Category Archives: University of Texas

CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Young, Vince VY (4)

Card: Panini Contenders 2018, Score 2010, Panini Contenders 2010*, Donruss Classics 2009-2010*
Acquired: In Person, 2018 Heisman House, 2018 Kicking it ATX
See Also: Vince Young, Vince Young (2), Vince Young (3)

Paired with Ricky Williams the day the Heisman House tour came to Austin was none other than UT’s very own Vince Young. It seemed like a no brainer to go to the event. While it’d seem odd that VY would be a guest at the event- it completely made sense for a variety of reasons. UT was playing USC, and while the rivalry from that great 2006 game has dimmed slightly, the comradely between the two storied schools has grown. Vince recently was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, 10+ years after he became the only two time MVP of that game, (little less with one of them for a National Championship against USC). The final reason is because VY wanted to win the Heisman in 2006, but it was given to Reggie Bush instead. When Bush had to vacate the honor, the presenters tried to give it to Vince Young- but he declined the secondhand award. 

As usual Vince strolled in 20-30 minutes late, much to the chagrin of those standing in line for autographs. He was accompanied by none other than USC runningback LenDale White. I had no clue but apparently VY and White were very good friends. They had become close after their years on the Titans together. Vince did a short interview about his time playing at Texas and answered a few questions. He then donned a pair of shades and signed autographs for the fans in line. I didn’t really want to push it so I was quite happy to have him pen this Panini Contenders 2018 card. We talked for a second and exchanged pleasantries. He told me, “To be blessed!”, and I told him, “Hey, you know you have a choice. You can get up in the morning and be happy if you want or mad. I choose to be happy.” He then responded, “You know it.” This was probably my second best experience meeting VY. It’d be in stark contrast to his appearance at Kicking It ATX. 

I had high hopes for the Kicking It ATX event at the Domain. I had really bad luck the last few in person events, as very little had been scheduled and the cancellations kept rolling in. I got probably 9 or so cards of Vince ready to go and with him proclaiming on Twitter that there would be special guests, I got pumped that maybe there’d be a few other guest stars.

It was a total letdown. Outside of Vince, Aaron Ross and his wife just had a baby and had to make a last second cancellation. They basically walked in the door- and back out. Vince was pretty nice to fans, but when I asked him if he was going to watch the new football leagues (XFL, AAF), he told me essentially no, but with an f-bomb attached to it. He signed these three cards, for me, but I just felt like he wasn’t happy at all that I was there as he gave me and my friend the stink face while signing our stuff.

I know that I am an older fan and collector. Most players just don’t see that anymore. They see people like me as a threat to their brand or another white guy EBay-ing their autograph. I just left that event feeling introspectively defensive about my involvement in the ‘The Hobby’, and it maybe the end of the road for me getting VY’s autograph.  

I decided in the end to give away two of the cards I got from the event. Bryan is a good guy who just seems to have bad luck. He’s almost like John Candy from ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’, and like John’s character, he has a giant heart for ‘The Hobby’. There’s nobody more deserving of one of these than him- so I gave him the Playoff Contenders 2010. The other card- the Donruss Classics 09/10, had been in my collection for a while. Eric and I have been chatting it up back and forth for sometime and he’s helping me on a super secret signing or two, so I felt it’d be nice to drop him the other one out of the blue as well.

NFL, University of Texas

Humphrey, lil’Jordan

Card: Leaf draft 2019
Acquired: IP 2019, Longhorn Season Kickoff

Lil’ Jordan burst onto the scene for the Texas Longhorns in 2017 catching 37 passes for 431 yards and a TD during his Sophomore campaign. A human highlight reel for Texas, Lil’ Jordan had an even more impressive 2017- posting 86 receptions for 1176 yards and 9 touchdowns, and earning Big 12 Honorable Mention. He’d declare for the 2018 NFL Draft, but was not selected.

Humphrey signed as an undrafted free agent with the New Orleans Saints, and has been on and off the team’s practice squad through 2019.

Lil signed this card of his for me during the Longhorn Season kickoff with Charles Omenihu. There were very few cards of Lil produced, so I was happy to get this one signed after waiting in line for well over 2 hours. We talked for a minute and I told Lil not to cut his dreads as it was part of his marketing and style.

NFL, University of Texas

Foreman, D’Onta (2)

Cards: Panini Contenders 2018, Panini Elite 2017 (08/35), Panini XR Jumbo Materials 2017 (20/49), Panini Prestige 2018, Panini Contenders 2018, Panini Luminance 2018 (018/225), Panini Prestige 2018, Score 2017, Donruss Rookie Phenom 2017, Panini Contenders 2017 Draft Picks
Acquired: EBay 2019, IP 2019, Coop Spring Game Kickoff, Chuck E Cheese, IP 2020, Reliable Automotive Grand Opening Kyle, Tx.
See Also: D’Onta Foreman

I had been dying to get D’onta on a few more cards because not only was he a Longhorn, he was a Houston Texan to boot- with quite a few nice cards. When I heard he was going to be in attendance at the Coop Spring Game Kickoff as part of a triple header with Lil Jordan Humphrey and Charles Omenihu, I knew I had to go. Foreman rarely appears in Austin. I mean why should he really when H-Town is his burg?

Anyway, Foreman has a beautiful signature. He was quite accommodating in person asking me about placement and color on the Jumbo Materials card. I told him to just ink it up. It didn’t matter to me if he got it all over the swatch. That to me made it more authentic. He looks really good. I mean he did get in and play last season despite his devastating injury his rookie season.

As the year wore on I had hoped the team would use him as a secret weapon to Lamar Miller, but D’onta saw limited reps, primarily against the Eagles. He did catch two passes for 28 yards and a TD however. With Alfred Blue finally shipped out to parts unknown (Jacksonville actually), it looked like D’onta would finally step up into the primary backup role behind Lamar Miller in 2019, but the Texans decided to completely reboot at the runningback position.

D’onta ended up getting cut, and eventually signed with the Indianapolis Colts, but later was placed on IR after he tore his biceps, and then subsequently received an injury settlement. Currently Foreman is a free agent.

I then got D’Onta later at a Chuck E Cheese of all places on his Panini Select and the Luminance cards. He was ‘fashionably late’ to the event and despite the decently sized line, he was more than happy to sign these two cards for me. I really like the framing of the Select card, and it has a really nice polish to it. The Luminance card has a slight metal tinge to it, reminiscent of those first few years of Playoff back in the early 90s. While I am not a fan of script typefaces, this one pulls it off nicely.

After not being able to attend an XFL game I really wanted to go to, I reloaded and decided to attend a signing in Kyle that featured Ricky Williams, D’Onta Foreman, Marcus Johnson, and Fozzy Whittaker. I got there plenty early. The crown jewel was this Panini Contenders dual card with Ricky and D’Onta that I got signed. Initially it was in doubt that Ricky would show up. Then it was in doubt that Foreman would show up because he was late. Still I managed to get all the cards signed I wanted to.

My friend Mark, who I meet at some of these events, tossed me a few extras he had of Foreman to get signed. I got scared off because D’Onta looked like he wasn’t in a great mood to sign. I had to badger him to sign the Score 17 card, but Mark sent his kids up and got the Panini cards signed for me to close out the lot.

We all got extremely lucky, as this is the last in person event happened, occurring the weekend before the COVID shutdown affected everybody statewide.