Tag Archives: sacramento surge

NFL, WLAF

Sapolu, Saute

Card: Ultimate World League 1992
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 10/21 Received: 11/8 (18 days)

While working on an art degree, Saute Sapolu decided to pick up football at Arizona State. The Samoan was a formidable defensive lineman, recording 90 solo tackles (142 total) during his 4 years at the school, including a Senior campaign where he had 61 tackles and 4 sacks.

Saute saw time briefly with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1989 as a free agent signee. He joined the WLAF for the 1991 season and had 2 sacks and 22 total tackles for the Sacramento Surge.

After a little bit of effort I was able to locate Saute in Hawaii where he signed this card in a little over 15 days. He currently manages an art studio (FALE O LE FEE).

WLAFTACSACFUMINT YDSAVGTDLG
222.0000-.-0-.-
CFL, NFL, WLAF

Buddenberg, John

Cards: Ultimate World League 1992, Jogo 1994, Jogo 1995
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 8/29 Received: 10/8 (40 days)

A three year starter at the University of Akron at tackle, John Buddenberg clocked in at 6’5″, 279. He’d be selected in the 10th round of the 1989 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns and then later spent time on the rosters of the Minnesota Vikings (1989) and Pittsburgh Steelers (1990). During his time in the NFL, Buddenberg was shifted inside to play guard.

In 1991 John was selected by the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football. A stalwart member of the Surge’s offensive line front, he played in all 20 regular season games for the franchise over the lifetime of the World League (1991-1992), earning first-team All-World League in ’92. For both years he’d return to the NFL and was on the practice squad of the Atlanta Falcons.

After the World League reorganized following the 1992 season- the Sacramento Surge jumped to the CFL and became the Goldminers. John joined the franchise and played both guard and tackle for Sacramento in 1994, and (for the franchise when it moved to San Antonio and became) the Texans in 1995.

John currently lives in Ohio. He responded with a nice note and two extra autographed cards (the Jogo ones) thanking me for being a fan of the World League.

Arena, NFL, usfl, WLAF

Bennett, Ben

Card: ProSet 1991 WLAF Insert
Acquired: 2018, EBay
Failure: TTM 2014, C/o Home 

Ben Bennett was a prolific quarterback for the Duke Blue Devils finishing as one of the top passers in NCAA history, throwing for 9614 yards on 820 completions (1375 attempts) and 55 TDs from 1980 to 1983. 

Selected in the 6th round of the 1984 NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons, but ended up playing in the USFL for the Jacksonville Bulls. Bennett then bounced around camps for the Falcons, Oilers, Cowboys, and Bears, eventually seeing a little action playing for the Bengals in ’87.  He’d join the Arena Football league playing for the Chicago Bruisers in 1988 and 1989, leading the team to the championship in the latter season. After playing for the Dallas Texans in 1990, he was selected by the Sacramento Surge of the WLAF during the first round of the positional draft. 

Ben was expected to be the starter for the Surge, but he’d be supplanted by former KC Chiefs 2nd round pick, Mike Elkins- who took all the snaps after the first game. Bennett returned to the Arena Football League later that year with the Orlando Predators.  Ben at this point became a star for the young league. He’d play for Orlando through 1995, before taking one season pitstops with both the San Jose SabreCats and the Portland Forest Dragons.  Ben is known in Arena lore for the ‘Miracle Minute’ in which he engineered a 16 point comeback in under 1 minute. Ben was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame in 2000. 

Outside of his impressive Arena Football resume, Ben has been involved as coach for the Milwaukee Mustangs (1998), Greensboro Prowlers (2000), Florida Bobcats (2001), Florida Firecats (2002-2004), Manchester Wolves (2005-2007), Austin Wranglers (2008), Orlando Fantasy LFL (2010), the New Orleans Voodoo (2011), and the Orlando Predators (2012). 

I had previously tried to get Ben way back in 2011, but had no luck. Since then, I’ve seen no successes or addresses for him that I could use, so I went ahead and just picked this autograph up off of EBay after verifying its integrity. 

NFLATTCPDYDSPCTTDINTRAT
0/1522533.3017.6
RUSHYDSAVGTDLG
2178.509
USFLATTCPDYDSPCTTDINTRAT
0/213711353.810142.5
ARENAATTCPDYDSPCTTDINTRAT
192810691416855.426781N/A
RUSHYDSAVGTDLG
11367.609
WLAFATTCPDYDSPCTTDINTRAT
1/02696034.60239.6