Tag Archives: baltimore ravens

NFL

Allen, Terry

Cards: ProSet 1991 Update, ProSet 1992, Action Packed 1992
Acquired: TTM 2015, C/o Clemson
Sent: 12/31/15    Received: 4/20/17  (477 days)

Well it sure did take a while for this one to get back around so I was quite surprised to see this one show up in my mailbox at a bit under 500 days. I had sent out for Terry back in 2015, but it was the end of the year, right before Clemson lost the National Championship game. Allen and the rest of the coaches probably had a lot to do, and after winning the National Championship game in 2016, this gem showed up in the mail a few months later.

Terry Allen played his rookie season in 1991 for the Minnesota Vikings at fullback, blocking for Herschel Walker. He had a pretty solid year rushing for 563 yards on 120 carries. Allen took over fulltime runningback duties the following year in 1992 setting the Vikings’ single-season rushing record with 1201 yards. After losing his entire 1993 season to injury, Terry returned to form in 1994 rushing for 1031 yards.

Terry joined the Redskins in 1995, and in 1996 rushed for a career high 347 carries for 1353 yards (Redskins single season record) and a league leading 21 TDs. During that stretch from 1992 to 1996, Terry rushed for nearly 5,000 yards and 52 TDs. (He was also a very sneaky fantasy football pick in the early days of the sport.) Although he’d not see the same success over the remainder of his career, Allen remained a solid and dependable runningback, playing for New England (1999), New Orleans (2000) and Baltimore (2001).

Originally a 9th round pick of the Vikings in 1990, Terry sat out all of the season rehabbing an injured knee.  He finished second at Clemson with 2,778 career rushing yards- including  1,139 yards as a Junior in ’88 earning All-Atlantic Coast Conference Honors.

Terry has some really nice entries here. His rookie card was from the ProSet 1991 Update. It’s a pretty nice shot, but had a heavy amount of artifact in the photo so it wasn’t completely clear. On the other ProSet card, they made an ugly switch midway through the 1992 set, but the ugly design really lent itself to this dynamic photo of Allen’s running style. The vertical gray gradient is not necessary and the stair step action for the Vikings logo makes absolutely no sense. We don’t really need to talk about the ProSet logo.  Action Packed went more for this as well with the vertical gold stripe. It makes sense because of the embossed canvas that the attempt was to make players look as though they were leaping from the card but among Action Packed from when I was collecting the set, it was my least favorite.

G/GS 130/114     RUSH 2152    YDS 8614     AVG 4.0      TD 73     LG 55
REC 204      YDS 1601     AVG 7.8    TD 6      LG 38

NFL

Kaufusi, Bronson

Card: Panini Contenders 2016
Acquired: 2016, Box Breaker

At BYU Bronson Kaufusi was a two-sport athlete, playing basketball in 2012-13 before turning his full attention to football. He had 15.5 career sacks entering the 2015 season, then added 11 more in an outstanding senior campaign while making 20 tackles for loss. Over his career at BYU, he racked up 44 TFL- 3rd best in school history.  A tweener Kaufusi played up and down the line for the Cougars during his time with the team. Bronson went in the 3rd round to the Baltimore Ravens during the 2016 Draft, but during camp broke his ankle, ending his season before it began. The Ravens have Bronson listed as a defensive end.

NFL

Holmes, Priest (2)

Cards: Upper Deck 2006, Fleer 2003 Top Prospects, Upper Deck 1999, SP 1999, Leaf Rookies & Stars 2005 Longevity (146/250), 2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot, Leaf 2005 Certified Materials Gold (228/750), Upper Deck 2002 All-Star Authentic.
Acquired: IP 9/26/15, Little Taco Factory Magic Show, 11/6/16, 3rd Base Round Rock.
See Also: Priest Holmes

I had enough notice but for some reason did not order the cards I wanted for the Priest Holmes show. Still these two gems look immaculate with Holmes’ autograph on it. Priest has a great autograph with a firm signature. It looks good on nearly any card and stands as one of my favorites. On top of that he’s pretty engaging with fans. This was the second time I’ve met him in person and he takes the time with each fan to engage them for as long as they’d like.

Twitter pays would be the lesson of this story.  Priest put the word out that he was going to be at the Little Taco Factory with the members of the Austin-San Antonio NFLPA.  Shawn, my recent cohort (who went with me to the Lone Star Challenge) decided to attend this event with me because he really wanted Priest. While the tacos were pretty good and there was a magic show to boot, the true prize was when Priest arrived nail bitingly halfway through the event. We talked about the good old times, Raycom sports, and how Austin has really changed over the years, making the drive from Austin to San Antonio totally worth it.

One of my friends, Anthony, (is not only Native American,) is a huge Chiefs fan.  During  the season he frequently met up with other members of his Chiefs group to watch the game on Sundays. It just so happened that he gave me a lead in 2016 on Priest- not even knowing that I was a collector. It was a perfect storm for me to nab Priest again, as it was an off week for the Texans. I packed to the brim as usual with cards knowing that I’d give a few away to other fans to keep people from getting upset when I would get Priest to sign 4 or 5 cards.  It turned out to be a really good event.  I patiently waited for the chance, and he signed everything I had on me. I even ran into Longhorn Legend John Walker who reconnected with me about the customs I did for him.

Priest was kind enough to sign everything for fans and patiently took photos with everybody. He very much enjoyed the photo of me with the sleeping mask on too!  Priest has recently also been found to be a decent signer through the mail as of 2017. Currently he signs for a nominal donation to his foundation. In 2016 Priest made the list of semi-finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Again there was no end to the amazing cards in Holmes’ pantheon of cards. I had been kicking myself after I missed out on the stellar die cut star patch AFC ProBowl card that Upper Deck did. Just a superior piece here. I love how they wrapped it with All-Star Authentic around the card and then separated Priest from the canvas. I also really wanted to get a few of his Baltimore things signed since that’s where he started it all.  The Upper Deck Blackud06 holmes 4x1kRDiamond card has an odd cut to it, but still it’s a very interesting and unique design. The Sweet Spot Classics 2003 is gaudy, and the patch leaves little room for a signature, but it’s still pretty nice looking. Priest is active in the Austin-San Antonio Corridor, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I get him on a few more of those cards that he has still out there.