I had gotten Jeff at Dallas Cowboys training camp so long ago, I figured it was time to get him on the remaining cards I had. The Action Packed 1992 was a great dual signature candidate, since both players remain decent signers through the mail, and it’s a great card to boot.
I was surprised that Gameday didn’t have a 1992 card of him, but the Topps Stadium Club fit in nicely as a nice c-tier card to get autographed.
Mark Higgs played RB from 1984-’87 for the Kentucky Wildcats.
In his senior season he ran for 1,278 yards on 193 carries.
He finished his career at Owensboro with 2,892 rushing yards- good for second all-time on the school’s rushing list.
Originally a 8th round choice of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1988 NFL Draft.
Buried on the depth chart and relegated to special teams his first 3 years in the NFL playing for the Cowboys (’88), Eagles (’89), and Dolphins (’90).
His first TD was a blocked punt he returned 19 yards for a TD against the Patriots in 1990.
He’d finally get his shot starting at RB in 1991, in place of Sammie Smith, running for 146 yards in the season opener.
The following week Higgs ran for 111 yards, marking the first back to back 100 yard performance by a Dolphins RB since ’82.
He finished the season with 231 carries for 905 yards and 4 TDs- the highest season total by a Dolphin since… 1978.
Mark topped those numbers in 1992, running for 915 yards and 7 rushing TDs.
Starting in 8 contests in 1993, Mark ran for 693 yards and 3 TDs primarily in a backup role behind Terry Kirby.
During the 1994 season he’d be cut and sign with the Arizona Cardinals.
After spending the majority of the 1995 season on IR due to a back injury, Mark opted to retire.
ACCOLADES:
University of Kentucky Hall of Fame 2006
NOTES:
Mark missed out on Pro Set 1989, but he sure did make up for it with a bevvy of set needs in Skybox, Gameday, and Action Packed sets. He provided a nice shot in the arm along with the rejuvenation of the Dolphins offensive line to buy Dan Marino a few more injury free years.
I finally got Mark back in 2020, and then realized I didn’t ask him for his autograph on his Skybox card. Time flew by really quickly after that and I lost track of sending out to him again for it. In the meantime the premium set from the year afterwards became more interesting to me, so it made a lot of sense to send both of them out together.
Okay! I knew that John L Williams was a slow signer so I just put these out there and wasn’t completely surprised to see them back in a year. A few more of my friends had gotten theirs recently- even waiting so long as 3-4 years to get theirs, so mine seemed like only a smallish accomplishment.
So this is a great case study in design watching the evolution of the Action Packed set from 1990 to 1992. It’s interesting how it goes from a framed border, to a floating 3/4 border, to a border just on one side. The photos are great, but really showcased here is how by ’92, the photos were consistently about as close as you see here in this Action shot of John L. In a nice touch of subtleness, the red stripe indicates the AFC conference, while the blue indicates the NFC.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
