Tag Archives: Miami Dolphins

NFL

Vincent, Troy

spics92 vincentaprks92 vincent

Card: Star Pics 1992, Action Packed Rookies 1992
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Love Thy Neighbor
Sent:   Received:   (days)*
Donation: $5 per card

Troy was one of the top defensive backs out of the 1992 class. At Wisconsin, the former Badger finished his career as a runner up for the Jim Thorpe Award, a 1st Team All-American, and the school’s all-time punt yardage leader.  With rumors of him going as high as #5 to the Green Bay Packers, Vincent was on the up and up in the hours before the draft.  Although the Packers took equally impressive Terrell Buckley off the board with their pick, Vincent didn’t fall far as the Miami Dolphins were there to scoop him up with the 7th overall pick.  He immediately was slotted into the lineup in the team’s retooled defensive backfield that was competing in an arms race with the dominant division leading Buffalo Bills wide receiver corps.

Turning in a strong rookie season, Troy finished with 2 picks for 47 yards, 77 tackles and a forced fumble, earning All-Rookie Team honors. Although a solid DB, it wouldn’t be until 1994 that Vincent really made a splash- with a 5 pick season and a spectacular 79 yard return for a touchdown against the Chiefs. Then in the following season Vincent had 5 more interceptions, including a 2 pick performance against the Jets, one which he returned for a touchdown as well. With big bucks free agency in session, Troy left the Dolphins in 1996 destined for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles were in a similar circumstance with the Dallas Cowboys, and eager to stay up with them, needing a lockdown opposite Bobby Taylor to replace recently departed blue chipper Eric Allen. Vincent fit the bill of what they direly needed. Troy played the majority of his career for the City of Brotherly Love. There he went on to perhaps have his greatest success, rattling off a string of successive Pro Bowl appearances (1999-2003), led the NFL in interceptions (7- 1999), and earned an AP nomination for his 2002 season.

In 2004, Vincent signed with the Buffalo Bills where he was moved to free safety. The move allowed him to extend his career another 3 seasons. A brief stint in Washington brought him back to Buffalo during 2006, and he’d retire after the season having logged some 15 seasons.

Troy has immersed himself in charity operations through his “Love Thy Neighbor” campaign and has been involved in the NFLPA for many years. When Gene Upshaw retired, Troy’s name was indeed among the rumored candidates for the job. Vincent has also received some support for the HoF but due to the lack of glamour statistics associated with the position, Vincent has not made it past the semi-finals.

G/Gs 207/200    Tac 738    Sac 5.5    Fum 12  Int 47   Yds 711   Avg      Td 3     Lg 90t

NFL, University of Texas

Speyrer, Charles “Cotton”

utud11 speyrerCards: UT Upper Deck 2011, UT Upper Deck 2011 Memorable Moments, UT Upper Deck 2011 Icons
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent: 12/10     Received: 12/13  (3 days)

Playing split end for the Texas Longhorns during the advent of the Wishbone under head coach Darrell Royal, Cotton Speyrer was witness to, and a part of integral moments in Texas football history during the late 60s.  Speyrer was an All-American in 1969 and 1970 and All-SWC in 1969. He led the team in receiving in 1968 and 1969 catching passes from quarterback James Street. In the wishbone, it was block first, catch second for the wide receiver corps. On occasion when the run game didn’t work for the Longhorns, they’d put it in the air to Cotton and the receiving corps. During the 1969 Cotton Bowl versus Notre Dame, Cotton had 161 yards receiving and caught two touchdowns in a 21-17 win. He just had this habit of showing up big, in the big games that counted. During his time with the Longhorns, the team won 30 games straight, en route to two National Championships.
utud11 MM 86 passAfter playing for the Longhorns through 1970, Cotton was taken in the second round of the 1971 draft by the Washington Redskins. He did make the roster of the team, but was traded to the Baltimore Colts later in the year for Roy Jefferson. It was through no fault of his own though because, head coach George Allen preferred older, seasoned veterans, versus young, fresh, rookie talent. He’d break his arm in 1971 before he even took the field for the Colts. Speyrer’s rookie season was essentially 1972, where he was used at receiver and later at returner. His best season came in 1973, returning 17 kickoffs for 496 yards (29.2 average) and a 101 yard touchdown against the Bills.  He’d also makeutud11 speyrer icons 17 receptions for 311 yards and 4 touchdowns for the squad that year, and throw a 54 yard TD on a trick play against the Jets. Cotton played another season for the Colts, and then was traded back to the Redskins in 1975.  Unable to make the ‘Skins roster, Cotton was signed by the Dolphins and played on special teams, where he retired in 1976.  He moved back to the Austin area, and has been involved in numerous charitable activities, golf tournaments, and Longhorn reunions.

Speyer marks the fastest response I have ever gotten from an autograph request, at a speedy 3 days.

G/Gs  36/0        Rec  34         Yds    575     Avg 15.7        Td  5      Lg  47
Kr  39      Yds  1035       Avg  26.5         Td 1      Lg 101t
Pr 8      Yds 54     Avg 5.4      Td 0     Lg 18

Arena, NFL

Jensen, Jim “Crash”

Card: Pro Set 1990
Acquired: Canton Acquisition 2012

Jim Jensen is an amazing football story. Picked in the 11th round of the NFL draft in 1981 by the Dolphins, nobody really gave the 6’4″, 215 quarterback from Boston University of the Yankee Conference a chance to make the squad. Jensen squeezed onto the roster as the team’s 3rd string quarterback, but saw little or no playing time. A few years passed, and with Miami snagging Dan Marino with their 1st round pick of the 1983 draft, Jensen knew he needed to do something, anything, to make the squad. There in Jim “Crash” Jensen was born. Jim was such a smart, well conditioned, and strong athlete, that he began to line up at any position on offense that they’d take him. Showing the heart to do what it took impressed Don Shula and his staff, his bread and butter soon became being a special teams maven. (It has been said his nickname was given to him by none other than Howard Cosell after watching the out of place QB burn down the field and make a face first tackle.) The team began to use him as an ace, lining him at WR, TE, RB, and even FB to try to expose mismatches in the opposing defenses. His role over the next few years at quarterback became only that in the role of an emergency one, but that was perfectly fine since he had found his knack doing basically everything else. On rare occasions the team did let him throw the ball and test defenses such as in trick plays, but his statistics were completely misleading since he only started 10 games over his career, if you considered his all-purpose role in the Dolphins offensive system. Statistically his 1988 and 1989 seasons were his best. Jim racked up 652 yards on 58 catches and 5 TDs in 1988, and followed that up with 61 for 557 and 6 TDs in 1989. His role slowly began to diminish from there until the end of his career with the Dolphins in 1992.  Jim decided he wasn’t finished yet with football, and jumped to the fledgling Arena Football league to play for the Miami Hooters in 1993. He’d play two seasons for the team as their #1 quarterback before retiring after the 1994 season.

I suspect that the person that I got these cards from got a good portion of autographs from the Sotl.com site. While at the time School of the Legends was a great resource for fans to get in touch with players, talk to them, and well- hit them up for autographs, – I don’t think that was the original intent of the site. (Sure, I also used the site to find players that I had been looking for, but some people just flat out abused it for autographs and didn’t really see the purpose in connecting with the players or utilizing the services that were offered.)   Jensen along with many others were active members of the site who talked to fans and kept things moving, but in the end Sotl.com went through a facelift, did away with fan and player profiles, and now there isn’t really a way to find players and talk to them anymore.

NFL    G/Gs  164/10    Att   7   Comp  4       Yds  102          Pct  57.1           Td 2        Int  0          Rat 141.4
Rush  26              Yds   142          Avg       5.5             Td   0            Lg   23
Rec    229            Yds   2171       Avg       9.5             Td 19             Lg  31

AFL   Seasons 2     Att  539    Comp  290      Yds  3256      Pct  53.8       Td   51       Int  18        Rat  81.8