Category Archives: WLAF

NFL, WLAF

Berardelli, Paul

Card: ProSet WLAF 1991
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent: 8/7     Received: 8/16   (9 days)

A three year starter while at Villanova from 1985-1988, Paul was teammates with Steve Gabbard on the Philadelphia Eagles developmental squad back in the 1989 season.  After a stint on the Packers in 1990, Paul was drafted in the 4th round by the London Monarchs during the WLAF’s positional draft. There he’d be reunited with Steve, (and along with Doug Marrone,) they’d become the most formidable offensive line in WLAF history allowing only 10 sacks on the entire season. He’d become the vocal ringleader of the offensive line, nicknamed ‘The Nasty Boyz. ‘ Thanks to the play of the line,  Stan Gelbaugh averaged roughly 280 yards passing per gam.  At the end of the season the Monarchs won World Bowl I over the Barcelona Dragons. Paul, Doug, and Steve, all received 1st team All-World Honors from the league as well for their outstanding blocking.  The NFL took notice, and poached the rosters of the more successful WLAF teams. Head coach Larry Kennan returned stateside, and while the Monarchs came in and put up a good fight to start the season in 1992, the team did not repeat as WLAF champs.

Retiring from football, Paul decided to enter into education after the season concluded. He’s since climbed the ranks from substitute teaching all the way up to principal at Delsea High School in New Jersey. Villanova also retired his jersey in 1998.

He considered future Sacramento Surge DE (and future Pro Wrestler)Bill Goldberg, to have been a bear to block, and looks back upon his time in the WLAF, the memories, and the players he met while he was with the Monarchs, very fondly.

I had actually been after Paul for sometime after identifying him on Facebook. Since he never responded to my emails, I went ahead and sent something out anyway and in the letter I talked about the WLAF and mentioned that I had spammed him on Facebook quite a few times. He wrote me back and dropped me a nice note and offered to answer any questions that I had about his time in the WLAF. It really is these gems that make this hobby special, especially when I get just as much out of reminiscing about it as a player does.

NFL, WLAF

Gabbard, Steve

Card: ProSet WLAF 1991
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent: 7/6  Received: 7/28  (22 days)

Steve Gabbard played collegiality at Florida State as a defensive tackle, but his 6’3″, 293 frame screamed offensive line to coaches in the NFL. The Eagles signed him as a free agent in 1989, and moved Gabbard to tackle, stashing him on their practice squad. In 1991, the World League of American Football was just getting started and the London Monarchs used their first offensive line pick on him. It would prove to be bountiful for the Monarchs, as their line yielded only 10 sacks on the whole season.  Along with Steve, teammates Doug Marrone, and Paul Berardelli were named first team All World along the offensive line helping pave the way for an offense that averaged 380.6 yards per game.  After the season, Steve signed with the Green Bay Packers where he appeared in 4 games for the team.  He signed his lone WLAF card for me and wrote ‘God Bless!’, On the envelope. Really a nice find.

 

Arena, NFL, WLAF

Wilkerson, Eric (2)

Cards: ProSet WLAF 1991 TD leader, ProSet WLAF 1991 Rushing leader, ProSet 1991 WLAF, Ultimate WLAF 1992, Ultimate WLAF 1992 LL, Wild Card WLAF 1992.
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Kent State Alumni Association*
Sent:  6/16    Received: 7/28  (34 days)
See Also: Eric Wilkerson
* Donation requested

The paid side of SportsCollectors.net has been really good to me, and I’ve been able to unearth some very nice gems recently out of there recently. Case in point: Eric Wilkerson. I had been looking for Eric for quite a while. After hearing he had been stabbed, I hadn’t been able to find anymore information on him, but combing the archives of SC I found a success for the elusive runningback by writing to him care of Kent State’s Alumni Association. Since I had reached a desperate level on him, and he is one of those players with a bunch of cards, I decided to give it a shot and throw in a donation, since I felt so guilty about sending so many cards. While reconciling my bank account statements, I noticed that he cashed the check out a few days earlier, and then crossed my fingers on the return.  I would not be disappointed as he signed all 6 cards, which represents the single highest haul from a player since probably – Stan Gelbaugh? With Eric’s autographs on his 3 ProSet WLAF 1991 cards, it officially puts me over the halfway mark on the set (76/150).  Among the cards is the really slick touchdown league leader card, that he split with Orlando Thunder receiver Byron Williams. Nearly all of these cards are just really great heroic images of Eric in action, with probably his regular base card from the Ultimate 1992 WLAF set being my favorite. He signed each one, and wrote 91/92 on either one indicating the year.

During his time at Kent State, Eric ran his way into the record books rushing for 3,380 yards from scrimmage, and crushing the Mid-American Conference’s combined yardage record with 5,974 all purpose yards. During his senior season he set a single season school record with 1,325 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Due to his diminutive size, and the small school he went to, Wilkerson went undrafted but signed with the Steelers in 1989, and the Lions in 1990.

The WLAF gave him a shot in 1991. He’d be the 8th runningback taken in the draft, by the New York New Jersey Knights, and lead the league in rushing in 1991 with 717 yards and 11 TDs.  While his 1992 season was not as successful, it was more about the Knights offense diversifying as much as anything else. Eric is unofficially the WLAF’s career leading rusher- since the league reorganized after the season and was not seen again until three years later in 1995.