Tag Archives: cleveland browns

Arena, CFL, NFL, WLAF

Proctor, Michael “Field General”


Cards: ProSet WLAF 1991, Ultimate WLAF 1992, WildCard WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 7/19    Received: 12/3  (137 days)

Michael Proctor would set 10 Ohio Valley conference records for the Murray State Racers during his collegiate career, including total passing yards (8,210 yards), pass completions (578), and attempts (1148).  He’d be the first player in school history to net more than 1500 yards of total offense in 4 consecutive seasons. After completing college, Michael would sign with the New England Patriots in 1990, but not make the squad.

Taken in the 4th round of the WLAF draft by the Montreal Machine, he’d compete against Kevin Sweeney and Mike Johnson initially for the job. Beating out Johnson for the backup job to Sweeney, Proctor would be forced into the starting lineup after Kevin’s season would be ended prematurely due to ineffectiveness and injury.  Stepping into the lineup for the Machine, Proctor did more damage on the ground than he did in the air rushing for 247  yards on 41 carries (6.0 average) and 2 touchdowns. In the air, Michael completed 107 of his 224 attempts and net 1222 yards, to go along with 3 td passes as the team won 4 games that season.  It was enough to garner him an audition with the Cleveland Browns, but yet again Proctor would fail to make the squad.

In 1992 the WLAF, injected ‘future star prospects and rookies’ from the NFL into the league to try and increase the league viewership, level of play, and incentivize the NFL by scouts being able to get a glimpse of those players’ progress. Much to the Field General’s chagrin, the Machine went out and drafted Anthony Dilweg at quarterback to play for them. Dilweg would win out in camp and start for Montreal, but he’d get crushed on a blitz in the season opening game against the Riders in 1992. Once again, Proctor would ride in to the rescue. Proctor, with a season under his belt in Jacques Dussault‘s system actually had matured. While the team would lose against the Riders, and in fact, post a woeful 2-8 record- Proctor turned the corner and threw 8 tds to only 5 picks. He’d also finish with 113 completions and 1478 yards. On the ground the Field General was even more destructive, carving up teams for 207 yards (a 5.4 yard average) and 4 touchdowns rushing (which led the team).  Even though Dilweg, and even Craig Cupp would threaten him from time to time for the starting position, Michael maintained his hold over the QB spot.

After the failure of the WLAF, Michael would find a home briefly playing quarterback in the CFL for the Edmonton Eskimos in 1993. He’d move on from there to play for the Charlotte Rage of the AFL for 3 more seasons throwing 17 touchdowns to 3 picks in 1994 and rushing for 7 touchdowns on 25 attempts in 1995. His AFL totals were 486 attempts, 279 completions, 3492 yards, 51 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a 95.81 qb rating.

A Special shout out to Shadow from the Fanmail.biz message board who helped me track down this elusive member of the WLAF. As far as anybody there on that site that I absolutely have mad respect for in their ability to track down addresses and help out a fellow collector in need- he certainly is the guy to go to.  I had been searching for Proctor for some time and had heard that he was honored at Murray State recently as their Parade Marshall.  I had pretty much given up on this one since it was a Spokeo find, but after a bit over 4 months, the Field General rolled into my command, and wrote a small note, “Take care and be blessed! Jesus is real!!!”, Along with the cards.  Really pleased with this one.  Below are Michael’s WLAF statistics:

Att  417     Comp 220    Yds 2700     Pct 52.8     Td 11     Int 15    Rat  66.8
Rush 79    Yds 454     Avg 5.7     Td 6     Lg 31

NFL, XFL

Williams, James “J-Roc”

Cards: Fleer 1995, Topps XFL 2001
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 11/11  Received: 12/5  (24 days)

Small bit of trivia here, as James Williams is one of a handful of players (if not the only player) to play for 3 expansion franchises, being the: Jacksonville Jaguars, (the reborn) Cleveland Browns, and the (XFL) San Fransisco Demons.

Drafted back in 1990 by the New Orleans Saints in the 6th round of the draft out of Mississippi State, Williams would be a nice find for the franchise and would spend his first 5 years with NO. He’d come in and sub nicely when one of the Dome Patrol needed a break during their twilight years together even starting 4 games in 1991, recording his first career sack against Chicago, along with 29 tackles and a fumble recovery. In 1993 J-Roc would start 9 games at left inside linebacker for injured Sam Mills and respond with a solid performance (89 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 FF).  With free agency in full effect by 1994, Williams again started for the Saints but this time at RILB, garnering 54 tackles, 2 picks and his first career touchdown.

Left exposed after the season for the 1995 Panthers/ Jaguars expansion draft, – James was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 49th pick. Williams started 6 games again, recording 2 more interceptions, 2 FF and 47 tackles but injuries cost him half of 1995 and all of 1996. He’d sign with the 49ers and be on the roster of the team through 1998.  He’d close out his NFL career in 1999 with the Browns with 2 FR and 11 tackles.

Williams’ career did not end there. He’d be drafted by the San Fransisco Demons of the XFL in 2001. Making the jump to play for the Demons he’d help the team earn a berth in the XFL’s Million Dollar Game leading the team with 43 tackles and 2 sacks. The XFL though, -a joint venture between the WWE and NBC died on the operating table that season due to bad ratings. Williams would retire after that season.

These were some really nice cards of J-Roc, and despite how people really tore them up the XFL had some really nice underpinnings to its design, hearkening back to classic college cards of the 50s and 60s. Just really inspiring! Sure the barbed wire effect is hilarious and dated even by those years standards, bloating the production value, but I couldn’t help but have a soft spot for them. The Fleer 1995 cards were also really nice, and this served as part of their 1st season of Jacksonville Jaguars cards.  Below are J-Roc’s NFL statistics.

G/Gs   137/26     Tac  254       Sac  3.0       Fum 4        Int  4     Yds  61      Avg       TD  1    lg 33

NFL, usfl

McNeil, Gerald “Icecube”(2)

Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1990, Score 1991
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o The Cleveland Browns
Sent: 10/6  Received: 11/17  (40 days)
See Also: Gerald McNeil

Gerald McNeil was one of my favorite players as a kid, as I had vivid memories of seeing him play for the Browns, so when the Oilers signed him I was really excited to see what he could do. While those twilight years weren’t as successful as the time he had with the Browns and Gamblers, it was unfortunate that in his final year with the Oilers he suffered a quadriceps injury that ended his career. During his heyday he was one of the most dangerous returners of that age ala the same diminutive size but shifty speed as Lionel James. Gerald’s nickname apparently came about from William “The Refrigerator” Perry. One of McNeil’s teammates remarked that Gerald was so small that he could fit inside The Refrigerator, – and along with his penchant for escaping tackles and scoring touchdowns, the nickname stuck.

I had been after Gerald for quite sometime, and finally was able to find him via… SotL.com. (Notice a recurring theme here yet?) After geeking out for a while, I exchanged some communication with him, where he told me the best way to get an autograph was sending it via the Browns who he acts as an ambassador for (along with the Texans). I zipped out a few cards and after about 40 days, I finally got my hands on the slippery Ice Cube again and completed out the collection of cards that I owned of him- sans the nasty Topps cards of that era.