Card: ProSet World League 1991 Acquired: 2020, EBay Failure: TTM 2010 and 2016, C/o Home
Tracy Simien played during the late Jurassic era of the SWC for the Texas Christian Horned Frogs from 1985-1988. During that period he switched positions 4 times, from center and guard as a freshman, and then as a nose tackle during his sophomore campaign, finally landing at defensive end during his junior season. Over his time at TCU, Tracy compiled 193 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, and 12 sacks. Reputed to bench at the time over 400 pounds, Tracy slipped through the cracks of the 1989 NFL Draft, but found a home on the developmental roster of the Steelers that season, seeing some action in the divisional playoff game against the Broncos. In 1990 he joined the Chiefs developmental squad- where he was then became one of the first ‘big name’ NFL Enhancement Players to sign with the World League for the 1991 season.
Tracy made quite a splash for the Montreal Machine at linebacker that year. During the league’s debut weekend, he’d wear USA Network’s Helmet Cam making quite a splash during the team’s win over the Birmingham Fire 20-5. His bone crushing hits and plays were amazing to watch, and he finished with 4 tackles and a sack in the exciting contest. After the dust settled from that year, Simien had 33 tackles, 5 sacks, and a fumble recovery- good for first team All-World Honors in 1991.
Simien became one of the league’s early poster children for success, as he parlayed his experience and seasoning into a starting role with the Chiefs in 1991 at LILB. In 1992 he’d lead KC in tackles with 97, and lead the linebacker corps with 3 interceptions at MLB. He’d follow up his solid ’92 campaign with a career high 105 tackles in 1993 back at LILB. Over the next following 3 seasons Tracy finished with over 70 tackles playing again back at MLB. After the 1998 season, he signed with the San Diego Chargers- retiring after the season.
I was frustrated with my lack of success with Tracy so when I saw this reasonably priced autograph on Ebay, that matched previous ones of his, I went ahead and pulled the trigger, confident I had acquired the real deal.
Tracy has dabbled in coaching, imparting his knowledge that he learned in the NFLE with the Cologne Centurions from 2005 and 2007, and the Houston Texans in 2006.
Card: Ultimate World League 1992 Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home Sent: 1/15/20 Received: 5/2/20 (108 days) Failure: 2019, C/o Stanford (RTS)
Charlie Young played ball for the Stanford Cardinal where mixed time between runningback and receiver from 1987 to 1990. In 1987 he posted 17 receptions for 246 yards and a TD, while rushing 37 times for 130 yards and another TD. He also returned 17 kicks for 336 yards. He’d be moved to WR for 1988, and have a pretty solid campaign, catching 43 passes for 560 yards and 2 TDs. After his 1989 season was washed due to injury, he saw sparse playing time in 1990 accumulating 233 yards from scrimmage. Charles was not selected in the 1991 NFL Draft, and subsequently did not make the roster of the Raiders.
Charlie was selected by the in the 7th round of the 1992 World League Draft. He’d split time between the London Monarchs and the Montreal Machine that season rushing 50 times for 147 yards and a TD. He’d be a valuable stop valve with the Machine catching 22 passes for 203 yards and a 30 yard TD. (For purposes of the team histories however- he’s classified with the team his card pictures him with.)
After the league reorganized, Charlie returned stateside where he bounced around between squads. He’d see time with the Giants and 49ers in 1992, and the Raiders in 1993. Charlie then returned to the World League in 1995 after it reorganized, playing for the Rhein Fire, rushing for 44 yards and a TD while catching 11 passes for 125 yards. He also spent a small amount of time returning kicks during his world tour, accounting for some 180 yards on 12 returns.
Charlie has put his economics degree/ MBA to good work since his playing days, and after a tour on the board at Stanford, resides in Illinois where he is involved in real estate.
I had been on the hunt for Charlie for quite a while, but with such a common name I couldn’t just look in the phone book. It took an article on Charlie’s work for Stanford to pop up, so I wrote him C/o the university. They responded by giving me his forwarding address. I quickly gave up on this request, but lo and behold after about 3 months, he wrote me back with a nice thank-you card.
Card: Wild Card WLAF 1992 Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home Sent: 7/29 Received: 8/20 (22 days) Failure: 2010, 2011 C/o Work See Also: Ray Savage
The photo of this card of Ray was taken during the San Antonio Riders victory over the Machine in the opening game of the 1992 season. As such- these cards were not in production until near the end or after the season concluded- when there was still a belief that there’d be a season 3 in 1993. I had struggled over the years to get Ray’s autograph on his remaining cards, so I just decided to put it on the back burner for many years.
As I have begun to really go after the AAF, it renewed my appetite for the WLAF set, so I decided to check out some dead ends again, with the help of new technology. A few weeks after I sent this out I was genuinely surprised to get this autograph back from Ray with a sticky note attached to it.
He thanked me for truly putting a smile on his face that week, as he has fond memories of the WLAF and thinks about that time and those games often.
Ray loves coaching and was the head coach at Menchville High School, where he had a rich history of discovering and developing college football talent. He stepped down recently in 2018.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
