James Butler played RB for 3 years at Nevada from 2014-16.
He ran for over 1300 yards and 10 TDs in both 2015 and 2016.
Transferred to Iowa for Senior year in 2017.
Undrafted in 2018, but was a member of the Raiders practice squad.
Signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2019 but was cut at the end of camp.
Returned to Raiders practice squad for the 2019 season but was not resigned.
Joined the XFL Houston Roughnecks Run N Shoot attack for the 2020 season.
Was a spark at RB for the Roughnecks, both on the ground and as a receiving threat.
Carried the ball 46 times for 221 yards (4 TDs) to go along with 11 catches for 42 yards and a TD
After scoring a TD in a home game against the St Louis Battlehawks, jumped into crowd creating a celebration dubbed, “The Houston Hop”.
COVID ended the XFL 2020, but James rejoined the CFL- with the BC Lions.
Rushed for 497 yards on 101 carries (2 TDs) and caught 39 passes for 243 yards and a TD in 2021.
Had first 1,000 yard effort in 2022 rushing for 1060 yards on 210 carries while also catching 53 passes for 384 yards for the Lions.
NOTES:
Well I had season tickets to the Roughnecks and of 3 games that they were able to play I was able to attend 2 of them before COVID knocked the league out. I went with my friend Kevin to the game, and with our endzone seats, I was able to engineer a guest star on James Butler’s Houston Hop, as I muscled my way in at the end of the highlight film. Look at that Legends jersey! Long live the AAF!
Chryst saw a mixture of college and CFL positional stops added to his resume highlighted with stops in Ottawa (1994), Saskatchewan (1996), Chargers (1999-’01) .
Named head coach at Pitt in 2012, after rising up the coaching staff at his Alma Mater Wisconsin.
In 2015, he returned to Wisconsin as head coach, and led the team to 6 bowl wins (7 appearances), and ranked after 4 of those seasons.
Fired during the 2022 campaign after the Badgers got off to a 2-3 start.
Compiled a 67-26 record at Wisconsin.
ACCOLADES:
Big 10 Coach of The Year 2016, ’17
NOTES:
Paul Chryst is a member of the Mike Riley tree. He’s crossed back over into Mike’s sphere of influence a few times with the Riders and then later at Oregon St. He signed this card for me only shortly before he was let go. Paul’s not a sexy name, but I think he’d make a fine coach at another major program, or perhaps in the XFL23 or ‘new’ USFL.
Ran for 317 yards on 100 carries, scoring 3 TDs, to go along with 18 catches for 138 yards and another TD.
ACCOLADES:
First 100 yard rusher in AAF history.
NOTES:
I tried to get Zac’s autograph on his two remaining cards (Topps AAF 2019, Topps AAF NOW 2019) but at this point they’re basically flushed.
On the now defunct AAF website, soon before it shut down, the league touted Zac Stacy as one of their up and coming stars and had a feature on him and his brother, who has down syndrome.
In 2022, Stacy was caught on tape gruesomely attacking his ex-girlfriend in the presence of his child. He maintains that his ex manipulated and entrapped him into behaving that way.
In general, everything about Zac’s rise and fall makes me extremely sad.
RUSH
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
357
1355
3.8
9
40
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
53
358
6.8
1
28
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
