Tag Archives: kansas city chiefs

NFL, NFLE, ufl

Gray, Quinn


Cards:  UD MVP 2003, Topps 2008
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Florida A&M Rattlers
Sent: 11/8   Received:  11/21   (13 days)

A strong armed quarterback that resembled Daunte Culpepper, (6’3″, 246) Quinn Gray set benchmarks at Florida A&M with 7368 yards passing and 57 touchdowns. Undrafted, Gray would be signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2002, and then be allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Frankfurt Galaxy in 2003. While with the Galaxy, Quinn would have a good season (58/131, 1099 yards, and 11 tds to only 5 picks) playing alongside former Texas Terminator and Texas Longhorn James Brown, leading the Galaxy to a World Bowl victory (XI). He’d return stateside, and not throw a pass in the NFL through the 2004 season.

Gray in 2005 saw some cleanup action, and again in 2006, earning a reputation as a solid backup. With the Jaguars jettisoning Byron Leftwich, Gray slid into the backup position behind incumbent David Garrard in 2007. He’d hop into the starting role near the end of the season as the injury bug would sideline Garrard. Quinn started 4 games, completing 80 of 144 passes for 966 yards and 10 touchdowns, including a head stomping of the Houston Texans. At the end of the season, Gray became a free agent and ironically signed with the Texans. Facing stiff competition, Gray would lose out on the backup job to Matt Schaub against Sage Rosenfels. Quinn later saw time also on the rosters of the Colts and Chiefs before being named the starting quarterback of the New York Sentinels of the UFL in 2009. The team would finish a woeful 0-10 and relocated to Hartford. In the meantime, Quinn has gone into coaching in what he calls, “A dream come true,” with his former Alma Mater, Florida A&M where I got his autograph in under two weeks via the school.

This Upper Deck MVP card is one of the ugliest I’ve seen and lacks any subtly to its design and texturing. The flagrant abuse of the jersey stock, not only on the front but the back as well, renders much of the type distracting and illegible, especially when there is use of thin black 6pt type on a gray backdrop. How did this get past QC? The Topps card, -probably the only one of Quinn in a Texans uniform, is a conservative yawner attempting to capture a look from years past in the use of the type. The framing and insistence of having the Topps logo front and center is ugly and makes me feel like I am looking at a one toothed monster, but I digress. I am none the less happy to add Quinn to the collection with his illustrious NFLE, NFL, and UFL careers behind him. Below are Quinn’s shockingly good limited NFL statistics:

G/Gs  12/4    Att  188     Comp   108      Yds 1328      Pct   57.4     Td  13      Int   5      Rat  91.4
Rush 25    Yds  111   Avg  4.4    Td  2    Lg 27

NFL

Dishman, Cris (2)

Cards:  Action Packed 1992, Fleer 1995
Acquired:  TTM 2011, C/o The San Diego Chargers
Sent: 10/7    Received: 10/27   (20 days)
Failure: TTM 2010, C/o The San Diego Chargers
See Also: Cris Dishman, Dish (3)

Well I thought I’d give Cris another shot with less cards. After making a big blitz of former Oilers in 2010, I was surprised not to receive anything back from Cris Dishman courtesy of the Chargers. I tended to other stuff but when I published my master list of Oilers that I had gotten on Fanmail, they told me that Cris was easy to get, so I planned on reloading and trying again. He was on the back burner for a couple of months here until I joined SotL at Bubba Mcdowell‘s recommendation, to where I found the Facebook heaven for football players. Seeing that Cris was on here and that he was active- I decided to go ahead and give him another shot on these two cards.

At that time, I really liked what Fleer was doing with their 1995 set. It was really daring to have the information on the front of the card like that and the player name and team information really reminded me of Skybox’s 1992 release. Crystal clear photography also really assisted as well in the production of this piece. The Action Packed 1992 card was right at the end of what I felt was their best work. Already in their 1991 offering, they had annoyingly decided to flip the stats on the back, in landscape form from left to right on random cards, and they continued this trend in 1992, and by 1993 I was out of the market.

Cris Dishman engages his fans on Sotl which is refreshing. When I asked him what his favorite memory was about playing football outside of being drafted, he said it was the comradery of the locker room after games that no business could ever match.  He filled my request through the Chargers in roughly 20 days.

NFL, WLAF

Riley, Andre

Card: Ultimate 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Washington IMG Marketing
Sent: 8/6    Received: 9/1  (25 days)
Failure: TTM 2011, KSBG Radio

A legend of the Washington Huskies program during the late 80s and early 90s, Andre Riley was the first player to ever surpass 1,000 yards receiving for the college. His senior season at Washington Andre led his team with 53 receptions for 1039 yards and 4 touchdowns. Initially a runningback, Riley converted to wide receiver and helped galvanize the squad towards their 1990 Rose Bowl Championship.

Andre would be drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals during the 12th round of the 1990 draft, but with a log jam at wide receiver behind Eddie Brown and Tim McGee, Riley would not make the squad.  He wouldn’t be out of work long when the London Monarchs would dial his number up in the second round of the wide receiver portion of the WLAF positional draft in 1991.

Finding a home on the London Monarchs, Andre would be part of a dynamic wide receiver pool of Dana Brinson, Jon Horton, and Tony Sargent. With quarterback Stan Gelbaugh throwing the rock all day, Riley would finish 3rd on the squad in 1991 with 30 receptions for 506 yards, a 16.9 yard average and 4 touchdowns- a number that would be considered starter quality anywhere else in the league. His best game perhaps came against the Knights, in a contest where he had 6 catches for 78 yards and a TD. At the conclusion of the season, he’d help his team down the Barcelona Dragons and win World Bowl I 21-7 in London.

He’d return stateside after the season, briefly playing for the Kansas City Chiefs and retire. Since that time Andre has been involved in marketing, working as a General Sales Manager for KBSG radio in Seattle and currently works for Washington IMG Marketing. I sent off for his card earlier this year to KBSG but got a response back from them indicating that he was no longer with the station. After doing more research I found another address at Washington IMG Marketing and took a stab there. Riley was kind enough to reply under a month, thanking me for remembering him and the league, and the extra card that he had already given to his daughter.  -A really nice return. Below are his WLAF statistics:

G 10   Rec 30    Yds  506     Avg 16.9     Td  4      Lg 62t