Tag Archives: detroit lions

CFL, NFL, ufl

Holland, Johnny ‘Mr. Everywhere’

Cards: ProSet 1990, Topps 1990, Action Packed 1990, Topps Stadium Club 1992
Acquired: TTM 2016, C/o The Cleveland Browns
Sent:  11/28/16   Received:  1/6/17     (39 days)

Johnny Holland was one of the galvanizing forces behind the ‘Wrecking Crew’ of the Texas A&M defense during the dying days of the Southwest Conference of the mid to late 80s.  At the time of his graduation from A&M he was the school’s all-time leading tackler and garnered Johnny the nickname ‘Mr. Everywhere’.

In 1987, the Green Bay Packers selected Johnny with their second round pick of the draft.  The ’87 draft has an impressive pedigree of linebacker talent that included: Cornelius Bennett, Shane Conlan, Brian Bosworth (SUP), Dave Wyman, Winston Moss, Michael Brooks, Scott Stephen, Byron Evans, Hardy Nickerson, Al Smith, Dennis Gibson, Greg Lloyd, and Jessie Tuggle (UDFA). Johnny fit right in, and the Packers were glad to have him, as he’d earn team rookie of the year honors from the franchise.  Johnny was a smart, instinctual, consistent, and reliable force for the Packers over the next 6 seasons- prized traits for linebackers. Although not flashy, Holland could be counted on by the Pack to post 100+ tackle seasons with regularity. During the 1992 season he herniated a disc in his neck. He rehabbed from the injury and returned to form in 1993 recording a career high 145 tackles, but learned that he had blown a disc in his back during the season. Johnny opted to retire.

He jumped almost right into coaching from there in 1995, first with the Packers until 1999. Holland served in a variety of capacities from Special Teams to Linebackers to quality control.  He then spent the next 3 seasons with the Seahawks as an assistant conditioning coach, special teams, and linebackers coach. From 2003 to 2005 Johnny was an assistant defensive coach and Linebackers coach with the Lions before his longest stint with the Houston Texans (2006-2010) as their linebackers coach.  He’d coach for the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL in 2011, and then after serving 1 season as the LB coach of the Oakland Raiders (2012), Johnny took a dip in the pool of the CFL with the British Columbia Lions LB corps (2014-2015).  He coached the ILB crew of the Browns for 2016, and as of 2017 is with the 49ers in a similar capacity.

Beloved by the Packers’ faithful, Johnny was inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame in 2001.  He also has been honored by both Texas A&M (1993) and the Cotton Bowl (2000) for his contributions to the sport.

Johnny is a very good signer through the mail. He signed these 4 cards for me via the Browns back in 2016. Johnny’s Proset 1990 card is a beast and his Stadium Club entry does not disappoint either.  The other two entries are kinda bad. Action Packed gives an entry of him from behind. That’s not what  you want to see, however I selected it because I got so many duplicates of this card when I used to get them at the 7-11 I might as well get it signed too. Topps 1990 suffered from a lot of bad things. Bad design and lazy photography riddled the set. Still it was a foundation of my set collecting of my childhood and sometimes the portrait photos of the players just stick with me, like this one of Johnny.

G/GS  103/100    TAC 777     SAC  3.5      FUM  15
INT  9     YDS  130      AVG  14.4      TD  0      LG  32

College Football HoF, Heisman Trophy Winner, NFL

Sims, Billy ‘Kung Fu’ (2)

to81 sims apCard: Topps 1981
Acquired: 2015, Future Considerations
See Also: Billy Sims

Lance picked up this Billy Sims card for me in exchange for all the autographs I randomly drop him. He also gave me an autographed Sports Illustrated with Keshawn Johnson on it as well. The autograph is actually certified on the back with a hologram- for what it is worth. Not much to say about this card. It’s Topps, so it’s a lazy photo. The design itself is not all that exciting, but I guess it was for that era.

It wasn’t all roses for a while with Billy. He really wanted to make a comeback in 1988, but the Lions only expressed a cursory interest. He’s fought back from the brink of financial disaster, even selling his Heisman. Despite that, Billy’s BBQ branded chain continues to fare well. He has quite a few locations in Oklahoma and opened stops in Michigan as well. In 2007 the University of Oklahoma erected a statue in his name as well, and he remains a celebrated hometown hero of Hooks, Tx where they have named a road after him.

 

NFL, University of Texas

Williams, Roy (2) ‘Legend’

sco10 rwilliamsCards: Playoff Contenders Rookie Round-Up 2004, Bowman 2005 Fabric of the Future, Score 2010
Acquired: 2014, MVP Vodka Bottle Signing
See Also: Roy Williams

Well, three is better than none I guess. Roy seemed the least enthusiastic member of the MVP autograph group to sign anything. He wanted to make doubly sure that any fan who got an autograph had purchased a bottle or two first- which is fine and all. I told Roy about how I had missed out on him at the GMC event a few years ago and was really disappointed because I did like 10 test drives just to get the tickets to get all the autographs I needed. It really didn’t sway Williams as he just signed these 3 cards, leaving me awkwardly with another 5 still to be signed at a later date.

bow04 rwilliamsThe Playoff Contenders card is an amazing limited run transparent gimmick card, that absorbed the ink quite well.  Bowman had a habit of trying hard but missing the mark, but this Fabric of the Future card is as close as you can get to being exciting. I was already fond of the Score 2010 design, so that was a no brainer. With luck I should be able to corral Roy at another signing.

poff04 rwilliamsSince retirement Roy has kept himself busy with his business dealings- primarily the MVP Vodka brand that he and fellow Longhorn BJ Johnson have been tirelessly promoting. I’m not too much of a vodka fan, but of the brands that are out there I enjoyed it the most.