Tag Archives: hartford colonials

NFL, ufl, University of Texas, usfl, WLAF

Bradley, Bill “Super Bill”

Card: Topps 1972, Upper Deck UT 2011
Acquired: In Person, 11/9/11 Card Traders of Austin UD 2011 UT Football Card Launch Party

A tried and true athlete that found his position of calling while at the University of Texas, “Super Bill” as he was dubbed (for having ambidextrous passing skills) came in originally as a quarterback to the vaunted school in 1965. Unable to crack the lineup there or at wide receiver, he found his true calling at defensive back for the Longhorns. He’d go on to become perhaps one of the best secondary personnel in the history of the school and make an SWC record 4 picks in one game.

Super Bill was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 3rd  round of the 1969 draft. The rest is history. The multi-purpose Bradley was inserted into the lineup at free safety, but along the way would play as a kick returner, punt returner, and punter for the Eagles who truly got their money’s worth out of Bradley.  Unfortunately these were also some of the leanest years of the Eagles’ storied franchise.  His 1970 and 1971 seasons stand among the best in NFL history, recording 11 picks in 1970 for 248 yards and making 2 FR leading the NFL, and then following it up in 1971 with 9 picks for 73 yards to lead the NFL again in interceptions. (No other player in history has lead the league twice in picks.) In 1973 he’d add 4 picks to the total but teams would begin to look the other way in fear of Bradley’s ball-hawking skills. For the 3 seasons, he’d be awarded AP or Pro Bowl honors. He’d again make 5 picks in 1975 before finishing out his career with Philadelphia the following year. Bill would sign with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1977 playing one final season and retire. He is tied as the franchise’s all time leader in interceptions with 36.
He’s been active in coaching working with the San Antonio Gunslingers of the USFL, crossing paths with me briefly as a defensive backs coach of the San Antonio Riders, and along the way as well with the Bills, Chargers, and Jets (in no specific order).  He also served as defensive coordinator of the Baylor Bears for 2004-2006.  As of late, Super Bill has also worked in the UFL with the Florida Tuskers and the Hartford Colonials as a secondary coach and is a member of the ‘suspended operations staff’ in Hartford.  Bradley has been inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and also into the Philadelphia Eagles Honor Roll.

I had been following Sports Cards Traders of Austin for a few weeks and it really paid off. When they posted up that Bradley was going to be appearing, I did not hesitate to call them and have the store pull a few cards of him from the racks. I grabbed a Topps 1972, and then heard that he would be in the UT set. After breaking open a few packs, I was happy to find Bradley inside one of them. I gave an extra to him which made him really happy since it was the first time he saw it. The photo that they used was from his Freshman year at UT. He knew it because he was wearing a helicopter pilot’s helmet and apparently they had run out of ones for their players. We also talked about the Riders, and he told me that Coach Riley owns a house down the street from him. Bradley also loved talking about the hail storm game with me against the Ohio Glory back in 1992. It was a great interaction with a great player who was willing to personalize my cards. Here is Super Bill’s statistics:

G 114      Tac  N/a      Sac  N/a     Fum  7    Int   34    Yds  536   Avg 15.8      Td  1    Lg 56t
KR 27      Yds 564       Avg 20.9         Td 0    Lg 42
PR 122    Yds 953       Avg 7.8         Td 0       Lg 60
P  213      Yds 8316     Avg  39.0     Lg 61

 

ufl

Bond, Jy


Card: TNT Cards 2011
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 8/15   Received: 8/25 (10 days)

So I created a whole set of trading cards and put them under the Top Notch banner. A few United Football League players of late have taken notice of what I had been doing and wanted copies of their cards. I decided to handle this as a chance to explore a novel way to approach TTM autographs. In exchange for the file or the card, I ask that they send me an autographed copy of that card I created for my collection. Jy was the first of those experiments and successes at this. It solves a lot of things for me by allowing me to get some exposure and spread positive word for little cost, practice my trade, get an autograph, and do a small thing that counts a lot more for these players than people think.

It all started with a small set of UFL cards that I worked on in March. I didn’t put much thought to it as I was passing the time. With the days getting longer I posted a few up on the team Facebook sites. I really didn’t consider that  players might contact me for their card. Within a few days though, Jy contacted me and asked why I hadn’t made one of him yet, so I felt obliged and set to work on the second series of UFL cards, which brought the set up to over 100 profiles.

I sent him a small set of his card through ProShooterDirect that I created, and for 24 of them, it was quite a fair price.  He got it by the weekend and mailed me out the 2 cards, since I had no use for 22 more cards floating around my apartment, it would allow me to inspect the quality of the print and see how well the autograph took to their paper.
His autograph has a nice strength and loop to the signature, and looks very impressive in silver. Along with the two cards, he also sent me a nice thank-you note in Aussie offering to meet up whenever we get the chance and refer more players to me if I’d like.

I’ve sent out a set to the Mountain Lions, and also have been in contact with a few other players so far. I hope to be able to put together a comprehensive collection of UFL players autographs before the end of season 3. Unabashedly when coming up with the concept for this card, I wanted to aim for something that would be a card that would introduce fans to the teams and the league.  I framed the front of the card with a nice, classy, white border. I did some tweaks later to the cards after receiving the prints on the back where the type came out a bit small, but overall I was quite pleased with how these turned out.

Disclaimer: The photos and logos remain the properties of their respective parties. The designs, bios, and presentations, I do claim ownership over. I am not affiliated with the United Football League or any of its member teams and these are classified as ‘mock up’ demonstration fan art cards.