Jeffires, Haywood (5)

gday93 jeffiresgda93 jeffires GBCards: Gameday 1993 Gamebreakers, Gameday 1993, Action Packed 1991, Score 1992.
Acquired: IP 7/11/15, Houston Oilers 25th Anniversary Party
See Also: Haywood Jeffires, Freakwood, Haywood Jeffires (3), Haywood Jeffires (4)

Well the Houston Oilers 25th Anniversary Party got off to a slow start. I expected to be able to recognize a lot of them, but to be kind, it has been a long time.  The first guy I was able to nab was Jeffires. True to form he wore his staple long shirt, and sported an epic grizzly Kimbo Slice beard. He was in an incredibly good mood, and signed these cards for me. Sure I am slowly running out of cards for him to sign, as I won’t pursue the Saints or ‘Tennessee Oilers’ cards of him, but still, he remains one ap91 jeffiressco92 jeffiresof my favorite players in a bizarre footnote of my otaku-like obsession. I shot the breeze a bit with him and shook his hand. I stopped him and said, “I can’t believe your hands are so baby smooth after all these years!” We both laughed heartily about it for a minute. I later told him that if he needed to leave, I could stand in for him and tell people that I was Haywood Jeffires.
Still I am hitting some pretty nice cards here. Somehow this Action Packed 1991 gem slipped through the cracks up to this point. Otherwise, by 1992 I had stopped collecting many of the brands of cards, and in 1993 I was done with the hobby for a while. I did not pick up Score 1992 or Gameday 1993. While Gameday seemed to respect the evolutionary process- Score’s 1992 effort was looking more and more like a children’s activity book. The redeeming quality of this particular Jeffires card is the great action shot, something that as the manufacturers’ solidified their desperate hold on the soft market- began to slide off a precipice and into the sideline/ warmup gutter.

 

Herron, Dan ‘Boom’

poff12 herronCard:  Playoff Contenders 2012
Acquired: 2014 BB, Target Autographed Memorabilia

Daniel Herron went to Ohio State University, where he had 1,155 yards and 16 TDs on 216 carries in 2010. Among the talented corps of starters who were suspended, culminating in the resignation of longtime coach Jim Tressel – Herron returned to the Buckeyes just in time to rush for 678 yards and 3 TDs during 2011.

He signed with the Bengals after the 2012 draft, but was off and on the roster. Eventually he worked his way onto special teams, where he finished the season with a blocked punt and 4 carries for 5 yards. Dan signed with the Colts in 2013 where he was quickly buried on the depth chart. Of note he made his first NFL catch- a 57 yard reception. In 2014, the Colts were leaning on their runningback by committee approach of Trent Richardson and Ahmad Bradshaw, when Bradshaw went down with a season ending injury.

Herron stepped in and took over for Bradshaw racing for a 49 yard TD gallop against the Redskins. It’d be the first of his career. Dan finished with 351 yards on 78 carries, and haul in 21 receptions for 173 yards as the Colts made the playoffs in 2014.

 

Williams, Calvin

scosup90 cwilliamsud92 cwilliams

Cards:  Score Supplemental 1990, Upper Deck 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, 2015-  C/o Home, C/o Purdue
Sent:  11/8/11  Received: 3/19/15    (1227 days)
Sent: 3/16/15   Received: 3/26/15    (10 days)

The Eagles passing attack during the late 80s was crippled by the declining durability of wide receiver Mike Quick, and the departure of Cris Carter, so they moved to address it. To do so, Philadelphia aggressively went after receivers during the 1990 draft. In addition to selecting Mike Bellamy in round two, and Fred Barnett in round three, the Eagles swooped back in round five and picked Calvin Williams. Williams had one of the better combines that year, and fought had to win a spot in training camp. He performed so well, that he took over Carter’s former starting spot, and set an Eagles rookie record with 9 receiving touchdowns.  His 37 receptions for 602 yards contributed to him earning All-Rookie Honors at the end of the season. A solid redzone threat throughout much of the early part of his career, Calvin again led the Eagles in TDs in both 1992 (7 TDs) and 1993 (10 TDs- a career high).  In 1995, he had a career high 63 receptions and later joined the Baltimore Ravens during the 1996 season.

I spoke to Calvin back in 2011 via SotL (School of the Legends). Back then, SotL billed itself as an online community for fans to talk to, and get advice from NFL players. I had begun to build a reputation on the site as a knowledgeable fan, and began to send out TTM to some of those players. Over those months I had a few conversations with Calvin and decided to shoot a few cards out.

Shortly after declaring a new long wait response, Calvin Williams blows that one out of the water by nearly 3 years. Williams has built an interesting reputation within the TTM community. Not only is Calvin a sporadic signer, he signs only one card, keeps the rest, and frequently switches out the card he sends back with other people who have previously sent requests.  The Score Supplemental was the only card that I sent out back in 2011 that made it back. I was happy with that. In the meantime before that one came back I had sent out a second attempt, but he switched out the Action Packed Rookies 1990 and the GameDay 1992 cards with this – Upper Deck 1992 card. Oh well, still a success in my book.

Calvin was among the leading plaintiffs who sued the NFL and helmet makers for concussion and head related injuries in 2011.  He’s been involved in physical education for quite a few years, and is currently on the Purdue Boilermakers staff.

G/Gs 100/85     Rec 308     Yds 3925    Avg 12.7     Td 35    Lg 80t

 

Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.