After Haywood signed TTM back in 2020 I flipped back out this photo to Curtis I took from the GMC Showcase back in 2013. I was surprised not to get it back TTM. After 3 years of waiting I figured I’d just get him at the GTSM showcase.
I was the first person in line for Curtis. He was happy to sign anything. I think he recognized me from the last time we met at the Houston Texans game while he was still an ambassador for the franchise. He LOVED the #80 jersey I was wearing and told me he still had the GMC shirt from the photo below.
Well since the last time I wrote Ernest, he stopped signing TTM. Such is the life of the game. I had been fortunate to get him many times both in person and TTM, so I was fine with spending a little extra cash to get these last cards knocked out of him.
Action Packed All-Madden Team 1990, #34
Proset 1992, #510Fleer 1990, #127
For some reason my tickets weren’t popping up properly on the app. The gatekeepers were treating me like I was trying to cheat the system, but yes indeed I had 8 cards I wanted to be signed by Ernest. Since we couldn’t get it to work in time, they had to manually key it in for me. It almost completely ruined the experience for me, but I was able to go behind the curtains and meet the players that way and they gladly signed for me.
Ernest protested because Curtis and Haywood were excited I was wearing an original 1990s #80 Houston Oilers jersey, as at one point during Jeffires and Duncan’s careers they both wore that number, while Givins stuck with 81.
Playoff 1993, #242Playoff 1992, #8
I had enough time behind the magic curtain to ask him how it was going with tutoring his nephew and trying to get him into a league. He said he’s still at it. Curtis immediately chimed in and started talking about how Ernest was trying to teach his nephew how to drop his shoulder and juke off the LOS- something Givins excelled at doing in the slot. Givins then went on to mention that he was trying to get his nephew to pick up gymnastics, because that really helped Ernest as a receiver take his game to a new level.
CARDS: Score Supplemental 1989, Fleer 1990, Pro Set 1990, Gameday 1992, Gameday 1993, Gameday 1993 Gamebreaker, Topps Update 1990, Pro Set 1992, Pro Set 1991, Pro Set 1993, Pro Set Power 1992, Action Packed 1991, Skybox 1992, Skybox Premium 1992/3 ACQUIRED: GTSM 2023 FAILURE: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Maybe I got carried away here? Nah- Not for a paid signing. I consider this going…. ‘all out’. Lorenzo White is an enigmatic signer TTM, and even though I was lucky enough to get him once, I really wanted to replace more of these stamps in my collection (Score Supplemental 1989, Gameday 1992, Action Packed 1991). So I just figured why not get EVERYTHING signed I needed, especially at a bargain bin price of just 15 bucks an autograph. I then thought… well, why not take a photo with him too?
Besides the kerfluffle I experienced using digital versus printed out tickets, I was able to rib Lo a bit about Tecmo Super Bowl. You see in the game Lo is given a bad 44 ball control. (Yes, that previous season, he led the NFL with… I think 8(?) fumbles.) I told him he got the shaft in the game. He laughed briefly and told me, that well he showed everyone the next season (-a year in which he had over 1,000 yards rushing and some 1,800 total yards).
He was also very proud of the two big plays of his that always stick out in my mind: The draft video of him running down the field with one shoe on, and his catch and go against to beat the Cleveland Browns- when he galloped for some 70+ yards. When I asked him why he went to Cleveland… like if it was a hometown favorite of his, he said no, that it was all business.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
