Cards: Ultimate WLAF 1992, Ultimate WLAF 1992 team card
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 5/23    Received: 8/8  (78 days)
See also: David Archer

I was kicking myself after getting David Archer’s autograph on some cards a few years ago. I realized that I didn’t get his Ultimate WLAF Sacramento Surge card signed. My general rule of thumb is to wait a few years before and if I contact a player again. I just feel like it is appropriate not to spam players with requests, so I put myself in my self-imposed penalty box and waited on this one. I sweated it out for a while but after a 3+ month wait he signed these two cards for me.

Ultimate and ProSet went head to head during year two of the WLAF, with Wild Card showing up near the end. None of them found traction in the market, and today they are easily found in the secondary market. While ProSet focused on year one players, Ultimate was peppered with rookies and new names giving a nice blend to go along with ProSet. Wild Card showed up at the tail end of the 1992 season or had a weaker distribution network, so for autograph purposes it was completely out of the mix.

Archer was the quintessential journeyman quarterback, or one of the greatest third string QBs you’d ever seen. He played for no less than 7 teams during a 14 season football career spanning the NFL, WLAF, and CFL. He won World Bowl II with the Sacramento Surge in 1992, and later lost in the playoffs to the Jeff Garcia led Calgary Stampeders in his final game with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1998.

He still does radio today for the ACC in Atlanta and hosts an afternoon radio show.

Cards: Proset 1991, Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o Home.
Sent: 7/30  Received: 8/27    (28 days)

David Archer was signed as a free agent by the Atlanta Falcons in 1984, where he’d be the back up quarterback and starter in 1985 and 1986 until Chris Miller arrived in 1987. He’d then bounce around the NFL as the backup quarterback for the Redskins in 1988 and Chargers in 1989. He’d be cut and out of football in 1990, but was be picked up by the Eagles in 1991. It was at this point that the WLAF intervened and David Archer would have his moment in the sun when he went to play for the Sacramento Surge franchise in 1992. The Surge needed a veteran presence and a makeover to turn the franchise around from its dismal 3-7 showing of 1991 and Archer fit that bill to the T. Archer virtually went on to rewrite all the Surge records, and lead the team to World Bowl II, earning MVP honors passing 22 of 36 and 286 yards with 2 TDs as the team rallied to score 15 points in the fourth quarter. David also grabbed the single season passer rating record at 107 with a whopping 9.35 yards per completion and 29 touchdowns. Archer and the Surge were the Riders‘ nemesis in 1992, and when these two teams met it was usually a torrid match. He would lead the team in a comeback victory over the Riders in the final WLAF game at Bobcat stadium in 1992 after being snubbed in Sacramento in OT by the Riders earlier in the season.

After the folding of the WLAF, Archer played with the Eagles an additional season in 1992, and then jumped ship to the CFL USA with the Sacramento Gold Miners in 1993 and 1994, and then the Texans in 1995. He’d then play a single season for the Ottawa Rough Riders, before that franchise was disbursed in 1996. (Quite possibly there is some sort of morose record there for the most number of franchises played for that folded, as Archer had the ‘touch of death’ for 4 franchises over a 5 year period.) He’d take a season off in 1997 uninterested in playing for Saskatchewan, and then play one final season in 1998 for the Edmonton Eskimos.

Archer has since gone on to become a color commentator for the Falcons, SEC football and currently ACC football. I thought at some point I had gotten his autograph but I was completely mistaken. He signed these two cards in about a month.

WLAF
Att 317   Comp 194   Pct 61.4   Yds 2964
Td 23    Int 7   Rat 107.0   Lg 80t