Tag Archives: buffalo bills

AAF, CFL, NFL, Pro Football HoF, usfl

Polian, Bill

Cards: Topps AAF 2019 Custom, Panini 2016 HOF
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 11/2 Received: 11/12 (10 days)

Bill Polian has a long and storied career as a football executive that spans across 4 leagues: The NFL, CFL, USFL, and the AAF.

After graduating from NYU in 1964, Polian began his careeer as a scout for the Chiefs in 1978. He also spent time with the Blue Bombers and Alouettes in the CFL as well working his way up to Personnel Director. A one year stint in the USFL Chicago Blitz in 1984, led Polian back to the NFL. He’d then begin a long and storied career with the Buffalo Bills later that year as the Pro Personnel Director. He’d help transform the Bills into an NFL powerhouse laying the foundation for the franchise to appear in 3 consecutive Super Bowls. He was released by the team after they lost their 3rd Super Bowl in 92.

A 3 year hiatus saw Polian return to the NFL with a vengeance as GM of the expansion Carolina Panthers. He was able to assemble enough talent that the franchise posted a expansion record 7 wins in 1995, and an even more impressive 12 wins in 1996. After a down year in 97, Bill joined the Indianapolis Colts as General Manager.

His first move was a no brainer: Selecting Peyton Manning with the first overall pick of the 1998 NFL Draft. Later he’d hire Tony Dungy to coach the franchise, and the rest is history. After the reorganization of the divisions in 2002, the Colts would dominate the South- winning 7 divisional titles under his watch. Indianapolis appeared in two Superbowls winning XLI. He’d not be retained after the 2011 season.

In the meantime he began to roll in the accolades, being inducted into the Buffalo Wall of Fame in 2012, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015, and the Colts Ring of Honor in 2017.

Bill felt the siren’s lure and resurfaced again in 2018, where he signed up to be Head of Football of the upstart Alliance of American Football, co founding it alongside Charlie Ebersol. The league was able to pull off 8 weeks of football before it collapsed due to financial strain. Bill Polian was greatly disappointed in the failure of the AAF and in chief financial cow Tom Dundon who pulled the plug.

I wrote to Bill after creating a dead on custom of the Topps AAF certified card. Thanks to COVID I had to find a new custom printer. The card quality was outstanding, but I didn’t prep the high gloss card, so the autograph didn’t stick properly to the card. He also signed this Panini HOF card for me as well.

AAF, NFL, XFL

Tarpley, AJ (2)

Card: Topps AAF NOW 2019
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 6/30 Received: 12/10 (163 days)
See Also: AJ Tarpley

I really liked the San Diego Fleet. They had a lot of great players on the team, but among them AJ Tarpley was probably my favorite. He had already signed his card previously for me, but this AAF card of his was quite expensive at the time, so I bided my time until I could get it at a great price, and then take a shot at getting him to sign this card of his. A bittersweet card- it frames the moment when AJ dashed the Commanders perfect season hopes, as the Fleet went out on top 12-8 and never looked back.

During the dog days of COVID I was working from home and decided to pick up a jersey or two of my favorite AAF players. Since the Fleet for some reason didn’t have any specific player jerseys, I picked up one of AJ. It looks great, and I can not believe how accurate the Chinese retailer got this jersey to look like the real thing!

After the AAF folded, AJ did not have to wait long for his name to be called as he was selected by the Washington Defenders of the XFL for their 2020 season during the open portion of the league’s draft. He played in 3 games (starting 2) for DC, logging 16 total tackles.

AJ left me sweating bullets about this card, but after seeing my jersey online I got of him- it jogged his memory and he shot it back to me with a nice note thanking me for being a fan. I am eager to hopefully see him suit up again in the XFL in 2022.

NFL

Schobel, Aaron

Cards: Score 2010, Panini Prestige 2010, Adrenalyn 2010
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 8/3 Received: 8/21 (18 days)

Aaron Schobel had a productive career with the Horned Frogs of TCU. He earned WAC Defensive Player of the Year Honors in 2000, and finished his career at the school with 31 sacks, 264 tackles, and 7 forced fumbles. (His 31 sacks would be a school record.)

After being selected out of TCU in 2001 with the Bills 2nd round pick, Aaron played 9 years for the team where he was a rock at defensive end in their 4-3 alignment. He was a two time Pro Bowl selection in 2006 and 2007. In 6 of those 9 seasons Aaron posted 8.5 sacks or more, including a career high 14 in 2006. Over that era, he posted 78 career sacks- a number that was only second to HOF DE Jason Taylor.

As the Bills planned to transition to a 3-4 defense in 2011, Schobel decided to retire at the age of 32. Afterwards many rumors swirled about him returning to play for a team on the message boards, most notably the Houston Texans (who are about 70 miles from his hometown), but Aaron felt the fire was gone and injuries had taken their toll, so he decided to stay retired. I sometimes think about what a devastating line that would’ve been in 2011 if the Texans had lined up budding rookie JJ Watt alongside grizzled veteran Aaron Schobel.

On my occasional drives back from Houston, I’d see a billboard for his family’s restaurant and it’d remind me of him, so I decided to take a shot and mail these cards out to him, that he graciously signed for me.

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