NFL, NFLE, WLAF

Bicknell, Jack “Cowboy Jack”

Cards: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991, Proset WLAF 1991 HC
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home.
Sent: 6/1    Received: 7/11  (41 days)

Jack Bicknell was quarterback for the Montclair St. Redhawks back in 1959.  After establishing himself as a successful high school coach, he found himself at Boston College coaching runningbacks in 1968, – a position he’d hold through 1975.  He’d take his first head coaching gig at Maine for the Black Bears, that next year, but return to be named head coach of Boston College in 1981.  He’d really put BC on the map, and put his faith in a young quarterback by the name of Doug Flutie, who led them to a victory against the Miami Hurricanes with a last second hail mary, and won the Heisman in 1984.  Before his arrival at BC, the school hadn’t appeared in a bowl game in some 40 years. Bicknell not only got them there, he got them to four over his tenure including the Tangerine Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Liberty Bowl, and the Hall of Fame Bowl.  Over his coaching career at BC through 1990, Jack’s teams in those 4 bowl appearances went 2-2, and his overall mark was 59-55.

A new football world beckoned in 1991 to Jack, and the WLAF came calling. He’d be named head coach of the Barcelona Dragons franchise and was the face of the franchise for the next 11 seasons.  In the team’s inaugural season the Dragons finished an impressive 8-2, but eventually lost in the World Bowl to the Monarchs. 1992, the team won an overall weaker division, and was bounced from the playoffs.  It wouldn’t be until 1997 that Cowboy Jack won his only World Bowl, 38-24 over the Rhein Fire.  The team also returned to the big game in 1999, and 2001, but lost on both occasions. Bicknell coached the Dragons through 2003, when the franchise was shuttered, finishing with a 61-55 record.

Jack also coached with the Scottish Claymores in 2004 to a 2-8 record, and then the Hamburg Sea Devils in both 2005 (5-5) and 2006 (3-6-1), before citing health reasons for retirement. Boston College in 2007 also named a Scholarship in his honor. He currently has a home in New Hampshire and Florida, and enjoys watching both of his sons coach at the NFL level.

Jack was kind enough to sign 3 cards for me through the mail. I had checked sportscollectors.net and it appeared as though there was no success from him since 2007 so I went ahead and took a stab in the dark on this one that it might just still work.

W 71    L 74   T 0    Pct .489

 

NFL

Givins, Ernest “EG” (2)

Cards: Score 1989, ProSet 1989
Acquired: In Person, 6/10/12, 610 Houston Fan Fest III
See Also: Ernest Givins

Ernest Givins is just a classy guy. He treats his fans incredibly well, – especially those who recognize him and remember him for his playing days with the Oilers. At Fan Fest in Houston this year, both Ernest and Haywood were stationed at the same table.  I had gotten Givins a year or two ago TTM, and in person, lo those many years ago at Oilers Training Camps, so I was super stoked to see him again in person. It did not take me long to recognize him in the crowd wandering around on the floor. When I bellowed “EEEE GGGGG!” ,  he turned around and said hello. I asked him again to do the Electric Slide, and he laughed and said he just might.

A few hours later I got to the front of the line and asked him about it. Haywood started laughing and Ernest told me he had already done it twice, once at the front and back of the auditorium. I growled a bit and we laughed. He resisted the handlers attempts to move his line along and signed 2 cards for me. I thanked him for being so good to his fans, and even to his TTM fans. He told me that he tries extra hard to honor all his requests, and signs everything he can for his fans. I told him that I had gotten some autographs earlier last year and I wanted him to know that his efforts go above and beyond were surely appreciated. I asked him if Louisville had inducted him into their HoF, to which I learned they still hadn’t. (An absolute crime in my book.) He flashed his trademark smile and told me he’d love to be there.

Jeffires has been quoted on record that Givins is the best receiver he has ever seen. Givins played slot, primarily in the run n shoot. While people try to bag on it as a gimmicky offense, remember that most teams now run a spread variant or similar which is the same thing. He always seemed to have somewhere around 900 sub yards, and 70 catches or so, but he also had two other primary receivers (Hill, Jeffires, and Jeffires, Slaughter), that always got more looks than he did. But Givins made the acrobatic catch over the middle, -and rarely dropped the ball.  He was basically the Wes Welker of his day.  Currently Givins is a Vice Principal and coaches semi pro football in Florida, but still looks to be in fine shape. He has been quoted as saying that based on the amount of money kids make these days playing football, give him two weeks to prepare and he’d be back in game shape.

Givins and Jeffires do the Electric Slide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHtL40i2Xvc

NFL, University of Texas

Applewhite, Major


Cards: UT Upper Deck 2011, UT Upper Deck 2011 MM
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o mackbrown.com
Sent: 4/13   Received: 4/18 (5 days)

Major Applewhite was the quarterback at the University of Texas who took over the mantle of starting quarterback in his Freshman season under Coach John Mackovic.  He’d play through some tenuous times at the University of Texas, and be there for the hiring of Mack Brown. The problem was, bigger fish had been eyeing the University of Texas pond, and while it was already big enough for Ricky Williams and Major Applewhite to run the offense, things changed when NFL pedigree quarterback Chris Simms came to Austin. While Simms struggled early on after having the offense handed to him, the undersized but big-hearted Applewhite, continued to stage heroics and stake a claim for the starting job at UT time after time.  In his final contest after defeating Simms again for the starting nod at UT, he led the Longhorns to a come from behind victory over the Washington Huskies 47-43 at the Holiday Bowl. In the contest, Major shouldered the offense and threw for a school record 473 yards.  I remember working that evening of the game and the person behind me hated the Longhorns, and was from Washington. As a big Applewhite fan, I hadn’t been watching the Longhorns as much as I wanted to because of the quarterback controversy. He gloated throughout the whole game until Applewhite pulled off the last minute heroics.
At the time of his graduation in 2001, Major was the school’s all-time leader in passing yards (8,353),  completions (611), and TD passes (60).  The Patriots took a flyer on Applewhite, but facing an uphill battle in camp, Major opted to retire instead. Applewhite is considered an extremely bright and innovative mind in the college coaching ranks now. First as a Graduate Assistant at UT, then some bumpy years at Syracuse panned out into revamping and modernizing the Rice Football team. He also spent time with Nick Saban at Alabama, before returning to the Longhorns in 2008 as their runningbacks coach. He has since added ‘Co-Offensive Coordinator’ to his job duties in 2011, and remains a steadfast Longhorn Legend.

I really wanted Major and Mack – at least – from the scrimmage, but all I ended up being is a lambasted lobster by the end of it. Unusually high temperatures at the stadium turned the place into a pressure cooker and by the third quarter I had to leave. I was also equally disappointed as the media billed the ‘Fan Day’ as one in which the players, alumni, and coaches were going to be giving autographs. I saw none of that going on but was still happy to see Ricky Williams get his statue unveiled. Well I decided to see if I could contact the college to see if get their autographs on these cards, and to my surprise I found Mack Brown’s UT football site. I contacted them through the site and explained what had happened, and was responded to very promptly by a member of their support team, who offered me any coaches or players I’d like as long as they were personalized. I pretty much jumped to get Mack and Major, and both arrived back to me in the same envelope at break neck speed.

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