Tag Archives: miami hooters

Arena, NFL

Duper, Mark ‘Super’

Card: Upper Deck Legends 1997
Acquired: Ebay, 2020
TTM 2022, C/o Home
Sent: 1/2 Received: 3/5 (61 days)*
*Fee enclosed

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Incredible speedster and track man at Northwestern State.
  • Second round pick of the Miami Dolphins in 82.
  • Saw little action his rookie season partially due to the NFL strike.
  • Posted first 1000 yard season following year on 51 catches, scoring 10 TDs.
  • Had a career high 71 receptions in 1984 to go along with 1306 yards receiving.
  • Had a career high in receiving yards (1313) and TDs (11) in 1986.
  • Cracked the 1000 yard plateau one final time in 1991 with 1085 yards.
  • After being cut following the 92 season, Mark played one final season in 1994 for the Miami Hooters of the Arena Football League.

ACCOLADES:

  • Pro Bowl 1983
  • Pro Bowl 1984
  • Pro Bowl 1986
  • All- Pro 1983
  • All-Pro 1984
  • League’s longest reception from scrimmage 1986 (85 yards)
  • Dolphins Honor Roll 2003
  • At the time of his retirement was the Dolphins all-time receiving yardage leader at 8,869 yards.
  • 2005 N-Club Hall of Fame (Northwestern State University)

NOTES:

Duper along with WR Mark Clayton formed the famous ‘Marks Brothers’ that gave opposing defenses fits. Duper was well known for wearing the single bar helmet throughout his career. He was diagnosed with CTE in 2013.

Mark only recently started signing through the mail, so I went ahead and picked up his certified via EBay back in 2020. Later when I saw successes flood in with a donation in early 2022, I launched out these two other cards.

NFL

RECYDSAVGTDLG
511886917.45985t

ARENA

RECYDSAVGTDLG
89311.61N/a
Arena, CFL, NFL, NFLE, XFL

Puleri, Charles

Cards: Topps XFL 2001 Promo, Topps XFL 2001
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 8/6 Received: 8/16 (10 days)

Charles Puleri played ball at New Mexico State and saw action in both 1991 and 1992. Playing in 17 contests Puleri completed 257 of 456 passes for 3634 yards, and 21 touchdowns to 17 interceptions as a traditional dropback passer.

He joined the CFL in 1993 and played briefly for the Sacramento Gold Miners- attempting 2 passes, and then riding the bench for the Shreveport Pirates in 94. In 1995 Puleri joined Arena Football League. He played for the Miami Hooters that year and then the Texas Terror in 1996 throwing 3 TDs. Charles then went overseas and played in the NFLE for the London Monarchs. Seeing more mop up duty he threw for 488 yards and 2 TDs. Afterwards he again tried his hand at Arena football playing for the Iowa Barnstormers in 98. He saw his best season as a pro throwing 11 TDs on 67 attempts that season. In 1999 he played sparingly as a backup for the New Jersey Red Dogs, and then was in the camp of the Dallas Cowboys in 2000 but did not make the squad.

Charles is perhaps best known for his time in the XFL in 2001. Selected by the New York/ New Jersey Hitmen, Puleri was the starter for the squad entering the season, but was benched in favor of Wally Richardson during week 2. The league was… different than the NFL. They scripted some of their events including a fake controversy between Puleri and Richardson.

After the end of the XFL, Charlie returned to the Arena Football League, playing two more seasons for the Detroit Fury (2002) and the Buffalo Destroyers (2003).

Since football, Puleri has worked his way into mortgage finance. He signed these two cards for me, wrote me a nice note and included a few business cards.

WLAFATTCOMPYDSPCTTDINTRAT
944248844.724
ARENAATTCOMPYDSPCTTDINTRAT
257128160449.82014
CFLATTCOMPYDSPCTTDINTRAT
200-.-00-.-
XFLATTCOMPYDSPCTTDINTRAT
642941145.322-.-

Arena, CFL, NFL, XFL

Pawlawski, Mike

Cards: Topps XFL 2001, Classic Blister 1992, Gameday 1992
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent:  3/17     Received:  4/10  (24  days)

Mike Pawlawski has enjoyed nothing but one of the more curious professional football careers. It all started back in 1992 when the highly decorated signal caller from Cal was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 8th round. He spent one year with the team and the next two out of football.

Mike reignited his football career when he joined the Arena Football League. First with the SabreCats, and then later with the Miami Hooters in 1995. (- Yes named after the Hooters restaurant franchise.) He played one season with the team (66/133, 674 yards, and 6 TDs) in primarily relief duty. He also spent time in the CFL with their USA invasion as a member of the Shreveport Pirates. Mike jumped to the Albany Firebirds the following year- and really impressed (22/35, 296 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT) in limited play.  It’d be in 1997 that Pawlawski came into his own as a starter. He’d throw for 4,272 yards and 69 TDs on 509 attempts. For the next 3 seasons he’d be the unquestioned starter of the Firebirds and threw for at least 70 touchdowns in each year.

He heard the siren call of the XFL in 2001 and joined the fledgling league and be the starting quarterback for the San Fransisco Demons. In the lone season for the league Pawlawski finished second to only Tommy Maddox in passing, while leading the team to the Million Dollar Game. With the XFL hemorrhaging money and with bad TV ratings, the league shut down after the lone season.

Mike retired due to injuries and followed his passions for the outdoors, working on the show Gridiron Outdoors. He also does color commentating for Cal games for a variety of networks.

Mike was kind enough to sign these three cards in about a month’s time, however I wish he actually had a sharpie handy as his autograph gets lost on these canvases.

ARENA    ATT 2045   CPD 1351   YDS  16673
TD  303    INT 45   RAT 118.98
R 93    YDS 181    TD 19

XFL   ATT  297    CPD  186   YDS 1659    TD 12   INT  4