Pat saw limited playing time in the Fighting Irish secondary until 1988, when he had 38 total tackles, 2 picks for 84 yards, 2 fumble recoveries and a TD.
He became the leader at Safety in 1989, posting 44 tackles, 9 pass deflections, 5 interceptions for 96 yards, a fumble recovery and a TD.
With a solid sub 4.4 40, Pat was a lock first round pick, selected by the DB needy Los Angeles Rams in 1990.
The Rams deployed Pat eventually at free safety, and he’d play for the franchise through the 1993 season.
After a season with the Jets in 1994, Pat saw a renaissance when he signed with the expansion Carolina Panthers in 95.
In 1995 and 96 he arguably had his best pair of seasons back to back posting 3 interceptions and 60+ tackles in each while playing free safety.
Needing a replacement for departed safety Eugene Robinson, the Packers signed Pat in 1998.
He’d see action in 3 contests, recording a pick, retiring after the season.
NOTES:
Pat is a very successful businessman and owns Terrell Materials Corp, which specializes in large concrete batches. I had failed on him way, way back in 2011, so I was tickled to make him my first success of 2023, especially considering he has such a low rate.
Action Packed was one of my favorite sets when I was younger. I’m now closing in on the last 15 or so of the set that need to be autographed, a mere 33 years later.
He was a 7th round pick of the New Orleans Saints in 1987.
A big hitter with tremendous speed, Gene also handled kick returning duties averaging 21.2 yards per return (71 returns) over his career with the Saints.
Played Strong Safety and was a solid find for NO, posting 3 interceptions his rookie season and 4 in 1988.
Converted to Free Safety in 1990, replacing Dave Waymer in the lineup, posting 5 forced fumbles.
Best season arguably came in 1991 when Gene recorded 5 interceptions for a league leading 198 yards, along with 4 forced fumbles, and 75 tackles.
Signed with the Dolphins in 1994, finishing his career there after 1997.
SKybox 1992, #258Action Packed 1991, #172
ACCOLADES:
All Rookie Team 1987
NOTES:
Gene’s son, Geno played DT most notably for the Bengals. It is said that Gene suffers from early onset dementia due to concussions sustained from playing football. A fairly rare signer, I felt very fortunate to get Gene’s autograph.
I felt like Gene should’ve gotten a Pro Bowl nod for his titanic 1991 season, but with a logger jam of great safeties out there, he didn’t get in. He had some great cards over the years and also makes an appearance in Tecmo Super Bowl.
Yes! At long last another retry reply in Jessie Hester. Jessie was one of my very first failures from way back in 2010. I thought that I had sent to him multiple times in between 2010 and 2022, but apparently I had not. He had some great cards that I appealed to, especially the classic shot of him from Pro Set’s 1990 Update. (An Action Packed 1992 and Pro Set 1991 were sacrificed to the mail gods in the previous attempt.) The Gameday and the Skybox cards over the year became particular set needs and all of them are welcome additions to the collection.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
