Category Archives: WLAF

CFL, NFL, WLAF

Britton, Eddie ‘Flash’

Card: Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 8/7 Received: 8/26 (19 days)

Playing for tiny Central College (OH) Eddie Britton finished with 58 receptions for 1,081 yards and 13 TDs. Known for his liquid speed, Eddie had been clocked at an unheard of 4.26 40. He’d be signed by the Indianapolis Colts and allocated to the World League Enhancement Program for the 1992 season.

Eddie joined the Fire, where he caught 18 passes for 277 yards and a 56 yard TD, and rushed 9 times for 53 yards. He also returned kicks as well, posting a gaudy 23 returns for 558 yards (24.3 average). His 908 total yards from scrimmage quietly led the team. After the season, Eddie took his toolsets North to the CFL.

Eddie spent the next 4 years in the league from 1993-1996 playing for Calgary, Baltimore, Birmingham, the Ottawa Rough Riders and finally the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. His best season came in 1995 for the Barracudas, when he caught 49 passes for 681 yards and 4 TDs.

As of late I have found my passion for finding former World League players reignited by the failure of the Alliance. I was able to scrap together Eddie’s personal information through various sources and look him up through advancedbackgroundchecks.com. Within a month he signed his card and included a nice note wishing me well.

WLAFRECYDSAVGTDLG
1827715.4156T
KRYDSAVGTDLG
2355824.3045
CFLRECYDSAVGTDLG
6986912.6571
KRYDSAVGTDLG
3048716.2029
PRYDSAVGTDLG
453016.7033
NFL, WLAF

Wiese, Brett

Card: Ultimate WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Work
Sent: 10/8    Received: 10/23    (14 days)

Brett Wiese played collegiality for the Washington Huskies from 1985-1988. A blocker who was prized for his flexibility to play all positions on the line, Brett played alongside a studded team of prospects that included Bern Brostek, Cary Conklin, Greg Lewis, Andre Riley, and Mario Bailey. After going unselected in the 1989 NFL Draft, Brett signed with the New England Patriots, and then later played for the San Fransisco 49ers in 1990 and 1991. 

He’d be selected in the first round of the 1992 WLAF draft and play one season for the franchise overseas before returning stateside when the league reorganized. 

Wiese lives in Bellevue, Washington and is a real estate developer and business lawyer. A class act, he sent a really nice note, copy of the autograph, and the autographed card back with his correspondence. 

Arena, NFL, usfl, WLAF

Bennett, Ben

Card: ProSet 1991 WLAF Insert
Acquired: 2018, EBay
Failure: TTM 2014, C/o Home 

Ben Bennett was a prolific quarterback for the Duke Blue Devils finishing as one of the top passers in NCAA history, throwing for 9614 yards on 820 completions (1375 attempts) and 55 TDs from 1980 to 1983. 

Selected in the 6th round of the 1984 NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons, but ended up playing in the USFL for the Jacksonville Bulls. Bennett then bounced around camps for the Falcons, Oilers, Cowboys, and Bears, eventually seeing a little action playing for the Bengals in ’87.  He’d join the Arena Football league playing for the Chicago Bruisers in 1988 and 1989, leading the team to the championship in the latter season. After playing for the Dallas Texans in 1990, he was selected by the Sacramento Surge of the WLAF during the first round of the positional draft. 

Ben was expected to be the starter for the Surge, but he’d be supplanted by former KC Chiefs 2nd round pick, Mike Elkins- who took all the snaps after the first game. Bennett returned to the Arena Football League later that year with the Orlando Predators.  Ben at this point became a star for the young league. He’d play for Orlando through 1995, before taking one season pitstops with both the San Jose SabreCats and the Portland Forest Dragons.  Ben is known in Arena lore for the ‘Miracle Minute’ in which he engineered a 16 point comeback in under 1 minute. Ben was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame in 2000. 

Outside of his impressive Arena Football resume, Ben has been involved as coach for the Milwaukee Mustangs (1998), Greensboro Prowlers (2000), Florida Bobcats (2001), Florida Firecats (2002-2004), Manchester Wolves (2005-2007), Austin Wranglers (2008), Orlando Fantasy LFL (2010), the New Orleans Voodoo (2011), and the Orlando Predators (2012). 

I had previously tried to get Ben way back in 2011, but had no luck. Since then, I’ve seen no successes or addresses for him that I could use, so I went ahead and just picked this autograph up off of EBay after verifying its integrity. 

NFLATTCPDYDSPCTTDINTRAT
0/1522533.3017.6
RUSHYDSAVGTDLG
2178.509
USFLATTCPDYDSPCTTDINTRAT
0/213711353.810142.5
ARENAATTCPDYDSPCTTDINTRAT
192810691416855.426781N/A
RUSHYDSAVGTDLG
11367.609
WLAFATTCPDYDSPCTTDINTRAT
1/02696034.60239.6