Tag Archives: fab four

Duncan, Curtis ‘CD’


Cards: Pacific 1991,Pinnacle 1992,Topps 1992,Topps 1988, Score 1991, Proset 1990
Acquired: In Person, 1991,1993. TTM 2010 c/o home.
Sent: 2/15   Received: 2/26  (11 days)
See Also: Curtis Duncan (2), Curtis Duncan (3)

A 10th round selection out of Northwestern, nobody really gave Curtis a chance to make the Houston Oilers’ roster in 1987 but he ended up contributing for a 7 solid seven seasons. Considered the quietest member of the Run and Shoot wide receivers, Curtis was the ‘hands man’ of the group of Ernest Givins, Haywood Jeffrires, and Drew Hill/ Webster Slaughter. Never actually going over the 1,000 yard plateau, his best season came in 1992 when he had 954 yards on 82 receptions.  He’d play out the 1993 season with the Oilers, and then play through the preseason the next year with the Packers. (Among his more notorious accomplishments is holding the NFL record for receivers of most catches without a touchdown, at 106- probably since broken.) Duncan is now a member of the Houston Texans Ambassador club- (spokesmen for the organization that appear at a variety of local events to increase public interest in the Texans) and also plays golf and writes poetry in his spare time.

When Duncan first started, he was a touchdown threat every time he touched the ball his rookie season. After his rookie season, he settled into his role as the possession receiver. By the end of his career he was more comparable to Kelvin Martin only occasionally running the deep route. CD was also pretty good on Tecmo Super Bowl. The game always had him set up to go deep and you could just bomb to him all day long.

Curtis signed four cards for me in near record time. The inscription from Matt 6:33. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Games 102     Rec 322    Yds 3935    Avg 12.2   Td 20   Lg 72

Hill, Drew (1956-2011)

Cards: Topps 1982, Fleer 1990, Proset 1990, Proset 1991.
Acquired: In Person, Houston Oilers Training Camp 1990, TTM, C/o Home 2010
Sent: 3/26    Received 4/6  (11 days)

Drew Hill is a receiver who has gotten no respect. Barely a blip went by when in the 12th round the speedster out of Georgia Tech was selected by the Rams in the 1979 draft. In the beginning of his career the LA Rams used Hill primarily as a kick returner. By his final season with LA in 1984 Drew would finally be getting some credit as a receiver pulling down a monstrous 27.9 yards per catch on 14 receptions. Hill was traded to the very bad Houston Oilers squad in 1985 and immediately started paying dividends as Warren Moon‘s primary receiver. Over the course of the next 7 years Hill grabbed 634 receptions and 7477 yards and stretched defensive secondaries to their limit, averaging an electrifying 15.5 yards per catch, including a 20.2 yard average on 49 receptions in 1987.  He went to the ProBowl in 1988 and 1990 and tied Haywood Jeffires for the AFC lead in receptions with 72 catches. In 1992 the Oilers let Drew go via free agency. The knock on him was that he was too old at 36. He signed with his homestate Falcons, being reunited with former Oiler coach Jerry Glanville and put over 1000 yards into his Falcon career, retiring after the 1993 season as an Atlanta Falcon. Hill at the time of his departure from the Oilers was the all time leader in catches and yards, and second in touchdowns. He averaged an amazing 70.5 yards per game with the Oilers. (Since then his records were broken by Haywood Jeffires and Ernest Givins.)  Among Drew Hill’s lesser known accomplishments is that he is the first person to score a touchdown in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s beating HoF member James Lofton by a game and ironically (to Bud Adams chagrin,) he was the first player to notch four 1,000 yard seasons after the age of 30.

Drew since retirement has returned to his Georgia roots where he lives in relative anonymity. I sent for his autograph TTM after locating his address on another site. I did a bit of research on him and was dismayed that somebody with the same name had been posing as him claiming to be a fine artist. When Drew wrote back, he informed me that the artist “wasn’t me.” Although slightly embarrassing to me, I hope it called attention to him that there was somebody out there usurping his good name.

I got Drew’s autograph after training camp in 1990 one day where he was thoroughly exhausted. He was a really nice guy, but of few words. His autograph felt like his personality (understated) and I really wanted to get it again when I decided to mail out to some of my favorite Oilers earlier this year.  I was really angry when the team let him go via free agency and felt when they did it exposed a chink in the team’s armor.

Games  147      Rec 634         Yds 9831           Avg 15.5          TD 60         LG  81t

FOLLOWUP:

11/25/2010

Less than two weeks after I wrote this, I was contacted by Jerry Crowe of the LA Times for an interview about ‘the real Drew Hill’. Apparently Mr. Crowe had been visiting the Men’s Central Jail poking around about ‘the artist’ Drew Hill being in jail, not knowing his fake identity. When he asked them about Mr. Hill, the corrections officers revealed to Jerry that ‘the artist’ was not the real Drew Hill, referring to my website as supplemental proof.  (Thanks corrections office! You know who you are.)

Amused, Jerry tracked me down, and contacted me for an interview since I was living locally in the area so that he could have ‘more ammo’ for his talk with the artist inmate. We discussed my brief involvement in the situation, how I had been in touch with the ‘real’ Drew Hill via the mail, and that Jerry had indeed spoken to and interviewed ‘the real’ Drew Hill in Georgia. He said that he may use my information in a further interview with the inmate and was amazed by what a small world this was with the coincidental timing of the situation, my post and the fact I lived in the greater LA area, but none of this unfortunately ever made the article and thusly I get no props for my super ‘sleuthiness’. You can read the article in its entirety here. A second article is a follow-up from the Santa Monica Daily Press, where the original call for help was issued for the impostor.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/26/sports/la-sp-crowe-20100927
http://www.smdp.com/pdf/100110.pdf

3/19/2011

On Thursday March 17th, 2011, Drew was golfing and fell ill. Although he was transported to the hospital shortly thereafter, Hill suffered two strokes and passed away on March 18th, 2011.  He was 54. It should be noted that the Associated Press even got some of his information wrong, stating not only the wrong date on his All Pro seasons, but also that he was an artist, – a claim that he disputed when I sent him mail last year.

Givins, Ernest


Cards: SkyBox 1992, Action Packed 1991, Score 1990, ProSet 1990, Action Packed 1992, GameDay 1992.
Acquired: In Person, 1991, 1994, Houston Oiler Training Camp. TTM 2010, c/o Home.
Sent: 3/26   Received:  4/29   (33 days)
See Also: Ernest Givins (2), Ernest Givins(3)

Ernest Givins was a second round choice of the Houston Oilers in 1986. At 5-9 178, Ernest was considered undersized for his position when he came out of Louisville, but was an amazing route runner and ideal for the slot position. He was also difficult to tackle and had incredible acrobatic balance accounting for shelves of highlight film including a hit where he was flipped over the back of the defender and made the catch, landing on his feet in the endzone. Ernest would play for the Oilers for the next ten seasons, (and one for Jacksonville,) notching two ProBowl nominations in 1992 and 1990- where in the latter he was also named All-Pro. He went over 900 yards 5 times in his career. Ernest was also well known for his after touchdown celebration dance entitled ‘The Electric Slide’ (shown partially in action in the Action Packed 1991 card,) which quickly endeared him to Oiler fans and became recognizable around the league.

In 1995 he was cut by the Oilers and signed with the expansion Jaguars where he played for one season. He finished first on the Houston Oilers all-time list for receptions and yards and tied for third in touchdowns. As of 2010, Givins lives in St. Petersburg, and is active in the community as a semi-pro football coach for the Bay Area Gamblers and offensive coordinator for Boca Ciega High School.

I met Ernest Givins and got his autograph at training camp on two different occasions. The first time went by with little fanfare. He signed my card and I thanked him. So by the time I got back to him in 1994, I was a bit more mouthy by then so I asked him to do his trademark touchdown dance ‘The Electric Slide’. His response coyly was, “I wouldn’t want to break tradition.” It was a good laugh. I later tracked him down through the internet, partially thanks to Wikipedia and got his autograph on a few extra cards.

Games  147      Rec 571        Yds 8215         Avg 14.4          Td 49           Lg 83T