Card: Sage 2015
Acquired: 2015, Box Breaker
Detrick Bonner was a three year starter at Virginia Tech,who fell off the radar of scouts during the NFL Draft in 2015, due to an injury that limited his participation in the combine. A reliable and consistent starter for the Hokies, Bonner demonstrated versatility lining up at not only safety, and corner, but also as a whip linebacker. In August of 2015, he signed with the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts.
Cards: Pro Set 1990, Upper Deck College Legends 2011
Acquired: 4/30/15, Houston Texans Draft Party
See Also: Andre Ware ‘Air Ware’
Lance and I arrived at the 2015 Houston Texans Draft Party with high hopes, but were ultimately disappointed when we didn’t have cards of the Ambassadors who showed up, and the players I did have a card of were only taking photo ops. Queue the Astrodome air raid siren, because Andre Ware came to the rescue.
As Lance and I made our way towards the photo op booth, I heard a familiar voice on TV. Andre Ware was being interviewed on Fox Spots Southwest. Recognizing that the broadcast was taking place in the stadium, I walked over to one of the people working at the stadium and asked them where Andre was. The stadium employees identified it as being at radio row where only the VIP fans were allowed. We got as close as the elevator, and after borrowing a pen and waiting for about 15 minutes, Lance and I decided to locate the ground floor exit of the VIP area to get a better vantage point. We walked for about 5 minutes, and emerging out of the crowd from the other direction, was
Andre Ware. Kudos to Andre for cheerfully signing 2 cards for me and Lance, even though he had his hands full with two kids by his side and all their stuff.
I can’t encourage collectors enough to build out a compact and expanded box of cards that covers the full gamut of players, former players, and sports personalities. With Andre covering the Texans on the radio as a color commentator and also being a local legend, it made sense to have a few extras on the off chance he did make an appearance. Otherwise these are great cards of Ware, and leaves me with only a handful of extras that I would love to have autographed for my collection.
Cards: Score Supplemental 1990, ProSet 1990, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 4/1 Received: 4/17 (16 days)
Steve Christie left William & Mary as the school’s All-Time leading scorer in 1989 with 279 points. He was signed as a free agent by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1990. The Bucs had a solid kicking game with Donald Igwebuike, but Christie beat him head to head in camp and won the job outright. Through Week 7 of the 1990 season Christie was the leading scorer in the NFL with 57 points and hit all of his XP, and was 14 of 16 of field goals. By the end of the season Steve was named All-Rookie by the UPI, as he finished second in the NFC with a .852 field goal percentage. After another solid season in 1991 with the Bucs, Christie was left unprotected by the team, controversially after he made promises not to leave the team.
The Buffalo Bills had finally decided that it was time for longtime kicker Scott Norwood to go. They offered Steve twice the salary he was making in Tampa to come to Buffalo. Christie didn’t look back. 
He’d later cite that the ‘lack of winning tradition’ in Tampa as factoring into making his decision easier, because, “You get quite depressed only winning 3 games a season.”
Christie distinguished himself with the Bills almost immediately. and played with the franchise through the 2000 season, erasing many of the previous kicking marks held by Norwood. Steve set the franchise records that he set were the longest field goal (59 yards), the longest field goal in playoff history (54 yards), and the most career field goals in the playoffs (9). Steve is the franchise’s All-time leading scorer with 1,011 points, and set a franchise record with 14o points in a single season (1998).
In 2001, Steve signed with the San Diego Chargers after a somewhat contentious divorce from the Bills. A preseason injury forced the Bills to offer Christie an injury settlement- an offer that he rejected. So the team with no real choice at that point placed him on injured reserve, and then finally granted his unconditional release a few weeks later. He played with the Chargers through the 2003 season. From there he spent some time with the
Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants in 2004.
Christie then entered a period of semi-retirement. He briefly played for the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL in 2007 as a favor to general manager Mike Clemons- a teammate from William & Mary. Afterwards he signed a one day contract with the Buffalo Bills to officially retire as a member of the franchise in 2008. He’s done some football commentary since then and has worked in the CFL as a player agent. As of 2014, Steve’s 1,476 points ranks 16th in NFL history and his 336 field goals rank 13th.
In this day and age, kickers have become more interchangable between franchises, but the best clutch kickers such as Christie, Stenerud, Anderson, and Andersen, have just become more and more rare, especially when they were able to pull of long stints with one team.
G 229 XPA 473 XPM 468 PCT 98.9
FGA 431 FGM 336 PCT 78.0 PTS 1476