Category Archives: Arena

Arena, CFL

Jurasin, Bobby

Cards: All World 1991.
Acquired: TTM 1993, (CFL Blitz) C/o CFL headquarters.

I got a box of All-World CFL cards in 1991 from a local card dealer and decided to send out a bunch of them after the league confirmed it’s North American expansion plans when the WLAF folded in North America. Not finding the team offices, I blitzed the headquarters, who then sent it around to a variety of teams for me and included many of their own. They included many future hall of famers and Doug Flutie.

Bobby Jurasin went undrafted in the 1986 NFL draft after attending Northern Michigan University and joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders as a free agent that year.  Despite only starting 8 games his rookie year, he was an immediate force on the field for the Roughriders garnering the team’s rookie of the year award nomination at linebacker and defensive end. (He also played spot tight end duty.) Jurasin over the next 12 seasons would wreck havoc on opposing teams, and would be a West All Star in 1989 and 1994, CFL All Star in 1987, 1988, 1992, and 1997, winning a Grey Cup in 1989. He’d play for the Argonauts in 1998, and then the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena league where he retired due to a neck injury. At retirement he was number 3 on the CFL all time list in sacks.

Of note, Jurasin was a trend setter, wearing a rising sun bandana underneath his helmet that fans picked up on and wear to this day. Bobby was inducted into the CFL HoF in 2006 and currently is coaching at the college level.

Games  197       Tac  411        Sac  142         FF   22
Int  2         Yds  38          Avg  19.0         Td  0

Arena, WLAF

Blake, Ricky

Cards: Ultimate WLAF 1991, Proset World League 1991
Acquired: In Person, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp 1992

Ricky Blake was an All-Pro WLAF Prospect when he made the jump from the San Antonio Riders to the Dallas Cowboys, after he ranked third in the WLAF with 554 yards.

A bruising fullback with deceptive speed, Blake was not drafted out of Alabama A&M. In fact, he opted to leave college and play in the CFL for Winnipeg. He then took a year off, but had already gotten the attention of head coach Mike Riley, who drafted him to play in San Antonio where he was the bell cow of the Riders offense.  Surprisingly nimble for his size, clocking in at near 250- Blake was compared to big bodied Saints’ RB Craig ‘Ironhead’ Heyward.

After transitioning to the Cowboys, Ricky started out with a bang in ’91, then was injured after 2 games on a long run against Phoenix. He never played again for the Cowboys, sustaining a hip pointer much like the one that ended Bo Jackson’s career.

Blake however would return to play for the Fort Worth Arena league team in 1994, notching 12 yards on 4 carries and one tackle that year.  Later then he was picked up by the Barcelona Dragons of the newly reconstituted NLFE in 1995, playing for one season, rushing for 398 yards on 98 carries before hanging up his cleats for good.   It should be noted that it is commonly mistaken that Blake returned to the Riders in 1992, but by that point, Ivory Lee Brown had taken over for him in SA.

WLAF Games  10     Att   120         Yds   554        Avg     4.6            TD  5
Rec 16      Yds 107       Avg 6.7      Lg 24      Td 1