Tag Archives: college football HoF

College Football HoF, NFL

Childress, Ray (2)

Gameday 1992, #441
Action Packed 1990, #91
All World 1992, #105

CARDS: Action Packed 1990, GameDay 1992, All World Stars & Stripes 1993
ACQUIRED: 2013, Canton Acquisition. 2022 C/o Home
SENT: 8/3 RECEIVED: 12/5 (124 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

I mean, it’d been some 12 years since I TTMed Ray, and in that period he’s been off and on the TTM bandwagon, signing now albeit slowly for fans. I had developed set needs during that time- namely the Action Packed and Gameday sets, but I had also liked his Fleer as well. Seeing that I’d be lucky to get two, I decided to pack these two away and see what would happen. Among players I’d like to still meet from those yesteryears, Ray is still pretty high up there, due to him being probably my favorite Oiler on the DL.

The Stars & Stripes cards are among my least favorite sets, but my friend was taking a break from the hobby and was having a hard time. He couldn’t find a buyer so I offered to take a bunch off his hands. I didn’t really care what he sent me because I knew he was hard up and needed help. Getting a Childress was a bonus.

College Football HoF, NFL, Pro Football HoF, Super Bowl MVP

Bradshaw, Terry

Card: Pro Set 1990 SuperBowl MVP
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent: 4/5   Received: 4/14  (9 days)

I love these old Pro Set SuperBowl MVP cards. Merv Corning is an amazing artist and did such a classy set for Pro Set. I wish they had done an addendum later and included the additional cards through the latest MVP using Corning, but this could obviously never come to fruition, especially with the dissolution of the Pro Set company and its assets some years ago. The white hitting Terry’s head as he stands there with his hands on his hips is just a stroke of genius. I can see why Terry didn’t autograph it directly on his likeness.

So with Terry, don’t expect a response from him so quickly. He’s typically somebody who only signs about once a year- if that. I was incredibly shocked to have received a response from him in 9 days, but I suspect tax and off-season may have had something to do with that. I was alerted to him signing about 2 weeks before I got the success when I saw a few successes from other posters on the NFL TTM thread on Fanmail.biz, and dropped something quickly in the mail to him the next day.

Terry Bradshaw is a bigger than life personality and one of the first gunslingers in football. An incredible leader and gambler on the field, Bradshaw had his ups and downs before winning 4 Super Bowl Titles, becoming one of the most indelible Football Commentators on television, and being inducted into the NFL HoF in 1989.  Louisiana Tech wasn’t exactly the hub of pro football when Terry Bradshaw- a local product from Shreveport came a calling, but he certainly put them on the map, for other quarterbacks to come.  The Pittsburgh Steelers took Terry with the overall #1 pick of the 1970 draft, -the first season in which the NFL and AFL had merged. (The two leagues however had been conducting combined drafts since 1967.)

The Steelers had become a doormat of the NFL, but with the hiring of Chuck Noll in 1969 and a switch to the AFC, their fortunes slowly began to change.  Bradshaw’s rookie season was horrendous, as he adjusted to the pro game, throwing 6 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. It’d be much of the same over the next few years, 13 TD – 22 INT (1971), 12 TD – 12 INT (’72), and 10TD – 15INT (’73). With a succession of strong drafts, talent would build, but so would frustration. At one point fans didn’t feel that Bradshaw was the key to the future of the franchise, but Bradshaw turned to his spiritual faith to press forward, and with that an amazing statistical transformation also took place. Shed of his stress and outward pursuits, Bradshaw began to refocus his life and thus began the era of the Second Super Bowl Dynasty- the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’d lead the team to SuperBowl victories in 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979. Bradshaw nabbed MVP honors in both 1978 and 1979, becoming the first two time back to back MVP since Bart Starr. What was more astounding was Bradshaw managed to put up his best numbers in what is referred to in NFL annuls as ‘the dead ball era’- a period of time in which passing favored defenders, so offenses were forced to more of a ground game approach. Although injuries claimed a significant percentage of the latter half of his career, he still managed to lodge 107 career wins and retired following the 1983 season. Among his other accomplishments was being named NFL MVP in 1978, and most people forget that he was an able scrambler, rushing for 35 touchdowns over his career.

Bradshaw made the transition seamlessly into the booth, where he has developed a knack for being openly critical of players who do the sport wrong, and also his self-deprecating sense of humor. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989, has appeared in a variety of media including television and movie acting, and has recorded some Country music.  Terry was named to the Pittsburgh Steelers 75th Anniversary team, the NFL 1970’s All Decade Team, College Football Hall of Fame and was named the #50 NFL player of all time.  In 2006 Bradshaw donated a truckload of his personal affects and awards to his Alma Matter, LA Tech for display at the institution. Truly a great guy.

G/GS  168/158     Att 3901    Comp 2025     Yds  27,989     Pct 51.9     Td  212      Int  210     Rat  70.9   |
Rush 444       Yds 2257       Avg 5.1       Td 35       Lg 39

 

College Football HoF, NFL, ufl, University of Texas

Sisemore, Jerry

to81 j sisemoreto80 j sisemore

Cards: Topps 1980, Topps 1981
Acquired: In Person, 11/9/11 Card Traders of Austin UD 2011 UT Football Card Launch Party

Really Upper Deck? Shame on you for not printing a card of University of Texas legend Jerry Sisemore. I guess they are saving him for series 2. Pathetic. Well Jerry also appeared at the event and signed some cards. He was a last second booking, but I was happy to add him finally to the collection along with Bill Bradley, Johnny Walker, and Rod Babers.

The 3rd overall pick of the 1974 draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, Jerry Sisemore was a man-mountain, at 6’4″, 250 after graduating from the University of Texas.  He’d go on to start 155 games for the franchise over the next 12 seasons at both guard and tackle. Sisemore played for an Eagles franchise from some of the lowest doldrums of the NFC East, to its apogee and the Super Bowl in 1980. In 1979 alone he played for a monstrous 430 minutes. Considered one of the Eagles finest linemen ever, he was inducted into the Eagles Wall of Honor in 1991 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

Currently Sisemore partially owns a chain of sub shops in Austin called Delaware Subs, that used to air somewhat hilarious commercials where his Texas drawl and delivery were the punchline of them. He’s dabbled in coaching, lastly for the Florida Tuskers of the UFL.  Jerry also is highly active in commercial property development, which if you live in Austin is quite lucrative.