Card: Ultimate 1992 World League Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home Sent: 9/11 Received: 9/22 (11 days)
Tom Whelihan played kicker and punter in college at Missou. While there he set numerous school records including the longest field goal in school history- at 62 yards. He finished 44/63 on field goals, while punting 159 times for 6570 yards.
He spent the next few seasons in camp with the Packers (1988), the Lions and Chargers (1989) and the Bears (1990). Tom was selected by the Frankfurt Galaxy of the World League in 1991 to play punter. Whelihan had 49 punts for 1846 yards while pinning 18 opponents inside their own 20 yard line.
In 1995 he emerged again stateside playing for the Arena Football League playing for the St Louis Stampede, and then in 1997 for the Albany Firebirds.
A great autograph from Tom, as he also reminded me that the Galaxy did beat the Riders in San Antonio in 1991 in a 10-3 yawner of a contest.
Marquise Williams played for the San Antonio Commanders in 2019. A dangerous scrambler with great pocket presence and a great touch on the ball, Williams was a great change of pace for the Commanders from starter Logan Woodside. Initially moonlighting on 2 point conversions, Williams saw his play time increase as injuries, and a porous offensive line plagued Woodside over the season. After the Alliance collapsed in April of 2019, Marquise was spotted at the XFL tryouts.
Williams was selected by the New York Guardians in the XFL 2020 draft. He’d back up Matt McGloin at quarterback as the Guardians traded for Luis Perez from the Wildcats. With McGloin melting down early in the season, Williams saw some gametime action in relief against the Defenders and the Battlehawks, but by late February Luis Perez was named starter for the Guardians. Two games later the XFL ceased operations due to COVID.
Marquise has some great authentic autographs, so I wanted to pick these up since I was never able to get them while he was with the Commanders. The XFL certified was a pull, and much like its AAF predecessor, showcases just a simplified, nice, wholesome press photo of Marquise. Panini Contenders was doing some interesting stuff at the time of this evolutionary cycle of design with an image of Marquise on a design focused canvas. I am not much for the gaudiness of the Prism sets, but I really liked how Williams’ blue uniform pops from this silver background.
Shawn Collins was actually a tight end at Northern Arizona where he set the school’s all-time career records for TDs (24) and catches (201). In 1986, he posted 70 catches for 1,016 yards- a school, single season record, and then followed up with 61 receptions in 1987, and 54 in 1988. Scouts decided that Shawn was best suited to play wide receiver before the 1989 draft. He’d be selected near the back end of round one by the Atlanta Falcons.
Shawn had an outstanding rookie season for the Falcons. He led all rookie receivers with 58 catches, and set rookie franchise records, leading the Falcons with 58 catches for 862 yards. An acrobatic receiver who is fearless in traffic, Collins’ 58 receptions were the most by any rookie during the 80s and 16 of his 58 grabs went for 20 yards or more. He’d be an unanimous 1989 NFL All-Rookie selection.
With a sea change at head coach in Jerry Glanville, the Falcons were expected to be very aggressive at WR, but after landing in Jerry’s doghouse, Shawn’s numbers suffered and he finished with 34 catches for 503 yards and 2 TDs in 90, and just 3 catches for 37 yards in 91. He joined Browns in 1992 and caught 3 more passes for Cleveland. Shawn joined the Bucs in 1993, but did not make the roster. He’d later sign with the Packers and was on their roster for 4 additional games.
Shawn then made a comeback with the Frankfurt Galaxy of the newly retooled World League, catching 18 passes for 215 yards and a TD. Returning stateside, he immediately joined the CFL where he played for the Memphis Mad Dogs and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1995, posting 29 passes for 536 yards and 2TDs. Shawn played one final year in the Arena Football League for the Iowa Barnstormers catching 5 passes for 52 yards.
Shawn does not sign through the mail at all. I had spied out a signing through Sportscollectors.net at a really fair price, and waited for the event to pop. I was not disappointed and jumped at the chance to have him sign these 5 cards.
G/GS NFL
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
98
1433
14.6
5
61
G/GS WLAF
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
18
215
11.9
1
28
G/GS CFL
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
29
536
18.5
2
58
G/GS ARENA
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
5
52
10.4
0
N/A
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
