Tag Archives: Denver Broncos

Arena, NFL, WLAF

Perez, Michael “Mike”

Cards: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991, Ultimate WLAF 1992, Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Work
Sent: 5/29    Received: 6/12  (13 days)

Mike Perez played quarterback for the San Jose Spartans, where he led them to an upset victory over the California Golden Bears, and Stanford Cardinals in 1987. At the time his 309.1 yards of offense a game was an NCAA record. Drafted by the New York Giants in the 7th round of the 1988 draft, Mike did not make the roster as the team only carried quarterbacks Phil Simms and Jeff Hostetler. A stomach injury further sidelined him for the remainder of the year. In 1990, Mike was a camp arm for the Houston Oilers, but found his first initial glory in the pros, as the third overall quarterback taken, playing for the Frankfurt Galaxy of the WLAF in 1991.

Leading the team to a 7-3 record, Mike threw 11 touchdowns to 17 picks, on 357 attempts.  His best contest came against the Orlando Thunder throwing for 346 yards in the team’s win. He also was the second least sacked quarterback in the WLAF behind Stan Gelbaugh. The team though failed to qualify for the playoffs after losing 2 contests to the Surge, and behind both the eventual World Bowl I participants London and Barcelona.  Perez returned stateside to the Giants, and then the Chiefs after the season.

Mike played in the WLAF during the 1992 season for the Galaxy, but met with less success as the team stumbled to a 3-7 record. He’d split time with Alex Espinoza and finished 4th among rated quarterbacks with 6 touchdowns and a 78.2 quarterback rating.

Again he’d spend time stateside as a camp arm- this time for the Denver Broncos in 1993. He’d then embark on a series of adventures in the Arena Football League, playing for the Albany Firebirds from 1994-1996, the New York CityHawks from 1997-1998, finishing out his career with the New England SeaWolves in 1999.ult92 perez His best season came in 1996 for the Firebirds, throwing for 4153 yards and 84 touchdowns. Mike’s career totals for the Arena Football League are 1384 of 2378, for 18875 yards, and 341 touchdowns to 84 interceptions.

Perez returned to his hometown of Denver, and currently works there for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He graciously signed 5 cards for me and even enclosed a nice note telling me that the memories he holds for the World League are some of the most cherished of his life.

WLAF statistics:
Att 504    Comp 257   Yds 3257    Pct 50.9      Td 19     Int  22

NFL

Lewis, Darryll (2)

Cards: Pro Set 1991 WC, Classic 1991
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 8/25/11   Received: 2/21/12  (180 days)
Previous Post: Darryll Lewis

Darryl Lewis was a player on the Oilers I liked to watch a lot, as he outperformed expectations despite his size. A consensus All-American and Jim Thorpe Recipient in 1991, great hands, productivity, deceptive speed, and leaping allowed Lewis to keep pace with many of the best wide receivers in the game and well into his career as a professional.   A member of the Houston Oilers Young Guns secondary, Lewis played for the Oilers/Titans, Chargers, and Broncos over an 11 season career.  I got his autograph via the team back in 1993 on my birthday, and always wanted to circle back around and get his again on these two cards I had.  He did some coaching at Oregon State with Mike Riley but unfortunately Lewis has had legal issues and had been detained for a few years. Recently he has been granted his release.

Since I had always wanted to get his autograph on this Pro Set card, I went ahead and took a shot at the former Oiler/ Charger DB where he lives near San Diego. This Classic 1991 card I had is probably among the ugliest ever produced outside of the Fleer 1991 entry. These cards are both considered error cards as they misspell Darryll’s name as “Darryl”.

NFL

Mobley, Orson “Big O”

Cards: Topps 1990, Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent: 1/25   Received: 2/2  (8 days)

Among the names I love talking to online is Orson Mobley. Not to go all Madden on people, but his name sounds like a big tight end name or somebody who could light you up with a perfectly executed block right underneath the chin. I’ve been following ‘Big O’ (as I affectionately call him), for the past few months on SotL. He’s one of the more engaging NFL alumni on the site and is quite networked on Facebook as well.

Orson was drafted in the 6th round of the 1986 draft from Salem by the Denver Broncos. A bruising TE/H-back, Mobley stood at 6-5, 256 and fit in well with the Broncos play-action passing offense. With pretty decent hands and a nice pop, Orson quickly developed a rapport with starting quarterback John Elway with 23 receptions for 332 yards and his first TD reception in the season finale against the Seattle Seahawks. He’d start 3 games his rookie season. In 1987, Mobley started 6 games and make 16 receptions and a touchdown. 1988 marked career highs in games started for Orson with 9. He’d lodge 21 receptions for 218 yards and 2 tds as a sneaky option inside the redzone. The NFL hastily in 1989 instituted a new drug policy and Orson, along with Leroy Irvin and 11 other players would be suspended 3 games.  Mobley only started 5 games that season, but still managed 17 receptions for 200 yards.

Big O had a great run with the Broncos, but it’d all come to an end as prolific rookie receiver Shannon Sharpe was moved to tight end in 1991. Pacific would make one more card of Orson in 1991, and the back photo featured him doing stretches and yawning right at the camera- which to me sort of sums him up as sort of a genial, personable guy. Mobley over his career would appear in 3 SuperBowls for the Broncos during the 1980s, recording 2 catches for 17 yards against the Giants during SuperBowl XXI in 1986.

Big O lives in the Jacksonville area. Among his more humorous moments, was how Orson won the emergency punter position. At Salem, Mobley had developed quite a reputation for booming kicks. When he arrived at the Broncos, John Elway wanted to have a punt off with him for the job, so after Mobley fired off a couple of huge punts, Elway took a football and threw it instead.

G/Gs 61/31     Rec  84      Yds 1019     Avg 12.1     Td  4    Lg 36