Tag Archives: Houston Oilers

NFL

Brown, Gary “Tecmo Man” (1969-2022)


Card: Upper Deck Collector’s Choice 1994
Acquired: In Person 1994, Houston Oilers Training Camp
Failure: TTM 2013, C/o The Cleveland Browns

Gary Brown of Penn State originally played at safety. I remember vividly watching Gary in the Holiday Bowl stripping the ball from Ty Detmer in spectacular fashion and running 53 yards the other direction for a touchdown.

The Houston Oilers drafted Gary Brown in 1991 and converted the defensive back to runningback. He’d back up Allen Pinkett and Lorenzo White in 1991 and see mop up duty in his first season cleaning up the Los Angeles Raiders in the 4th quarter of the first game, running for 60 yards and a touchdown on only 5 carries. Once I saw his performance I was very comfortable with Brown- and at 5’11”, 230 was impressed by his perfect balance of power, explosiveness, and speed.

He’d get some more playtime in 1992, where he’d again show up in mop up duty, this time squarely behind Lorenzo White, rushing for almost 100 yards on the season, however 1993- that would be Brown’s long awaited coming out party.

Gary Brown did what few runningbacks had done before him, galloping for 1000 yards starting 8 games subbing for injured starter Lorenzo White that season. Brown helped the Oilers pull of their best record in Oiler history at 12-4.  He’d rush for 166 yards in a 38-3 victory over the Bengals and then follow that up with 194 yards over the Browns. Later in the season he’d post 100+ yard efforts against Cleveland (again), Pittsburgh, and San Fransisco,  just clearing 1000 yards by 2, and averaging 5.1 yards a carry. Unfortunately nicks and tears caught up with Brown, and injuries increasingly took their toll on him in 1994 and 1995.

By 1996 Gary was out of football, but returned in 1997 to play for the Chargers. He’d fit in well with the Chargers, running for 945 yards in 14 games. (He’d lose comeback player of the year honors to Jerome Bettis.) Brown kept running and sign as a free agent with the New York Giants for 1998. He’d endear himself to Giants fans with his churning style, rushing for a career high 1063 yards. (The 4 seasons between 1000 yard efforts was for a while an NFL record.) He’d play 2 games into 1999 for the Giants before losing the rest of the season on injured reserve, where he’d subsequently retire.

Gary Brown is rumored to have earned the nickname “Tecmo Man” for his obsessive playing of the game Tecmo Super Bowl. The game did not really do him justice in the 1991 incarnation, but the Super Nintendo one honored his power and speed making him a fun runningback to pilot. 

After retirement he went into coaching and worked his way up from the high school level and into college where he coached runningbacks at Rutgers in 2008. In 2009 he moved on to the Browns where he worked on the coaching staff as their runningbacks coach- a role he held through 2012. He’d then join the Cowboys in 2013 in the same capacity, holding that role through 2019. After a battle with cancer, Gary decided to coach again, this time at Wisconsin in 2021.

I tried him TTM back in 2013 when he was coaching with the Browns, but no dice. He stopped signing essentially in 2009 and never looked back.

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4/10/22 UPDATE:

Gary Brown, who spent this past year coaching running backs at Wisconsin, passed away tonight. He was in hospice for the last couple of weeks at in hometown in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Gary- was 52.

NFL, usfl

Fuller, William

Card: SkyBox Impact 1992
Acquired: In Person 1993, Houston Oilers Training Camp

Defensive end William Fuller would leap to the NFL after playing two note worthy seasons for the Baltimore Stars of the USFL. After leaving the USFL he would report to the Rams, but they subsequently traded his rights to the Houston Oilers as part of the trade that sent Jim Everett to Los Angeles. At first it appeared that the Rams got the better end of the deal, as while Jim Everett passed for good numbers and established himself as a top end quarterback Fuller’s sack numbers were slow to increase. Despite his slow production by 1988, Fuller tied for a team high with 8.5 sacks under coach Jerry Glanville. His 1989 and 1990 seasons would also show marked improvement.  1991 would be his best season as a pro as Fuller would finish 2nd in the NFL in sacks with 15, and be named to the ProBowl for the first time. After a down year in 1992, Fuller would return to double digit form again in 1993 making 10 sacks but Bud Adams made good on breaking up the Oilers, and let the venerable defensive lineman go via free agency to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1994.

William would pick up where he left off, making 35.5 and 7 fumble recoveries over the next 3 seasons for the Eagles. Each season he’d also be named to the Pro Bowl, but after 1996 he’d leave via free agency again for the San Diego Chargers, and retire after the 1998 season.  At the time of his retirement his 100.5 sacks ranked him top 25 all time.

Since retirement Fuller has been named to UNC’s sports HoF, the 50th Anniversiary team, and has is active in programs to help prevent diabetes.  He has donated time to coach at the local high school in Virginia Beach and is a real estate developer.

SkyBox too attempted to create a premium line of football cards in 1992. While Stadium Club was impressive, and Fleer was lowering the bar, Skybox’s Impact was just- well confusing. You just didn’t get which brand was actually the premium brand of SkyBox’s football line with a Primetime and Impact line that were both pretty nice looking. The real problem was Skybox didn’t trade for a year or two before they came out with a the premium line, so the market just got muddled down. While their team MVP cards and special mini poster insert cards were amazing, Skybox’s general design for their Primetime cards left much to be desired- much as in the William Fuller card above. It’s strictly okay by design standards with a generic shadow on a gray-silver plane, but what is up with the | | | | in the background? Skybox also had this penchant for gigantically displaying their logo on their cards, which was equally distracting, especially with the background isolated in a single color. The team name “Oilers” goes up the side on the right which is a complete design gaffe. Take one moment to look at your DVD collection. Do you notice on the spine of every DVD the type goes down the right?  It’s just easier to read that way and it has always been sort of an unspoken standard for many years. I like how they added the number, but it’s turned into a disastrous tangent with his fist slightly obscuring the 9 on the 95. William’s name is tracked out, which is maybe a bit much, but the other tangent as his name almost taps the top of his helmet is equally annoying. I wasn’t a big fan of this line of Skybox cards in the end, but the “Impact” series that they debuted earlier that year was cutting edge at the time.

G/Gs  194/160   Tac  483    Sac  100.5   Fum 19   Int  2     Yds 9     Avg 4.5   Lg 9   Td 0

CFL, NFL, WLAF, XFL

Kiselak, Mike

Card: Ultimate WLAF 1992, Athletes in Action Card
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Work
Sent: 2/14   Received: 4/16 (61 days)

After tryouts with the Giants, Chiefs, and Oilers in 1990, Mike Kiselak, was drafted by the San Antonio Riders in 1991 (4th round) and played both guard and center for the team starting all 10 games blocking for All World League runningback Ricky Blake. At 6’3″, 295, he was the ideal combination of size and power for the Mike Riley‘s run oriented offense. In 1992, Kiselak would return to the Riders for a second year with the team and block for the Riders once again potent rushing attack under Ivory Lee Brown. San Antonio would dominate opponents on the ground and finish with a 7-3 record, but the WLAF would reorganize after the 1992 season.

Mike would be signed by the Sacramento Gold Miners of the CFL and play with them through their transition back to San Antonio to become the Texans in 1995 where he would be a CFL All Star at Center for the team. After the CFL reorganized following the season, Mike was drafted by the Roughriders in the dispersal draft in 1996, but was traded almost immediately in exchange for John Terry, to the Toronto Argonauts. Kiselak would continue to leave his mark, winning multiple offensive lineman awards and being named the CFL’s Outstanding Lineman in 1996 and 1997.

Mike returned to the NFL in 1998 and play for the Dallas Cowboys, playing in 15 games and starting 7.  He’d retire briefly but return to start for the San Fransisco Demons of the XFL in 2001 before finally finishing his career.

Since retirement Kiselak has become a church minister, a motivational speaker and is on the board of Kids Matters International. I emailed Mike to ask his permission to send this Ultimate 1991 card and while I did wait about 60 days for a response, he he was more than happy to sign the card for me. He also added in one to boot, and inscribed it with the passage from Matt 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”