingering back injuries. In 1992 he briefly entertained a comeback with the Houston Oilers and was considered for the kicker job there, but lost out to Al Del Greco. Raul is a member of the original Tecmo Bowl as the Giants’ kicker.

G/Gs  92/92    XPA  190    XPM 183   Pct 96.3%     FGA 186    FGM 137    PCT 73.7%    Pts 594

College Football HoF, NFL, Pro Football HoF

Dickerson, Eric (2)

sky92 dickerson aprks92 dickersonCards: Action Packed Rookies 1992, Skybox 1992
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Home
Sent: 6/10   Received: 7/13  (33 days)*
See Also: Eric Dickerson, Eric Dickerson (3)
*included donation of $10 per card.

Really pumped about these 2 coming back to me as I had followed this address on a hunch. At his website,  it stated very plainly that he does not sign free autographs, so I sweetened the pot a bit to see if I could game a response. It worked like a charm and I was shocked to receive a response in such a short time, as both of these cards were ones I really wanted signed. The Skybox was just a great photo of Dickerson. It really screams ‘poster card’. The Action Packed Rookies 1992 is from a set that I unabashedly collect. It is from his one season with the Los Angeles Raiders and I wouldn’t have gotten it signed otherwise.

I had decided to write Eric after going to the Houston Fan Fest this year. We were driving through Sealy, Tx on the way home from the event and passed by the stadium he ran to High School glory on, which prompted me to start thinking about Eric’s legacy.  A few days later Eric got into a brouhaha on Twitter with an unnamed child musical artist who can’t seem to drive safely in their shared neighborhood. I took it as though fate was slapping me on the face and took pen to paper that evening.

Dickerson is unabashed when asked about Adrian Peterson’s recent run at his record 2,106 single season rushing record, and said that he’s glad he still holds the record. While other more… let’s say modest… players might say otherwise, I actually agree with Eric. There are certain records that I hope never fall again. Some things such as 2,106 should stand the test of time, and I am glad Dickerson (HoF Class 1999) holds it. Eric is also a member of the 2,200 strong NFL alum that won litigation against the NFL for concussion related injuries. His name is the largest name in the hat, statistically, as he piled up over 13,000 rushing/receiving yards in his career.

At this time he does a lot of charity work, speaking, and golf tournaments to pass the time.