Besides getting a variety of children’s books published he created, Ray has also been involved in the Spring football league scene. He served as an advisor at one point for the USFL. When writing him I went off on a giant tangent about Spring football and how important it is to me and these players. He kindly responded with a nice greeting card of his Darby the Dinosaur, and inside he wrote that he also enjoys watching Spring football as well.
Originally I sent Ray 3 cards, and included a Score 1991, forgetting that I had already acquired this as part of the Akron Acquisition back in 2011. I threw in his Topps card because Ray was one of the original players who dolled themselves up with the eye paint back in the day. His Pro Set 1990 photo is an extremely underrated action shot perfectly encapsulated on this card.
Daryl Johnston is now the defacto point man for the unified USFL/XFL. I think it’s great he loves the sport so much. I appreciate his insightfulness and willingness to throw himself in there. I wasn’t sure what direction he’d go in after the dissolution of the AAF, as I thought he could move into an NFL executive role already, but he seems quite good at- and happy working with the UFL promoting the spring league.
He came down to San Antonio and talked to us about the Brahmas and the merged league. Afterwards he and Wade stood around and signed autographs and took photos. My friend Brandon and I bode our time and eventually we were able to snag him on most or all the items we wanted. I think that I’m finally running dry on things to get Daryl to sign. As a fullback during the 90s even there was an eventual finite level of cards I’d hit that I wanted to have him autograph.
Channing suited up for the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL in 2020.
After the league folded due to COVID, he returned to the CFL and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, whom he’d been with briefly before signing with the XFL.
In 2022, he played for the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL.
He’d intercept 7 passes for 121 yards and make 14 tackles.
Afterwards, briefly was on the offseason roster of the Washington Commanders.
Although drafted by the Battlehawks of the XFL 23, Stribling opted to resign with the Stars.
With the USFL and XFL merged, Stribling was drafted by the Birmingham Stallions in the 2024 player dispersal draft.
Ultimately ended up on the roster of the Battlehawks- but was cut during the regular season.
NOTES:
Channing was on a shortlist of players I really wanted since he was impossible to get TTM and he had… four(?) cards I was looking to get signed. Since players didn’t really pay any attention to me pregame, I decided to troll the Battlehawks players.
I yelled at Channing that he wasn’t fooling anyone, since he changed his number from 41 to 14. (Wikipedia even showed it as 41.) I then heckled him about his time with the Express. He smiled and after the game gladly came over and inked these 4 cards. When he looked at them, he called them ‘classic’.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
