Tag Archives: lorenzo white

NFL

White, Lorenzo ‘Lo’ (3)

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

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

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.

NFL

White, Lorenzo (2)

Cards: Stadium Club 1992, Playoff 1993
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 6/28/10  Received: 8/1/11 (403 days)
Previous Post: Lorenzo White

Well you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I waited a bit over a year to hear a response from Lorenzo White from the Houston Oilers and Cleveland Browns before putting his post up finally giving up in late July. Nothing is so nice as to get an autograph TTM after you’ve truly given up on getting it back, so almost like clockwork postmarked on July 29th Lorenzo White signed 2 of 3 cards, (minus his awesome ProSet 1990 card) from Fort Lauderdale, Florida where he’s now a high school football coach.  I was happy and surprised to get this one back.

So as discussed previously, Topps was really stepping up their quality with their Stadium Club entry. It was so different than their starter base set, that it really helped them weather the trading card storm yet to come. Playoff was also a late entry to the market, with the cards made of an extremely light metal. The scan here does the expensive card no justice, but the quality and reflective shine really added to the quality of the brand. Combined with its minimal design, Playoff made a nice splash into the market and remains one of the survivors today- but have since abandoned the metal foil look on their cards.

As you can tell when comparing this to the other cards in this library, these are definitely autographed while the others are stamped.  Lorenzo is considered the greatest runningback in Michigan State history. He currently coaches high school football in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, He also has a son, Lorenzo White Jr. who is currently a defensive back at Central Michigan.

Here’s a highlight of Lorenzo at MSU:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RkC6l_6lmY&feature=related

 An interview with Lorenzo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLBz7Fp3S4Q

NFL

White, Lorenzo “Lo”

Cards: Action Packed 1991, Score Supplemental 1989, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 1993, C/o The Houston Oilers
See Also: Lorenzo White (2) , Lorenzo White ‘Lo’ (3)

Wow… Lorenzo White had these suckers stamped.

Unlike the Jeff George cards that I had in 1992 that had suffered the same fate, (that I later replaced with real autographs) I was unable to replace these in time for this post. The ink didn’t pool at all on these cards. It is obvious though because the signatures are all at the same angle and there are articles of missing ink across each signature. I dislike stamps. I don’t mind autopens if they look legit. I compared this one to others and while there are some of these floating around, it’s obvious in comparison that this was lifted from his contract as opposed to his ‘natural signature’. I’d rather have a player return a card unsigned than stamp them, as it just ruins these cards for me.

Lorenzo White played with names such as Bobby McAllister, Willie Bouyer, and Andre Rison at Michigan State, during one of the team’s last heydays. He was drafted in the first round by the Houston Oilers in 1988 and had some exciting highlight film and some longer nicknames such as the “Great White Hope from the Green and White”. Lo was also an excellent receiver out of the backfield with deceptive speed at 5’11”, 222.

The problem was Lorenzo was a fumbling machine that rarely double cluched the football with both arms. In about 200 touches in 1990 he had 7 fumbles. The game Tecmo Super Bowl infamously memorialized  this by giving him some of the worst ball control in the game. He was almost guaranteed to fumble the ball once a game, and I’d always run out of bounds instead of take the hit with him. While his numbers improved and he became a pretty surehanded back after that, White never could completely erase those memories from fans.

With a new coach in place in Jack Pardee, he’d begin to thin the herd in 1990 after a conversion to the Run N Shoot offense. Gone were Alonzo Highsmith, Mike Rozier, and eventually Allen Pinkett. Lo would be one of the survivors and would produce a career high 1226 yards rushing and 641 yards receiving in 1992 starting for the team. His 1992 season would earn his one and only Pro Bowl moment.  He also gobbled down over 1,800 yards from scrimmage- the most by a runningback probably since Earl Campbell.

My best memory of Lo was that season when he made a 69 yard grab on a screen against the Cleveland Browns in the final minutes of the game to help the team engineer a comeback. He’d be injured during the 1993 season, clearing the way for Gary Brown to take the starting job.

In 1995, White signed via free agency and played for the Cleveland for one final season, but not before going down in Super Tecmo Bowl history as a member of the Browns.

Rush  1062         Yds  4242            Avg  4.0           Td 30              Lg 44            
Rec  192          Yds  1738          Avg 9.1            Td  6                lg  69