Tag Archives: edmonton eskimos

CFL, College Football HoF, University of Texas

Royal, Darrell (1924-2012)

Cards: UT Upper Deck 2011 Coach, UT Upper Deck 2011 Stadium
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o The University of Texas Athletic Department
Sent: 7/9     Received: 8/7   (29 days)

Darrell Royal is considered a coaching legend and figurehead at the University of Texas, where he helped shape the program into a national power.  While serving in the Air Force during WWII, Royal was discovered by recruits from the University of Oklahoma. He’d attend college there and play both defensive back and quarterback for the Sooners from 1946-1949. Mentored by Bud Wilkinson, Royal posted a 16-1 mark as a part-time starter at quarterback, while recording 18 interceptions as a defensive back in his time there at the school. With professional football not a firm career option at the time, Royal opted to jump into coaching at the college level serving as an assistant in 1950 at NC State, Tulsa in 1951, and Mississippi State in 1952. After a brief stop as head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL in 1953 (where he posted a record of 12-4), Royal returned to Mississippi State in 1954 to be head coach for two seasons posting identical back to back 6-4 records.  Continuing to puddle jump, Darrell spent a year as head coach of the Washington Huskies in 1956 and recorded a pedestrian 5-5 record.

A hungry Texas Longhorn program liked what they saw in Royal and hired him in 1957. He’d immediately turn around the program and coach them to the Sugar Bowl. Over his time at the University of Texas Royal brought the school 11 Southwestern Conference championships (’59,’61-’63,’68-’73, & ’75), 3 National Titles (’63, ’69-’70), and numerous coaching awards. He’d post a record of 167-47-5 at UT, and a mark of 109-27-2 in the SWC.  Also of note is that Darrell was considered an offensive mastermind, and is credited with two offensive formations: the ‘Flip-Flop’ Winged-T and the Wishbone offense. He’d retire in 1976 as the winningest coach in UT history, but remained a constant figure on campus at the institution through 2012, as a watchful during the current highly successful Mack Brown era. The school renamed the stadium in 1996 from Memorial Stadium to Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium to honor his contributions to the institution further. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.  Coach Royal also has a huge coaching tree. While Fred Akers quickly came in and established himself as head coach after his departure, many of his other coaches had prodigies that later became NFL and successful college coaches from them. Among those distant relatives are RC Slocum, Mike Sherman, Gary Kubiak, Greg Davis, Tommy Tuberville, Spike Dykes, Dave McGinnis, Al Groh, Ray Perkins, Jackie Sherril, Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannastedt, Dom Capers, Ron Zook, and even Jon Gruden.

royalI was really happy to get Darrell Royal. Even my parents were excited to hear I got him on two cards.  I opted to have him sign his coach card and the stadium card, over the additional cards I had and it was all done in under a month’s time. My uncle had previously gotten him for me before on a postcard back in the late 90s while they were on a flight together. Coach Royal encouraged me in the note to go back to school and finish my education.

On Wednesday, November 7th 2012, Darrell Royal passed away at the grand old age of 88. He is survived by his wife Edith and 3 kids. In his latter years, Darrell enjoyed golf and philanthropic activities immensely. On a side note, Royal’s passion for golf spilled over into the college, and while athletic director there, he helped bring the sport to the National limelight as they captured 2 titles under his encouragement with headliners Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite.

CFL, NFL, WLAF

Bell, Kerwin (2)

Cards: WildCard WLAF 1992, Ultimate WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Jacksonville University
Sent: 1/10        Received:  2/17  (38 days)
Previous Post: Kerwin Bell
Failure: TTM 2010, C/o Jacksonville University

I had tried previously in 2010 to get the former Florida and WLAF Orlando Thunder signal caller on a few additional cards, but didn’t have any luck there. Recently there have been a few signings by Bell passed through SportsCollectors.net so I decided to take another chance C/o Jacksonville University again. With these two cards being signed, I can officially close the book on Kerwin Bell, unless I was to stumble upon a Jogo card or two of him in his CFL gear.

A Florida Gators quarterback from the 80’s, Bell finished his Senior season with 2687 yards and 21 TDs. After bouncing around the NFL for a few seasons, the WLAF would call his number in the first round of their positional draft in 1991. He’d be on fire the first two weeks of the season and rake in Offensive Player of the Week honors both weeks for the Orlando Thunder. Kerwin set the league season game records for most completions (29), most TDs passing (5), most attempts (43), and most attempts without an interception (44).

Inexplicably, the Thunder turned around in 1992 and picked up Scott Mitchell from the Dolphins and gave him the keys to the car. Bell would ride the bench, but would go onto greater glory after the season, playing in the CFL for the Sacramento Goldminers, Edmonton Eskimos, Argos, and Blue Bombers. He’d also have a brief stop with the Colts during this period, completing 5 of 5 passes for a TD, retiring in 2001. Unofficially it is the highest QB rating among non-qualifying quarterbacks in NFL history.

Bell was inducted into the Gator HoF as a Gator Great in 1997.

 

Arena, CFL, NFL, WLAF

Proctor, Michael “Field General”


Cards: ProSet WLAF 1991, Ultimate WLAF 1992, WildCard WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 7/19    Received: 12/3  (137 days)

Michael Proctor would set 10 Ohio Valley conference records for the Murray State Racers during his collegiate career, including total passing yards (8,210 yards), pass completions (578), and attempts (1148).  He’d be the first player in school history to net more than 1500 yards of total offense in 4 consecutive seasons. After completing college, Michael would sign with the New England Patriots in 1990, but not make the squad.

Taken in the 4th round of the WLAF draft by the Montreal Machine, he’d compete against Kevin Sweeney and Mike Johnson initially for the job. Beating out Johnson for the backup job to Sweeney, Proctor would be forced into the starting lineup after Kevin’s season would be ended prematurely due to ineffectiveness and injury.  Stepping into the lineup for the Machine, Proctor did more damage on the ground than he did in the air rushing for 247  yards on 41 carries (6.0 average) and 2 touchdowns. In the air, Michael completed 107 of his 224 attempts and net 1222 yards, to go along with 3 td passes as the team won 4 games that season.  It was enough to garner him an audition with the Cleveland Browns, but yet again Proctor would fail to make the squad.

In 1992 the WLAF, injected ‘future star prospects and rookies’ from the NFL into the league to try and increase the league viewership, level of play, and incentivize the NFL by scouts being able to get a glimpse of those players’ progress. Much to the Field General’s chagrin, the Machine went out and drafted Anthony Dilweg at quarterback to play for them. Dilweg would win out in camp and start for Montreal, but he’d get crushed on a blitz in the season opening game against the Riders in 1992. Once again, Proctor would ride in to the rescue. Proctor, with a season under his belt in Jacques Dussault‘s system actually had matured. While the team would lose against the Riders, and in fact, post a woeful 2-8 record- Proctor turned the corner and threw 8 tds to only 5 picks. He’d also finish with 113 completions and 1478 yards. On the ground the Field General was even more destructive, carving up teams for 207 yards (a 5.4 yard average) and 4 touchdowns rushing (which led the team).  Even though Dilweg, and even Craig Cupp would threaten him from time to time for the starting position, Michael maintained his hold over the QB spot.

After the failure of the WLAF, Michael would find a home briefly playing quarterback in the CFL for the Edmonton Eskimos in 1993. He’d move on from there to play for the Charlotte Rage of the AFL for 3 more seasons throwing 17 touchdowns to 3 picks in 1994 and rushing for 7 touchdowns on 25 attempts in 1995. His AFL totals were 486 attempts, 279 completions, 3492 yards, 51 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a 95.81 qb rating.

A Special shout out to Shadow from the Fanmail.biz message board who helped me track down this elusive member of the WLAF. As far as anybody there on that site that I absolutely have mad respect for in their ability to track down addresses and help out a fellow collector in need- he certainly is the guy to go to.  I had been searching for Proctor for some time and had heard that he was honored at Murray State recently as their Parade Marshall.  I had pretty much given up on this one since it was a Spokeo find, but after a bit over 4 months, the Field General rolled into my command, and wrote a small note, “Take care and be blessed! Jesus is real!!!”, Along with the cards.  Really pleased with this one.  Below are Michael’s WLAF statistics:

Att  417     Comp 220    Yds 2700     Pct 52.8     Td 11     Int 15    Rat  66.8
Rush 79    Yds 454     Avg 5.7     Td 6     Lg 31