Tag Archives: cleveland browns

Arena, CFL, NFL, WLAF

McGowan, Paul

pset91 mcgowanCards: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991, Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 1/24     Received: 2/18  (25 days)

Paul McGowan led all Florida State defenders in tackles for 3 straight seasons from 1984-1987. In his Senior season he was a First Team All-American as he made 150 tackles including 13 for losses, and won the Butkus Award as the nation’s preeminent linebacker, however he waited until the 9th round to hear his name called by the Minnesota Vikings. A final cut in the preseason, McGowan joined the Browns but was also cut as well. At 6’0″, 222, many teams felt he was undersized and slow for the position, but the numbers said otherwise.

Paul was signed by the Ottawa Roughriders of the CFL in 1989 and made 42 tackles, and ended up being cut early in 1990. He was drafted by the Birmingham Fire in the first round of the WLAF’s linebacker draft in 1991, and was a force to be reckoned with in the team’s 3-4 alignment. The team’s tenacious defense led the Fire into the playoffs, psetwlaf91 mcgowanand McGowan was charged with leading the linebacker corps with 59 solo tackles and 3 fumble recoveries. Head coach Chan Gailey called McGowan a ‘glue guy’; Basically, a player who makes sure that every player is lined up right and ready. Equally impressive linebacker teammate John Brantley, however won the WLAF Defensive MVP award. McGowan returned in 1992, and so did the Fire to the playoffs, losing again to Barcelona in the first round. Paul expressed interest in returning to the Fire for the 1993 season, however the WLAF reorganized shortly there after.

Paul joined the Orlando Predators of the AFL in 1993. As an ironman league at the time McGowan got to play both sides of the ball in the league’s traditional LB-FB switch off. He’d play for the team through 1997 when he decided to go into firefighting instead. In 1998 Paul was inducted into the Predators Ring of Honor and at the time of his abrupt retirement was the team’s career leader in sacks. In 2010, McGowan was ranked in a poll as the 11th greatest Florida State player of all time.

wcwlaf92 mcgowanI followed the internet rabbit in order to find this one and struck gold. Paul signed these cards and also included a nice note with them, thanking me for the reminder of the great memories.

WLAF     Tac  N/a     Sac  1.0    Fum N/a
Int  3    Yds  29     Avg  9.7    Td    0   Lg 12

AFL   LB   Tac  97   Ast  39    Sac 17    Fum 6
Int  0    Yds  0   Avg -.-   Td 0   Lg -.-

FB   Rush 139    Yds  555      Avg       Td   11
Rec  25     Yds 227     Avg     Td 2

 

NFL, University of Texas

Metcalf, Eric (2)

pset89 metcalfap90 metcalfsco90 metcalf HC

Cards: Score 1990 Hot Card, ProSet 1989, Action Packed 1990, Fleer 1995

Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent:  4/4  Received: 4/21  (17 days)
See Also: Eric Metcalf
Failure: TTM 1992, C/o The Cleveland Browns

With these four cards, I pretty much have knocked Eric Metcalf’s cards off my list- that is his Browns cards. Getting Eric’s autograph in any other uniform other than a Browns uniform would be like asking for Brett Favre on a Jets card to me. When I ran out to get Eric at Third Base a few years ago, I grabbed as many cards as I could, but didn’t have these, since three of them were lost in the mail all those years ago.  I had forgotten how nice these cards that I missed out on were.I reloaded and waited for a suitable time to shoot these cards out. Eric is very good to TTM fans- at least since I scolded him about it a few years ago. He’s one of my favorites from my childhood, so it was fitting I come around for a TTM hit.

Eric’s been busy in Seattle since returning there. He’s been involved in coaching track and field, most recently joining the staff at Washington as a volunteer assistant for horizontal jumping. Eric had an amazing track career at UT, winning the NCAA Championship in the long jump in 1986, and again in 1988.  A four-time All-American and that still holds the Texas school record for the outdoor long jump with a best of 27-8.25, Eric qualified for the finals of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, placing eighth. 

 

NFL

Prentice, Travis “Touchdown Travis”

ud00spx prenticeCard: SP 2000
Acquired: 2013, Target Autographed Memorabilia

When the Miami (OH) Redhawks were really good, three names always come to mind on offense for the school over roughly the last 15 years: Ben Rothlisberger, Martin Nance, and Travis Prentice. Prentice was a touchdown machine, evidenced by a whopping 25 TDs his Sophomore season, 19 in his Junior season, and finally 17 as a Senior. At the time of his departure from Miami (OH) Travis was a multiple NCAA record holder, most notably with 78 career TDs, -shattering the record previously held by Ricky Williams. His career numbers included 5,596 yards on the ground and an amazing 862 carries without a fumble.

Travis didn’t turn in exactly Earth shattering combine numbers, and came in as the 9th rated back, but the perennially rebuilding Browns under Chris Palmer tabbed Prentice in the 3rd round of the 2000 draft. Behind Cleveland’s shoddy line, things were difficult for Travis. Expected to be the back of the future for the team, he played in all 16 games and rushed for 512 yards and 7 touchdowns- but only averaged 3.0 yards a carry.  The Browns finished at a dismal 3-13 and Palmer and his staff were dismissed. With a new coach in Butch Davis, Travis was cut and signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2001, adding 2 more touchdowns to his resume by the end of the season. Again on the street after the season, Travis signed with the expansion Houston Texans in 2002. Reunited with his head coach Chris Palmer, who was offensive coordinator for the team, Prentice lost out on final cuts to veteran James Allen and 3rd rounder Jonathan Wells. He’d sign with the Cardinals later and looked to make the roster, but at the last second the team signed NFL All-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith. Tired of the journeyman life and the NFL business approach Travis elected to retire. He doesn’t look back on his time in the league with any regrets, and currently works as a professional health and rehabilitation specialist. While many of TD Travis’ records are now being broken, one would suppose it is only a matter of time before he gets into the College Football Hall of Fame with his impressive numbers.

This is a pretty nice card. I was surprised to get not only an autograph, but a patch card to boot.  For a profile shot, it appears that there was some care or design taken in creating it. The 2000 ‘limited’ print run on this card only underlines the circulation problem in the industry.  Overprinting players that are not high in demand is an issue still even today for many of the card publishers and hurts the collectible side of the market. Still I was excited to add TD Travis to my collection. It is these guys who have a heavily accoladed, yet short and rich history that sometimes really catch my eye, almost like a musical one hit wonder.

G/Gs   30      Rush 187      Yds 525     Avg 2.8          Td   9        Lg 17      |
Rec   38        Yds 201    Avg  5.2     Td  1    Lg   13