At the end of his time at Missou, James Wilder was the school’s all-time leading rusher with 2,357 yards.
A second round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1982.
Slotted into the lineup as a FB.
Impressed coaches so much he took over starting duties at RB in 1984.
Set NFL single game record (since broken) rushing 42 times against Pittsburgh in 1984.
He carried the ball a whopping 407 times for 1577 yards and 13 TDs.
His 2229 total yards were only 19 yards off the combined rushing receiving single season record.
By the end of that season- his 4th- Wilder had passed Ricky Bell to become the franchise’s all-time leading rusher.
Wilder was ahead of his time, as not only was he a great runner, but he was an extremely talented receiver as well, catching 85 passes that year.
In 1985, Wilder had another solid season, posting 1300 yards rushing on 365 carries and 10 TDs.
James never eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark again over his career.
While this could’ve been attributed to injuries or a conversion back to FB is not known, as the backfield became quite crowded.
The Bucs traded James to Detroit in exchange for Eric WIliams in 1990.
At the time of his departure, Wilder owned nearly every rushing franchise record and even the team’s record for receptions.
He played the majority of the season with the Lions, before finishing his career on the roster of the Redskins that year.
ACCOLADES:
Pro Bowl 1984
NOTES:
Finally! I absolutely adore this card and have wanted to get it signed by James for some time. James embodied the creamsickle orange to me. The autograph is just as good! It’s strong, the color is superb, and the placement is perfect.
I love my RBs and Wilder had a very interesting NFL career to me. I considered also sending his Score Supplemental 1990 in his Lions uniform, or his Score 1989 card, but since I had failed on him 10 years ago, never restocked on his cards.
Rufus Porter was a big, rangy LB that played college ball at Southern.
Going undrafted in 1988, he signed with the Seattle Seahawks and was a surprising diamond in the rough found by the franchise.
Recorded 16 special teams tackles, and saw time as a defensive end and nickle situations later in the season.
Recorded 10.5 sacks, and led Seattle with 4 forced fumbles in ’89.
Had another 10 sack appearance in ’91, and a 9.5 effort in ’92.
After two consecutive down seasons with the Seahawks, Rufus took his game to New Orleans in ’96.
Earned a gameball for his play against the Colts that season.
Played one final season in Tampa in 1997.
ACCOLADES:
1988, ’89 Pro Bowl
Steve Largent Award 1991
Fleer 1990, #272
NOTES:
Rufus was blessed to come onto the NFL scene and get in on nearly all the big sets from the Big Bang of cards during the late 80s and early 90s. As he was on all my set needs, I got him on two cards back in 2021 and then realized he was in every other set. I didn’t want to put him on blast so soon after he started signing so I waited 2 years to ask for his autograph on these remaining set needs.
Oddly Rufus appears in the Action Packed series 3 times, almost scoring a trifecta at #256 in every set- only to appear as #257 in 1992.
It can not be emphasized how awesome many of these cards are. The neck roll was obligatory for many of the linebackers during this period and the Action Packed 1990 and the Skybox Impact ’92 really show it off. If you wanted to be an intimidator, a neck roll was a first good step.
Porter appears in all Tecmo Super Bowl games. He was affectionately referred to as ‘ROOF!’, By the Kingdome faithful who would yell his name after he made a big play.
Ron hopped over to the Omaha Nighthawks of the (original) UFL to coach there in 2012. He then spent some time again at the pro level as an assistant offensive line coach for the New York Jets from 2013-15.
I’m sure there have been a few people who have complained about the lack of Eagles in my database so I decided to knock out Heller for that reason, along with the fact I still had a set need from Fleer 1990, as well as the fact I hadn’t gotten his autograph since… 1995- little less ever TTM. I also think his Score 1990 card is a very underrated offensive lineman action card anyone would be proud of.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
