Tag Archives: memphis mad dogs

Arena, CFL, NFLE

Brown, Eddie ‘Downtown’ (Iowa St)

Wild Card World League 1992, #52

CARD: Wildcard World League 1992
ACQUIRED: EBay, 2023
FAILURE: TTM 2020, C/o Work

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Eddie Brown played WR at Iowa State where he racked up 27 catches for 562 yards and 5 TDs in 22 contests.
  • Undrafted he’d play in the CFL in 1990 and ’91 as an import player for the Stamps and the Rough Riders.
  • In 1992 he took his game to the Sacramento Surge of the World League, where he led the league in receiving and set records for yards in a season.
  • After the Surge won World Bowl II and the World League went on hiatus, Brown went right back to the CFL playing for the Argos that year but not seeing the field.
  • It was with the Esks that Eddie really found a home and hit his stride, playing with the team from 1993-’95.
  • He pounded out back to back 1000+ yard seasons, including a career high 1,378 yards and 15 TDs in ’93, and a career high 79 catches in ’94.
  • As part of the CFLUSA invasion in ’95, he’d split his time with the Memphis Mad Dogs and the Esks that year.
  • In ’96 he returned to Edmonton for another 2 year stint.
  • He’d return to form that season with another 70 cathces for 1,325 yards and 7 TDs.
  • He’d also go down in Grey Cup and CFL lore for making an incredible, juggling catch for a TD in a snow covered stadium during the ’96 contest.
  • After a small stint with the Alouettes in ’98, Eddie saw a renaissance of sorts playing out on the left coast with BC through ’99.
  • Downtown took his game to the Arena Football League, playing one year with the Iowa Barnstormers in 2000 catching 11 TDs on 39 receptions.
  • By the end of the year he was back in the CFL playing for Toronto.
  • A small hiatus in 2001, led him back to Renegades for his final season in 2002.
  • Infamously walked off during a game, frustrated with the team’s lack of focus on getting into the playoffs and never looked back.
  • Has been a positional coach in the Ottawa area for almost 10 years.

ACCOLADES:

  • All World League 1991
  • CFL All-Star 1996
  • CFL West All-Star 1996, ’99

NOTES:

I had been eyeballing this card for a few years on EBay and decided to lowball offer the seller. To my surprise he accepted- and Eddie Brown was soon to be mine. I’m not a big fan of ball point pen autographs but I can’t complain since the last time I sent to him I basically overpaid and flushed Canadian postage down the toilet.

Eddie ‘Downtown’ Brown, is not to be confused with Eddie ‘Touchdown’ Brown- former Arena football star and father to former NFL receiver Antonio Brown. He is also not to be confused with former Bengals WR Eddie ‘Downtown’ Brown either.

RECYDSAVGTDLG
532866316.36078
CFL
RECYDSAVGTDLG
48101121.11280t
WL
RECYDSAVGTDLG
3969817.911N/a
Arena
CFL, NFL, usfl

Anderson, Gary (RB) (2)

Gameday 1992, #51
Action Packed 1991, #261
Skybox Premium 1993, #206

CARDS: Pro Set 1989, Skybox Premium 1993, Gameday 1992, Action Packed 1991
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Home
SENT: 5/31 RECEIVED: 6/14 (14 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

Gary had some great cards from back in the day. The Razorback stuck around just long enough to get into Pro Set, Action Packed, and Gameday sets, as well as Skybox. He had some really great action shots too. -It had been roughly 5 or 6 years since I had gotten him last so I had to come back and grab him on a few more.

Pro Set 1989, #356
CFL, NFL, usfl

Anderson, Gary (RB)

Cards: Skybox 1992, Action Packed Rookies 1990
Acquired: TTM 2017, C/o Home
Sent: 8/29   Received: 9/14  (16  days)
Failure: 2014, C/o Home
See Also: Gary Anderson (2)

Arkansas runningback Gary Anderson has had quite a long career in many leagues. He played from 1979 to 1982 for the Razorbacks, compiling 1,999 yards rushing on 392 carries, scoring 10 TDs, and displaying soft hands catching 94 passes for 1,075 yards and 8 TDs. Selected in 1983 by the San Diego Chargers- Gary opted to play for the upstart USFL instead.

After the New Jersey Generals traded Anderson’s rights to the Tampa Bay Bandits, he became the go to back in Steve Spurrier’s Banditball offense. He’d finish 4th in the league with 2,731 yards and 39 touchdowns during his time in the league before it folded up shop.

By the time Anderson got around to the Chargers, San Diego wasn’t really sure what to do with him, when they had a West Coast attack powered by future HoF QB Dan Fouts. Gary in the meantime handled kick return duties and posted sub-400 yard rushing seasons. Gary also caught a lot of passes, earning his only Pro Bowl berth in 1986 as a jack of all trades when he had 80 catches for 871 yards and 8 TDs along with 442 yards rushing, 482 yards kick returning, and 227 yards punt returning. He later posted a career high 1,119 yards on 225 carries in 1988. After an acrimonious holdout that wiped out his 1989 season, Gary was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He had a pretty decent 1990 season in which he posted 1110 total yards from scrimmage, and although the rest of his career in the NFL was largely injury riddled, Gary was enshrined into Tecmo Super Bowl lore- as an extremely underrated back. He’d split time with the Bucs and Lions in his final year in the NFL (1993).

After a year off Gary returned to football to play for the CFL USA initiative and the Memphis MadDogs in 1995. He’d be released in camp the following year by the Roughriders.

In 2006, Gary was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. Of note, if you calculate all of Gary’s time between the three leagues, he has over 14,500 yards from scrimmage.

I had tried to get his autograph a few years ago. He checked many of the odd boxes that I liked: 80s runningback, Action Packed Rookies card, and a player on Tecmo Super Bowl. I missed out on him because in his hometown there is a Court and a Cove that have the same street name but are in totally different places. Thankfully after a second attempt I was able to knock the former elusive back out.  This Action Packed card, like many in the set, was quite common, but it is a good action shot and the emboss shows up well on it. The SkyBox 1992 was another one of my favorite sets of that era. With the large name at the top and crystal clear photography, it really set itself apart from the competition.

USFL  54      RUSH 641    YDS 2731    AVG 4.3     TD 39     LG N/A
REC 167    YDS  1707    AVG 10.2    TD  6

NFL   111/61      RUSH 869      YDS 3409       AVG 3.9     TD 16    LG 64T
REC 302    YDS 2999     AVG 9.9     TD 15    LG 74T
KR  143      YDS 2779    AVG 19.4   TD 1       LG 98T
PR  48         YDS  385      AVG 8.0          TD 0      LG 30

CFL 14        RUSH 66     YDS  250     AVG 3.8     TD 3
REC  28      YDS 273      AVG 9.8        TD 0