He finished the season with 27 tackles, 11 assists and a sack for the Monarchs that season as a hybrid LB/S.
During the 1992 season, Wilson secured a 10 yard interception.
Wilson stayed in playing shape and joined the Arena Football League in ’95 as a LB/ WR.
Played for the Connecticut Coyotes in 1995-96, and the Florida Bobcats from 1996 to ’98.
NOTES:
I gave up on Harvey, since I failed on him back in 2017. I saw that a seller on EBay had 3-4 autographed cards from World Leaguers that I wanted, so I threw him out a package offer. I would be surprised if these were forgeries, as there’s little to no market for player autographs from a forgotten league. It appears that Harvey signed this in pen or a fading marker, and then signed over his original graph with a sharpie.
Ah Larry Kennan. After getting his autograph sometime ago, I realized I didn’t get Larry’s autograph on this lone World League card in the Pro Set Series II insert set.
Kennan coached at the University of Incarnate Word for 4 seasons, compiling a record of 20-48 from 2014-2017. He’s retired and as of 2020 lives in San Antonio, Texas.
He responded to my request for his autograph in a very short amount of time and wrote on my letter, “My pleasure”. I had to do the digging for Larry’s address on my own, and was very surprised after getting a hit on him, that other people contacted me for his address as well.
CARD: Wild Card World League 1992 ACQUIRED: EBay, 2023 FAILURE: TTM 2010, 2011, 2020, C/o The Chiefs
CAREER SNAPSHOT:
Willie Davis caught 63 passes for 1292 yards over his college career for Central Arkansas.
He holds the school all-time record for longest reception with a 99 yard TD.
He’d go undrafted in 1990, but be signed to the Chiefs practice squad.
Willie was allocated to the Orlando Thunder of the World League in 1992 by the team to give the young receiver more seasoning.
With future NFL veteran Scott Mitchell at QB, Davis caught 20 passes and a 51 yard TD in his first professional action.
The Chiefs, impressed by what they saw opted to give Willie some playtime in their offense.
Willie became one of the World League’s success stories, catching 36 passes for 756 yards later that year.
His best season perhaps came the following year when he caught 52 passes for 909 yards and 7 TDs.
He played for the Chiefs through 1995.
With Houston Oilers WR Haywood Jeffires demanding more money to stay with the team, the franchise opted to go in another direction and signed Willie Davis to essentially replace him.
Willie played with the Oilers from 1996-98, transitioning with the franchise to Tennessee in 1997.
Willie returned to the Chiefs after a few years away from the sport and joined the team’s front office, where he serves as the team’s front office scout of the southwest.
ACCOLADES:
Central Arkansas Hall of Fame (2001)
NOTES:
I finally gave up on trying to get Willie through the mail after 3 attempts through the Chiefs over the last 12 years. He signed sporadically for others and just didn’t respond to me. Whether or not it was an intentional snub or not or just the fact he may not want to sign his true rookie card, I am not sure. -So I just decided to haggle with an EBay seller who had some World League autographs that looked legitimate enough to me to close the deal.
WL
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
20
242
12.1
1
51t
NFL
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
286
4503
15/7
33
74
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
