Tag Archives: Houston Oilers

NFL

Golic, Mike ‘Big Mike’


Cards: Topps 1992, Score 1991, Score Supplemental 1989, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2017. C/o ESPN
Sent: 12/16           Received: 1/6       (20 days)

Mike Golic was prized for his size, technique, and flexibility that allowed defensive coordinators to use him at any position along the defensive line.  He also comes from strong bloodlines. His father played in the CFL and his brother Bob played for the Raiders. After a solid college career at Notre Dame, Big Mike was selected by the Houston Oilers in the 10th round of the 1985 draft.  After sitting out his rookie year due to injury, Mike turned on the juice in 1986, starting half the slate of games for the Oilers with 66 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 forced fumbles. Surprisingly Mike found himself on the street in 1987 after 2 games and before the players’ strike. The Eagles wisely scooped him up.

Under Buddy Ryan, Mike was part of a rotation on the line that kept him fresh off the bench. He played the next 5 years with the Eagles. Golic’s best seasons came back to back in 1991 and 1992 when he put together 2 72 tackle seasons. He joined the Dolphins in 1993, but did not find the same success in Miami, as Mike played injured for most of the season on a torn knee ligament.

Infamously, he  learned the hard way about business in the NFL when he was cut on the eve of minicamp in ’94. Mike had off season surgery, and well knowing the team had drafted 2 defensive players to beef up the line, he was out to prove that he could still motor on that healing knee. The conundrum was that in order to get out onto the field, the trainer told Mike he’d have to sign a paper indicating his knee was fine. Eventually Mike relented, and the moment he attempted to leave the trainer’s office, he was confronted by the turk, who told Golic that the GM wanted to see him. You see by signing that piece of paper, he waived his own rights. The team couldn’t cut him due to injury and owe him a salary, but since he was 100%- Mike lost some $650K by his count. Just cut throat.

Well Mike was lucky. He had a fallback. It just so happened that he was quite natural on the microphone- a talent he started honing back in Philly. A long time radio and TV personality, Golic has been a staple on ESPN programming since the turn of the century. It didn’t take much time at all to get Mike’s autograph on these 4 cards which feature a pretty decent selection of photos from his playing days.

G/GS   115/49      TAC     254           SAC 11.5             FUM 3
INT  3      YDS  48         AVG 16.0         TD 0       LG  23

NFL

Barrow, Micheal

Cards: ProSet 1993, GameDay 1993
Acquired: TTM 2016, C/o Home
Sent: 5/24/16             Received: 10/2/17  (420 days)
Failure: 2010, C/o University of Miami

Micheal Barrow played for the Miami Hurricanes in college.  A fearsome and instinctive linebacker, Micheal posted 420 combined tackles, 7 sacks, and 3 interceptions for 5 years, earning first-team All-America Honors in 1992.

New defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan wanted some new blood and speed at the linebacker position in Houston.  He made smarmy remarks about incumbent MLB Al Smith being too big and slow after watching film of the previous season.  Micheal was actually a surprise selection by the Oilers in the 2nd round of the 1993 NFL Draft. The team was bursting at talent at linebacker with Joe Bowden, Lamar Lathon, Eddie Robinson, Smith, and free agent signee Wilber Marshall.

During his rookie year he’d hone his skills behind Al Smith at middle linebacker- who had no intention of giving up his spot. The Oilers acknowledged as much and moved Barrow to RLB in 1994. He’d play for the Oilers through the 1996 season.  Micheal’s most complete season in Houston occurred that year as he posted 67 tackles, 6 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles.

Micheal signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Carolina Panthers in 1997.  He picked up right where he left off in Houston recording 68 tackles, 8.5 sacks (career high), and 3 forced fumbles. After solid play through the 1999 season, Micheal signed with the New York Giants as a free agent.

Among the pantheon of free agent signings in the history of the franchise, Barrow’s signing wasn’t met with much fanfare, however he’d go down as one of Big Blue’s most savvy moves. Plugging Barrow in at middle linebacker, Micheal played 5 strong seasons in NY. His best season for the franchise came in 2003 when he posted a career high 109 tackles.  After a knee injury ended his one and done season with the Redskins before it even began, Barrow played 2 games in 2005 with the Dallas Cowboys before retiring.

Micheal quickly went into coaching scaling the high school ranks and landing at his Alma Mater Miami where he was linebackers coach for the Hurricanes from 2007-2013.  In 2015, Micheal joined Pete Carroll’s staff in Seattle as the team’s linebacker’s coach, and in 2017 was promoted to assistant head coach to keep potential suitors away.

Finally, another mythic Houston Oiler down. I had tried Barrow way back in 2010 via the Hurricanes, but failed miserably.  This request too, I had given up hope on, but after a very long wait, Micheal signed these two cards for me via the Seahawks.

G/GS  172/153      TAC  1125     SAC 43.0      FUM  22
INT 2       YDS 17        AVG  8.5     TD  0       LG  10

 

AFL, NFL

Frazier, Charlie ‘Razor’

Autographed Texan Ambassador Memorabilia
Acquired: 2016, Detroit Lions @ Houston Texans

So before the Texans game I spied a few autographs I wanted to get. As usual there was a last second booking change and Charlie was put on the schedule. I was willing to pay the price to get a card of Charlie ‘The Razor’ Frazier expedited, but apparently nobody ever made one. Frazier had some good seasons in there, including a 1,000 yard plus effort there, that earned him AFL All Star honors- so I was really surprised.

Going undrafted out of Texas Southern in 1960, Frazier caught on with the local Houston Oilers in 1962.  He scored his first touchdown that year in the 3rd game of the season against the Bills on a 73 yard bomb.  The Razor’s best season came in 1966 when he logged 57 receptions for 1,129 yards, a robust 19.1 yards per reception, and 12 touchdowns. These all stood as career highs for Charlie.  Frazier joined the Boston Patriots in 1969 and was a dangerous endzone target. Of his 19 catches, 7 of them went for touchdowns.  After the 1970 season, Frazier retired.  A dangerous long bomb threat, Frazier had 6 seasons with a long catch of 50 yards or greater.

Currently Charlie lives in the Houston area. He’s a big Texans fan and a member of the Houston Texans Ambassador program.

When I got to the game, I could not get to Charlie. I had already found my seats and the stadium had a policy that if you wanted to do events outside you could not re-enter the stadium. The head scratching thing is, the autograph table was located on the concourse inside the stadium and stadium gates, but outside the ticket gates. With a little finagling the ticket manager gave me an exception and let me through. It was a very hot day and long walk to get to Frazier who was seated with Bubba McDowell. We talked about the Oilers and he too was miffed as to why nobody made a card of him.

Note: Charlie signed his name ‘CHARLIE’ but his given name is listed as Charley.

G/GS  110      REC 207     YDS  3452     AVG 16.7      TD 29      LG 80T