Category Archives: University of Texas

University of Texas

Shankle, Doug

UT Upper Deck 2011, #42

CARD: Upper Deck 2011 Certified
ACQUIRED: Ebay, 2020

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Doug Shankle played MLB for the Texas Longhorns from 1978-’81.
  • Over his 4 years at UT he amassed a school record 325 solo tackles, and a school second best 478 total tackles.
  • Considerably underrated, he appears twice in the school 10 ten single season record books for total tackles with 144 and 106 respectively.
  • Ranked 7th in career tackles for loss with 41.
  • In 1980, against TCU he intercepted a pass for 21 yards and returned it for a TD.
  • After football, Doug went to work for Frito Lay.
  • A few years ago he also beat colon cancer, and his coach Fred Akers was kind enough to give him words of encouragement and be by his side.

NOTES:

I don’t know why Doug didn’t translate to the NFL. The first thought I have is back then, colleges didn’t necessarily see pro ball as the next step, so they didn’t rigorously train him to go there. Regardless Doug was long overdue for a card.

This card, I got… mid 2020. I realized that the market was ripe for picking out singles I needed from this set to close it out, and I aggressively pursued any and all that I needed that were reasonably priced. With COVID driving prices up, I was happy buying two autographs I needed and wanted instead of buying a box of over priced cards and getting possibly nothing.

Upper Deck did a great job with this set. I wish they’d do an update, but with Panini and Fanatics chomping at the bit to eat up market share, this may be out of UD’s control.

NFL, University of Texas

Speyrer, Cotton (2)

UT Upper Deck 2011 NCAA Nat’l Champions ’69/70, #ATA-CS
UT Upper Deck 2011 NCAA All-Americans, #AA-CS

CARDS: University of Texas Upper Deck 2011 Nat’l Champs ’69//70, University of Texas Upper Deck 2011 NCAA All-Americans
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Home
SENT: 4/21 RECEIVED: 5/4 (13 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

Cotton lives in Central Texas and much like myself was affected by ‘The Texas Freeze’. He wrote me a nice note saying that normally he doesn’t respond to letters and just signs the cards, but that he too wished myself and my family well after what had happened to us.

CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Young, Vince ‘VY’ (5)

Playoff Prestige 2010, #195
SP 2008, #34
Absolute Memorabilia 2010, #97
Playoff Contenders 2008, #95

CARDS: Absolute Memorabilia 2010, Playoff Contenders 2008, SP 2008, Playoff Prestige 2010
ACQUIRED: In Person, 2023

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

An end of year surprise for 2023, my friend Mark G sent me a link to a signing that VY was doing at a Crunch Fitness in South Austin. I was really hesitant to go after my last experience a few years ago at Kickin’ It with Jeff, but in the end I am glad that I went. It was a far cry from that event from a few years ago.

I met up with Mark and I just basically word vomited on him about football for a while. He brought his kids who were SHILs but grabbed a few of their own. The line was long but moved quickly. VY showed up on time and was in a great mood. He signed everything that we had on us, despite the strict rule that he could only sign 2. In the end I got 7 things signed, with the help of Mark.

This made me super happy. I really like Vince. He’s a local football hero, and Htown hero, but to be frank despite his athletic trappings- it doesn’t mean things are come easy or mental health is simple. He’s struggled a lot and I feel that he does deserve the best in life like anyone and everyone else. He looked great too! VY grew in this sweet beard that’s gently whitening out.

We talked for a minute about how he always made the Texans pay for not drafting him and that his OT heroics still live rent free in my head. -And how when he ran, it always looked like he was moving in slow motion- but everyone was moving so much slower.

I loved his Htown Oiler hat, but I thought it’d be in bad taste to ask him where he stood on if the franchise stats, color, and color should be returned to Htown or not. He told me that he really liked my AAF jacket. We chuckled about how it was classic now, since it was from the fire festival of football.

I’m always looking to help out friends, or surprise them, so I dropped three of them in the mail to Joe, Rick, and Jake. Overall it was a great way to close out the year.