Tag Archives: ttm football autographs

Rasul, Amir

Cards: Ultimate WLAF 1992, Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 7/27   Received: 8/29  (34 days)

An excellent rusher and receiver out of the backfield during college, Amir Rasul finished with 2072 yards rushing, 600 yards receiving and a total of 23 touchdowns during his career at Florida A&M.  The Buffalo Bills would draft him in the 7th round of the 1991 draft to fit the mold of a Thurman Thomas back in their offense. He would not make the roster of the team.

The WLAF would come calling and the expansion Ohio Glory would select Amir in the 6th round of the 1992 draft. Although playing for the abhorrent Glory, (which finished at an abysmal 1-9,) Rasul was always a threat out of the backfield, racking up 572 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns for the team. In the season opener against Orlando, not only did he score the franchise’s first TD, Rasul also set league records rushing 24 times for 152 yards and a TD.  He also earned Offensive Player of the Week Honors. His rushing yards would be good enough to rank 2nd in the league behind Ivory Lee Brown (SA) in the end. He would not earn All-World honors however for his efforts. That would be it for the WLAF though, as it would reorganize after the 1992 season.

Since that time Amir has lived in relative anonymity and went into construction where he is the owner of Diamond Construction Group, out of the Fort Lauderdale area. I was able to track him down utilizing Spokeo, as his unique name made him an easy find. I didn’t expect to get a reply, so to get his response on these 2 cards was quite nice in a bit over 30 days.

Below are his WLAF statistcs:

G 10   Rush 136     Yds  572    Avg  4.2   Td  4    Lg  36  |
Rec 20    Yds 117    Avg  5.8      Td 0   Lg 22

Graham, Jeff

Card: ProSet WLAF 1991
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Work
Sent: 7/20  Received: 7/27  (7 days)

At the time of his graduation from Cal State -Long Beach in 1989, quarterback Jeff Graham owned virtually all of the 49ers passing records with 8080 passing yards and 42 touchdown passes, along with a school single game 515 yards passing.  During the 1989 draft, Jeff would be taken by the Green Bay Packers in the 4th round.  He’d return in 1990 to finish his degree in criminology from his Alma Mater.
Scouring the free agent waiver wire for a quarterback to back up Todd Hammel in New York, the Knights would sign Jeff with just 10 days for him to prepare for the regular season. Graham, much like Stan Gelbaugh in London would come off the bench in game one and not relinquish the starting job for the remainder of the season. What was more amazing was the fact that Graham did this while constantly under fire suffering 62 sacks in only 10 games. (Prorated over an entire 16 game schedule, that would have been roughly 90 sacks.) In the end, Graham still posted an impressive season with 2407 yards and 8 touchdowns, while setting a league record with 414 passing yards against Montreal.  Jeff’s gaudy 15.3 YPC and 8.9 YPA would also lead the WLAF while he rushed for 6 touchdowns.  He would not return to the Knights for 1992, with Reggie Slack and Brent Pease in camp.

Graham signed with the Chargers in 1991, Seahawks 1992-1994, and Oakland in 1995, as an emergency quarterback. He would see no regular season playing time for any of the franchises and retire after his stint with the Raiders. Since that time Jeff returned to college earning his masters at Colorado State. In 2006, Graham was inducted into the California State Long Beach Hall of Fame and is currently practicing law in the LA area. Below are his WLAF statistics.

G 9/10    Att 272  Comp 157   Yds 2407   Pct 57.7    Td 8   Int 8   Rat 84.6  |
Rush 46   Yds 140   Avg 3.0   Td 6   Lg 24

Smith, Dennis

Cards: Pacific 1991, Score 1990, Score 1991, Score Supplemental 1989, ProSet 1990 ProBowl, ProSet 1990.
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 8/6 Received: 8/11 (5 days)

Wow, new record with Dennis here, partially because he lives in virtually the same city. I sent only 3 cards to get signed with a few extras for him to keep. It was very gracious of him to sign all 6 anyway with the additional duplicate.

Dennis was a local product from Santa Monica. He’d go to USC under head coach John Robinson and would be paired with Joey Browner, and Ronnie Lott forming one of the most fearsome secondaries in the nation. In 1981 Smith would be taken by the Denver Broncos during the 1st round with the 15th pick.

A devestatingly hard hitter lining up at strong safety, Smith would only start 4 games his rookie season, hauling down a pick and recovering 2 fumbles. In 1983, he finished with 5 sacks, 4 picks and 114 tackles. 1984 would see his legend grow, as he made 92 more tackles and returned a fumble 64 yards for a touchdown.  It’d be in 1985 that Dennis finally started earning his stripes, earning his first ProBowl nomination that season, with 4 sacks, 3 picks and 66 tackles and quickly earn his second successive ProBowl nod the following season in 1986. After the strike shortened 1987 season and a slow 1988, Smith would earn his 3rd nomination in 1989 with 3 fumble recoveries, 2 picks, and 82 tackles while draftee Steve Atwater cemented down the other safety position. He’d grab his 4th and 5th nominations in 1990 and 1991 with 110 tackles in both seasons, and 5 picks in 1991. Despite almost duplicate numbers in 1992, with 4 picks, 2 fumbles and 120 tackles, he did not earn PB honors, but nabbed them one final time in 1993, before retiring after the 1994 season.

Over his career Dennis Smith was named AP 4 times in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989. Among Dennis other achievements is being inducted into the Denver Ring of Fame in 2001, the Colorado Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Denver Broncos 50th Anniversary Team. Since then he’s dabbled in real estate and reality television.

Nice cards through and through here. It was hard to choose which one to send to him. Some great shots here of Dennis playing it up for drama’s sake on some of these, but otherwise his Score Supplemental 1989 stands out as his most solid action shot to me. Otherwise, the best designed card, I have to hand it to ProSet here, as both of their cards are solid.

G/Gs 184/170   Tac 1152    Sac 15    Fum 17    Int 30    Yds 431    Td 0