Tag Archives: Denver Broncos

NFL

Millen, Hugh

Cards: GameDay 1992, ProSet 1991
Acquired: TTM 1992, Patriots Blitz, In Person 1993, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp

Hugh was a veteran journeyman whose best years as a quarterback came playing for the New England Patriots for Dick MacPherson during the early 90s. Millen was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams out of Washington in the 3rd round of the 1986 draft. After breaking his ankle in training camp he became an unlucky casualty of the Jim Everett trade the next season. For the next two seasons, Millen would back up oft injured Chris Miller in Atlanta, starting 3 games and picking up some garbage time. Heading Plan B to New England in 1991 and 1992, he’d share time with Tom Hodson and Scott Zolak as starting quarterback of the team. His most notable game was when the team upset the Oilers on the weekend of ‘Babygate’ throwing to Greg McMurtry in the final minutes of the game. With the team’s collapse again in 1993, Millen would be traded to the Cowboys and the Patriots would select Drew Bledsoe.  He wouldn’t play in a game, but would sign my Game Day card in camp that season- as he would be released with the signing of Bernie Kosar. With Aikman, Kosar, and Jason Garrett, Hugh was once again expendable and would sign with the Dolphins. In 1994, Hugh would sign with the Denver Broncos where he’d finish out his career over the next two seasons backing up John Elway. For the 1996 season he’d sign with the New Orleans Saints but would not make the roster of the team and retire. He currently lives in Washington.

GameDay really had a nice card set when they came out in 1992. Its unique design coupled with innovative Photoshop masks to desaturate the background,  leave the players firmly in the focus of the image. Well tracked type, does not cloud the picture plane and helps activate the white space outside of the image area. When I got signatures on GameDay cards it was because most of them had a certain “whoa” factor that really caught my eye.

G/Gs  40/25      Att 928     Comp 560     Yds 6440    Pct 60.3      Td 22    Int 35     Rat  73.5

NFL

Delpino, Robert

Cards: GameDay 1992, ProSet 1991, ProSet 1990, Score 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent:  3/20   Received: 4/5 (15 days)

Names like Robert Delpino- now that brings back memories. I had these cards sitting there when I first started, because Delpino is one of those names that blipped on the radar really brightly back in the early nineties. To boot Robert had some great looking cards and his strong and unique signature compliments these cards nicely. I am a big LA Rams fan and at one point the Rams were one of the few teams that could rival the 49ers during the evil reign of the red and gold. John Robinson was head coach of the Rams during this period and he was a master of the ground game, so after Greg Bell departed via free agency Robert Delpino stepped up in the lineup.

An exceptional blocker and receiver out of the backfield, Robert was drafted in the 5th round out of Missouri in 1988, and excelled his first three seasons on the stacked roster, playing at fullback for the team and on special teams.  He’d be named the Rams Rookie of the year in 1988 making 30 receptions for 312 yards and 2 touchdowns to go along with about 150 yards rushing.  1989 would see even more playing time for the young Ram, with 368 yards rushing and 334 yards receiving. After a fairly quiet 1990, where Delpino would make 4 receiving touchdowns, he’d take charge of the LA Rams ground game in 1991 starting 15 games.

He had another well balanced season rushing for a career high 688 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 617 yards receiving. Leading the league at some points during the season, Robert had perhaps his finest game against the Giants that season running for 116 yards on 27 carries as the team ground out a 19-13 victory in week 2. Delpino would hold down the starting position for the remainder of the season, and although he’d not rush for over 100 yards in another contest during the season as teams began to key on the Rams ground game, Robert would sneak up on them with his incredible receiving ability, finishing the season with 1305 yards from scrimmage.

Unfortunately with a changing of the guard at coach after the season Robert would find himself riding the bench again with Cleveland Gary at starting runningback in 1992. Delpino would relocate after the season to Denver playing one final season for the Broncos as their short yardage back.  He’d run for 8 touchdowns and 445 yards in 4 starts and then retire after the season.  Today he lives in relative anonymity in Daisy, Ca. I had to do a lot of internet sleuthing but I was extremely happy to net Robert as currently I am batting 1 success for 6 failures on ex-Los Angeles Rams. I’ve also rarely seen Delpino successes posted up on boards, perhaps due to his obscurity in Rams’ history.

While the Gameday and ProSet cards were exceptionally well designed during this point- Score 1992 cards completely turned me off.  The only thing that saves this card is Delpino’s heroic pose (and by 1992 most card companies were designing their cards so that players broke the picture plane for a more dynamic effect such as on Robert’s helmet). Otherwise the Score 1992 cards completely miss their mark as their execution makes them come off as flash cards for 3 year olds.  The type, color, and framing are simplistic and lack sophistication. Pro Set would follow suit into the abyss of hideous design with their Pro Set 1992 series 2 cards and with the over saturation in the market already taking place, the industry would soon collapse.

G/Gs  88/30        Rush  502        Yds  1815      Avg  3.6      Td  18    Lg  36    |
Rec  178     Yds  1769     Avg  9.9    Td 9    Lg 78  |
Kr  68       Yds 1339        Avg 19.7     Td  0      lg  49

 

NFL

Noonan, Danny

Cards: ProSet 1989, Action Packed 1990
Acquired: In Person 1990,1991, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp

A Home grown All-American defensive lineman at Nebraska, Danny Noonan was selected in the first round of the 1987 draft by the Tom Landry era Dallas Cowboys. He’d be the 4th DL off the board in the top 12 coming behind Reggie Rucker, Jerome Brown, and Shawn Knight.

Noonan had a difficult time living up to the team’s expectations, as he was frequently injured and had trouble keeping up with the speed of the game. He’d have a decent season in 1988, making 7.5 sacks and pulling in an interception for a touchdown, but as Jimmy Johnson took over as head coach in 1989, Danny by then had additional problems maintaining his playing weight. (It was then later revealed that Noonan had been a steroid user in his playing days at Nebraska and had tested positive before the combine- something the Cowboys had to have known before they drafted him.)

After his 1988 season, everything seemed to unravel, and by 1991 he had been cut by Dallas. Signed by the Packers, who needed defensive line depth, he’d play there for a season. He’d retire after a short 2 game stint with the Broncos in 1993.

A criminal justice major, Danny went back to school and got a business degree with a specialty in e- business. He also did some web management, helping to originate huskerpower.com and is now a financial advisor in the greater Omaha area. To stay in shape he does some jiu-jitsu and martial arts to keep up with his kids.

I got Danny’s autograph twice during training camp that first year during the first or second day, near the entry way of the St. Edwards campus building that they went into at the end of practice. At first this seemed like the primo place to get autographs, then we realized it was all about the fence line near the edge of the practice field that was the best spot to nab autographs.

G/Gs 73/41   Tac n/a     Sac 15   Fum n/a
Int  1  Yds 17   Avg 17.0   Td 1   Lg  17T