Tag Archives: BC Lions

Arena, CFL, WLAF

Willis, Darren

CARD: Wild Card World League 1992
ACQUIRED: TTM 2025, C/o Home
SENT: 7/16/25 RECEIVED: 8/2/25 (17 days)
FAILURE: TTM 2020, C/o Home

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Darren Willis played DB at Arizona State from 1984-’86.
  • He recorded 6 interceptions for 7 yards in 33 contests.
  • Undrafted he signed with the Blue Bombers of the CFL in ’87 but was eventually released.
  • After a 2 year hiatus, he signed with the BC Lions in 1990 and posted 8 tackles.
  • This led Darren to the Arena Football League where he played for the Tampa Bay Storm in 1991.
  • He tallied 24.5 tackles, 4 pass breakups, 1 pick, caught 7 passes for 90 yards and 2 TDs, as well as returned 6 kicks for 143 yards and 2 TDs.
  • In 1992, Willis played for the Ohio Glory of the World League.
  • He posted 1 interception and a sack on the year.
  • Afterwards, Willis returned to the Tampa Bay Storm in 1993.
  • Darren caught 8 passes for 76 yards and a TD, to go along with 4 kick returns for 56 yards.
  • Played one final season in ’96 with the Connecticut Coyotes.
  • An athletic trainer, Willis’ programs and workout plans have been credited for helping towards the success of a variety of NFL football players.

ACCOLADES:

  • 1991 Arena Bowl Ironman

NOTES:

Brent came through again on Instagram, and pointed me in the right direction for Darren, whom I had failed on back in 2020. Before I sent this one out, I found the original envelope that was RTSed and realized I had written his correct one on there and never sent it back out…

After I got this one back I posted it up in my Facebook group and one of the members was shocked because he had just been looking at this dynamic looking card of Darren the other day and took note.

The photo above has to be either from the scrimmage before the season began or when the Ohio Glory got beat by the San Antonio Riders in the infamous ‘Hail Storm Game’.

CFL, NFL, ufl

Holland, Johnny ‘Mr. Everywhere’

Cards: ProSet 1990, Topps 1990, Action Packed 1990, Topps Stadium Club 1992
Acquired: TTM 2016, C/o The Cleveland Browns
Sent:  11/28/16   Received:  1/6/17     (39 days)

Johnny Holland was one of the galvanizing forces behind the ‘Wrecking Crew’ of the Texas A&M defense during the dying days of the Southwest Conference of the mid to late 80s.  At the time of his graduation from A&M he was the school’s all-time leading tackler and garnered Johnny the nickname ‘Mr. Everywhere’.

In 1987, the Green Bay Packers selected Johnny with their second round pick of the draft.  The ’87 draft has an impressive pedigree of linebacker talent that included: Cornelius Bennett, Shane Conlan, Brian Bosworth (SUP), Dave Wyman, Winston Moss, Michael Brooks, Scott Stephen, Byron Evans, Hardy Nickerson, Al Smith, Dennis Gibson, Greg Lloyd, and Jessie Tuggle (UDFA). Johnny fit right in, and the Packers were glad to have him, as he’d earn team rookie of the year honors from the franchise.  Johnny was a smart, instinctual, consistent, and reliable force for the Packers over the next 6 seasons- prized traits for linebackers. Although not flashy, Holland could be counted on by the Pack to post 100+ tackle seasons with regularity. During the 1992 season he herniated a disc in his neck. He rehabbed from the injury and returned to form in 1993 recording a career high 145 tackles, but learned that he had blown a disc in his back during the season. Johnny opted to retire.

He jumped almost right into coaching from there in 1995, first with the Packers until 1999. Holland served in a variety of capacities from Special Teams to Linebackers to quality control.  He then spent the next 3 seasons with the Seahawks as an assistant conditioning coach, special teams, and linebackers coach. From 2003 to 2005 Johnny was an assistant defensive coach and Linebackers coach with the Lions before his longest stint with the Houston Texans (2006-2010) as their linebackers coach.  He’d coach for the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL in 2011, and then after serving 1 season as the LB coach of the Oakland Raiders (2012), Johnny took a dip in the pool of the CFL with the British Columbia Lions LB corps (2014-2015).  He coached the ILB crew of the Browns for 2016, and as of 2017 is with the 49ers in a similar capacity.

Beloved by the Packers’ faithful, Johnny was inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame in 2001.  He also has been honored by both Texas A&M (1993) and the Cotton Bowl (2000) for his contributions to the sport.

Johnny is a very good signer through the mail. He signed these 4 cards for me via the Browns back in 2016. Johnny’s Proset 1990 card is a beast and his Stadium Club entry does not disappoint either.  The other two entries are kinda bad. Action Packed gives an entry of him from behind. That’s not what  you want to see, however I selected it because I got so many duplicates of this card when I used to get them at the 7-11 I might as well get it signed too. Topps 1990 suffered from a lot of bad things. Bad design and lazy photography riddled the set. Still it was a foundation of my set collecting of my childhood and sometimes the portrait photos of the players just stick with me, like this one of Johnny.

G/GS  103/100    TAC 777     SAC  3.5      FUM  15
INT  9     YDS  130      AVG  14.4      TD  0      LG  32

CFL, NFL

Hill, Kahlil

Card: SP Authentics 2002
Acquired:  Target Authentic Autograph Memorabilia

Kahlil Hill was a 2002 6th round draft choice of the Atlanta Falcons from the University of Iowa, where he displayed consistency, tallying at least a catch in all 35 contests he was active for. At the end of his career for the Hawkeyes, he recorded 152 receptions, 1892 yards, and 15 touchdowns and also received the Mosi Tatupu Special Teams Player of the Year Honors in 2001.  Hill provided quarterbacks a large, slender target, at 6-3, 195, but his 40 speed didn’t  showcase his game speed that well, so he slipped to the Falcons as the 16th best rated receiver. Unable to crack the Falcons squad in ’02 after playing in one game, he spent his time on the rosters of the Saints, Lions, and Bills through 2004.   Kahlil experienced some mild success when he went to the CFL to play for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2005 and 2006 as a punt returner and back up receiver. A brief off-season with the Jags later in 2006, returned him to the CFL this time as a member of the Roughriders in 2007, and finally the British Columbia Lions in 2008 before he retired.