Tag Archives: Houston Oilers

Steinkuhler, Dean (2)

Cards:  Score 1991, Fleer 1990, Score 1990
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o Home
Sent: 10/15/2010     Received:  11/2/2011   (383 days*)
*Slight delay. Forwarded from old address.

Dean was part of my final send out from 2010.  I did not do any mailings in November or December of 2010 as I was planning to graduate and needed to concentrate on school. Waxing nostalgically, (- as I do frequently on this site,)  I can’t help but think what was on my mind that day about my future about me now in the current present. It’s a tad depressing really, but eventually I’ll work my way out of this. Sometimes you have to fall down a crevasse to work your way out in life.

Dean was a member of the Oilers powerful offensive line during the 80s and very early 90s.  He would be the 3rd and final drafted offensive cog of a dominant line that included Mike Munchak and Bruce Matthews. Often overlooked, by his more glamorous counterparts- if you can call an offensive lineman that, -Steinkuhler was both equally dominant as both a drive blocker and pulling on sweeps. When the Oilers ran the option (in those frightening days with Warren Moon running the ball in the 80s,)  you would always see Dean out there opening up holes and leading the way. He was never named to the Pro Bowl, which was a shame, because when injuries finally claimed Dean’s playing career in the early 1990s, it was the first noticible chip in the Oilers offensive armor.

I gave up on getting this one back since I sent for him last year after seeing a rash of signatures on SportsCollectors.net. Just recently I saw another success and thought that perhaps these cards would make their way back to me, and amazingly they did in a brisk 383 days.

 

 

Dishman, Cris (2)

Cards:  Action Packed 1992, Fleer 1995
Acquired:  TTM 2011, C/o The San Diego Chargers
Sent: 10/7    Received: 10/27   (20 days)
Failure: TTM 2010, C/o The San Diego Chargers
See Also: Cris Dishman, Dish (3)

Well I thought I’d give Cris another shot with less cards. After making a big blitz of former Oilers in 2010, I was surprised not to receive anything back from Cris Dishman courtesy of the Chargers. I tended to other stuff but when I published my master list of Oilers that I had gotten on Fanmail, they told me that Cris was easy to get, so I planned on reloading and trying again. He was on the back burner for a couple of months here until I joined SotL at Bubba Mcdowell‘s recommendation, to where I found the Facebook heaven for football players. Seeing that Cris was on here and that he was active- I decided to go ahead and give him another shot on these two cards.

At that time, I really liked what Fleer was doing with their 1995 set. It was really daring to have the information on the front of the card like that and the player name and team information really reminded me of Skybox’s 1992 release. Crystal clear photography also really assisted as well in the production of this piece. The Action Packed 1992 card was right at the end of what I felt was their best work. Already in their 1991 offering, they had annoyingly decided to flip the stats on the back, in landscape form from left to right on random cards, and they continued this trend in 1992, and by 1993 I was out of the market.

Cris Dishman engages his fans on Sotl which is refreshing. When I asked him what his favorite memory was about playing football outside of being drafted, he said it was the comradery of the locker room after games that no business could ever match.  He filled my request through the Chargers in roughly 20 days.

McDowell, Leonard “Bubba”

Cards: ProSet 1990, ProSet 1991, Score 1990, Score 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Prairie View A&M
Sent:  9/2  Received: 9/15
Previous Failure: C/o The Houston Cougars 2010
See Also: Bubba McDowell (2)

Bubba McDowell is one of the few Oilers that I never had any luck with at training camp, but I always saw that others had. As one of my favorite players, he was a fearsome hitter that also had the occasional knack for finding the end zone with his ball hawking skills.

As a member of Jimmy Johnson‘s Miami Hurricanes, McDowell played strong safety for their 1987 National Championship team. The team was loaded with talent on both sides of the ball that included: Michael Irvin, Wesely Carroll, Randall Hill, Steve Walsh, Jimmie Jones, Cortez Kennedy, Danny Stubbs, Cleveland Gary, Brian Blades and Bennie Blades. Even their punter, Jeff Feagles was able to make it into the pros.  During the monstrous 1989 draft, McDowell would be taken in the 3rd round by the Houston Oilers.

Bubba would lay down the law immediately, replacing long time veteran Keith Bostic at safety. He’d start all 16 games and have a great rookie season recording 97 tackles, a sack, 4 picks, 4 forced fumbles, and a safety. Right before half time in a 1992 Monday Night game against the Chicago Bears at the Astrodome, Bubba picked off Peter Tom Willis and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown.  He also notched the last score for the Oilers in their notorious meltdown against the Bills in the playoffs later that season. As Houston slumped in 1994, McDowell would be injured and only start 3 contests.

The Oilers would leave Bubba exposed to free agency and the expansion Panthers snatched him up in late April 1995. He’d finish out his career there with one final pick, but not before being immortalized in both the Nintendo Tecmo Super Bowl and the Super Nintendo Super Tecmo Bowl. After retiring he’d begin coaching and also participated in the Minority Fellowship Program. He remains an active speaker and gives time to charity where he lives outside of Houston, Texas with his wife and family. He is also a member of the Houston Texans Ambassador Club, and was a second team AP in 1991.

So Bubba is another failure turned success for me as last year I wrote him courtesy of the Houston Cougars, but he had already left the organization by then. Doing a bit more research I saw that he had resurfaced at Prairie View A&M as their secondary coach. He would sign all 4 of the cards plus an extra, even though I offered it to him. He also told me that I could keep in touch with him and other players through SoTL.com (School of the Legends). Bubba had some great cards, but both ProSet and Score bought the exact same photo in 1990. I lost a good deal of the other cards I wanted signed, including an Action Packed, GameDay, and his rookie Score 1989 Supplemental cards, but I was happy to get him on these other ones including this spectacular ProSet 1991, and this great looking (but loathesomely designed) Score 1992.

G/Gs 102/83   Tac 470    Sac 5.0     Fum  6      Int  17    Yds 223    Avg 13.1     Td 1    Lg 33