Category Archives: WLAF

Arena, CFL, NFL, usfl, WIFL, WLAF

Davis, Darrell “Mouse”

Card: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991 Helmet card
Acquired: TTM 1992, C/o The New York-New Jersey Knights, TTM 2011, C/o The University of Hawaii Warriors
Sent: 2/14/11     Received: 3/10/11   (24 days)

Mouse Davis is nothing short of an innovator and a career coach with an extensive offensive coaching tree full of acolytes at every stop. Considered of great importance to the evolution of the Run and Shoot offense(- a passing offense that employs four wide receiver sets, no tight ends and a single running back,) the offense itself is also treated as the forerunner to the modern day spread offense. At every stop from the high school level to the professional level, Davis’ offenses have lit up the scoreboard and set team and league records. In college Mouse coached tiny Portland State to explosive levels (guided by future NFL quarterback Neil Lomax and June Jones). Portland State would set 20 NCAA records, and Mouse would briefly make a stop at Berkley before going on to be offensive coordinator of the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL in 1982. In 1984 he’d move to the USFL and be offensive coordinator under coach Jack Pardee and the Houston Gamblers with Jim Kelly, Richard Johnson and Ricky Sanders. His ‘Mouseketeers’ would dominate the offensive scoreboard and Johnson and Sanders would be the first 100 reception tandem in football history on the same team. 1985 would see his first pro head coaching gig, guiding the Denver Gold to the playoffs before the league folded. Soon thereafter Davis was named head coach of the St. Louis Lightning of the WIFL, but the league disbanded before it even took the field. After the failure of the USFL and WIFL, Davis was head coach of the New York-New Jersey Knights of the WLAF where the team in its first season had the league’s leading rusher in Eric Wilkerson and made the playoffs. In one notable game in 1991 the team set a football record for most faked punts in a game, but also set the record for futility in special teams as well. In the 1992 season under Davis’ guidance, quarterback Reggie Slack was the number 2 rated passer in the league with a 6-4 record before it folded.

Mouse has made numerous pitstops in the NFL as well, most notably when he was an assistant with the Detroit Lions during the late 80s – early 90’s building the “Silver Stretch Offense” and also spent time with the Atlanta Falcons. He was influential with Jack Pardee who adopted the Run and Shoot from him utilizing it with both the Houston Cougars to epic proportions in the NCAA level, the Houston Oilers in the NFL, and the Birmingham Barracudas in the CFL.

Davis returned to the college ranks after his stints in the NFL and WLAF. He currently serves with the Hawaii Warriors as their wide recievers coach and was inducted into the Portland State HoF. I sent off for his autograph while he was coaching the Knights in 1992 and then just this year while he was with the Warriors and he responded in under 30 days. His WLAF statistics are below.

W 11   L 9   T 0  Pct .555

CFL, NFL, WLAF

Savage, Ray

Card: Pro Set 1991 WLAF Insert
Acquired: In Person 1992, San Antonio Riders v. Montreal Machine

Ray Savage was originally an 8th round draft choice of the then Los Angeles Rams in 1990 after playing some standout ball for the University of Virginia, where he’d be beloved by fans and coaches alike for his tenacious play and – well- barking. He liked to bark like a dog before snaps.

Ray found himself on the short end of the stick after training camp with the Rams, but quickly was snapped up the next year by the Montreal Machine in the WLAF inaugural positional draft.  Savage went on to put up good numbers in the Machine’s 3-4 front with 6.5 sacks in 1991, and finishing as the team’s career leader with 11.

After the folding of the WLAF in 1992, Ray was picked up by the Eagles, before he caught on with the Shreveport Pirates of the CFL.

Upon his return to the NFL, Savage actually negotiated his own contract with the Indianapolis Colts. He liked it so much he began to handle the job for other players as well. He retired at the age of 26. 

Savage found his calling in contract negotiations for football players and had a small mortgage business at one point. In his spare time he also dabbled in coaching and has 2 great kids.

A hard fought game that included a punt return for a touchdown at Bobcat Stadium still resulted in victory for the San Antonio Riders, a staunch defensive WLAF team with a scrappy offense. The Machine were a fairly solid average team their first year, but slid in 1992 losing a few games by only a handful of points.

Games N/a     Tac   N/a   Sac  11.0    Fum  N/a   Int  0   Yds 0   Avg -.- Td 0

NFL, WLAF

Knight, Shawn

Cards: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o Home
Sent:  9/21   Received: 10/27   (36 days)

A member of BYUs 1984 national championship team, Shawn Knight was drafted in the first round of the 1987 draft by the New Orleans Saints. Originally chosen by the Saints to be a gap filling nose tackle,  Shawn’s size was ideal at 6-6 and 290. Unfortunately Knight was unlucky as he spent the majority of his tenure there on injured reserve. (In retrospect, this draft was an overall weak draft along the defensive line. Only Jerome Brown, Jerry Ball, and Henry Thomas from this draft received Pro Bowl nominations at that position.) In 1988 the Saints would turn around and trade him to the Broncos, where he spent one season, before heading over to Phoenix and Minnesota for 1989.

In 1991, he’d be drafted by the Sacramento Surge to play defensive line, and Shawn would contribute in the trenches notching 27 tackles and 2 sacks.  He would be named to the All World team after the season, but chose to retire from professional football. Shawn has since gotten his Masters and has bec0me involved in medical sales after working in physical therapy for a few years. In 2008 Knight would be inducted into the BYU sports Hall of Fame. Below are his WLAF statistics.

G/Gs 10    Tac 27    Sac 2.0    Fum 3