Tag Archives: green bay packers

Arena, NFL

Del Greco, Al

Cards: Topps Traded 1989, Upper Deck 1992
Acquired: In Person, Houston Oilers Training Camp 1992, CGA Youth Golf Tournament 1993.

The Oilers were searching for the replacement to Tony Zendejas whom they lost in Plan B to the Los Angeles Rams. Passing by established names such as Mike Lansford and Raul Allegre, the Oilers brought Teddy Garcia into camp. Unimpressed, the Oilers sent out an APB for a replacement, and found the feel good story of the year in Ian Howfield who won the job with an impressive preseason, but after 9 games it was obvious that he was not the answer, missing 4 extra points and quite a few field goals.  The Oilers called up Al Del Greco, who had lost the kicking job in Phoenix earlier that year. He had a decent enough resume and was the starting kicker for Green Bay (after Jan Stenerud) from 1984-1987 and Phoenix from 1987-1990. (He was also ironically replaced by another Zendejas in Green Bay.)

Del Greco would win the job outright in Houston, (and at that time I wasn’t really impressed,)  providing the Oilers with the consistency and clutch kicking that the team direly needed. He played for the Oilers the next 6 seasons, two for the Tennessee Oilers and then his final two seasons with the Titans- retiring after 2000 and 17 seasons. Del Greco currently stands at number 14 on the all time scoring list with 1592 points (as of 2010).

Al has since been inducted into the Alabama sports Hall of Fame. He briefly got into coaching and was a kicking coach in the AFL for the Birmingham Steeldogs as well, and does some radio and motivational speaking on the side. Del Greco is quite the golfer I hear, and was the winner of the CGA tournament that I went to way back in 1993.

G 248    XPA  543       XPM  551       FGA 449      FGM 347    PCT 77.3%

NFL

Buckley, Terrell

Cards: Action Packed Rookies 1992, Sky Box 1992
Acquired: TTM 1994, C/o The Green Bay Packers

When Buckley came out of Florida State, he had a lot of buzz surrounding him as the second coming of Deion Sanders; Rightfully so since he was a dazzling punt returner and cornerback. The Packers quickly nabbed him with the 5th pick of the first round of the 1992 draft. He’d have 3 picks and 4 fumble recoveries his first season, and be an electrifying punt returner. He’d average 10 yards a return and be the youngest player in the league to score a touchdown on a punt return. With luck getting quite a few Packers through the mail in those years I made a stab at Terrell Buckley in 1994, his final year with the Packers. Within a month or two I got these two back in the mail.

Buckley’s career was underrated to say the least.  After three seasons in Green Bay, he headed out for greener pastures in Miami and played there for the next 5 seasons, pulling down 22 picks and 2 touchdowns. In 2000, he’d hop ship for the Denver Broncos for an impact year with 6 interceptions, and then New England for the next two where Buckley would earn a Superbowl ring. Terrell bounced around for the next three seasons playing again for the Dolphins in 2003, the Jets in 2004 and the Giants in 2005, where he retired at the age of 34. Buckley’s statistics are surprising as he had 50 interceptions in his career, but no Pro Bowl appearances or Hall of Fame nominations to his resume. (He currently is the only defensive player in the league with 50+ interceptions not to be enshrined, ranking him 31st all time.)  After football Buckley returned to Florida State, where at the time of this post he is working on their staff as a strength and conditioning coordinator. Buckley signs his cards ‘TBuck’, a name affectionately given to him by radio and tv personality Jim Rome.

Games 209     Tac  465   Sac 2    FF 15
Int 50        Yds  793       Avg 15.9       Td  6       Lg 91T

Pr  79          Yds 748        Avg  9.4     TD 1      lg 58t

College Football HoF, NFL, Pro Football HoF, usfl

White, Reggie ‘Minister of Defense’ (1961-2004)

Cards: Action Packed 1991, Action Packed 1992.
Acquired: TTM c/o The Green Bay Packers, 1994.

Reggie White is arguably one of the greatest defensive ends, and one of the best players to be imported to the NFL after the failure of the fledgling USFL.

After setting multiple records at Tennessee, White was drafted by the Memphis Showboats of the USFL in 1984. Playing in two seasons for the league he’d rack up almost 25 sacks and 200 tackles, before being signed by the Philadelphia Eagles, who held his draft rights. White grabbed defensive rookie of the year in 1985. As a cornerstone to the Eagles, Reggie sacked quarterbacks a mind-numbing 124 times with the Eagles, averaging more than a sack a game from his left defensive end position. In 1987 alone he’d rack up 21 sacks.  White was nicknamed ‘The Minister of Defense’ by his teammates, because of his ability to disrupt team’s offenses, and the fact that he was an ordained minister since the age of 17.

White was an important high profile name in a landmark lawsuit against the NFL, that would eventually allow for what is now known in the league as free agency. This allowed for a general rise in salaries and also inadvertently contributed to the concept of a salary cap.  In 1993, Reggie would become the first big name to switch teams from the Eagles to the Packers creating an immense amount of buzz. With Reggie also switching to the Pack this also shattered the notion that small market cities would not be able to compete with larger cities for marquee talent. The Packers played in two Super Bowls during his tenure there, and he notched 3 sacks in Super Bowl XXXI which still stands as a record today. Reggie retired briefly in 1998 but came back to play one final season in 2000 for the Carolina Panthers.

White’s career numbers and accolades are astounding: 198 sacks (2nd all time) , 1st team AP 10 times, All Decade Team of the 80’s and 90’s, and the NFL’s 75th Anniversary team.  He’d only have 3 seasons during his 15 year career where he’d have under 10 sacks, and finished with over 1000 tackles. Tragically Reggie White would pass away December 26th, 2004 of a cardiac arrhythmia in his sleep at the age of 43. Posthumously he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2006 and his jersey was retired by the Packers, Eagles, and Volunteers.

It is said that near the end of his life, Reggie strayed away from Christianity and towards more Judaic religious beliefs, but this is not so. White was extremely interested and respectful of religious ideals, and remained a devout Christian, (and an outspoken, controversial one at that) to the day of his passing. He’d also lend a helping hand to many churches during the spate of Southern Black church burnings during the 1990s.

I seem to remember being surprised to get this autograph back from the Packers -and in under a month or two to boot. I like it when players inscribe the cards with a bible verse. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the most religious person, but it tells me a bit about their personality and who they are. Reggie signed his cards with Matt 3:3-16. Now This isn’t 3:3,16. It’s 3:3 through 16. That’s a hefty amount of scripture so I’ll just leave it at 3:3

“For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

Games 232         Tac 1048       Sac  198       FF 33
Int  3     Yds 79       Avg  29.3      Td  0