Tag Archives: New Jersey Generals

NFL, usfl

Carthon, Maurice

Card: Score Supplemental 1989
Acquired: TTM 1992, Colts Blitz

The season had ended and I got a letter two weeks later stuffed with cards from the Indianapolis Colts! For a team that finished- 1-15, it still made me super happy to get these cards from the players.  Maurice Carthon was in that lot.  Initially unheralded Maurice Carthon- blocking fullback to the stars- would be signed by the upstart USFL, where he’d block for the New Jersey Generals and… football rushing record holder Herschel Walker. After the 1985 season, Carthon didn’t miss a beat jumping straight to the New York Giants.  A strong inside runner with excellent run blocking skills and impressive pass protection ability, Maurice would play for the Giants primarily during the Bill Parcells era winning a championship ring in both SuperBowls XXI and XXV. Carthon would play one season for the Colts in 1992 where I’d get his autograph, and then retire. Since then Maurice has spent his entire post playing career as an assistant in the NFL with the Patriots, Jets, Lions, Cowboys, Browns, Cardinals, and as of this post in 2010 with the Chiefs. He is considered an apostle of the Parcells’ coaching tree working for Bill at three different teams.

G/Gs  123/77    Rush 300       Yds 950       Avg  3.2    Td 2    lg 18 |
Rec 90    Yds 745   Avg 8.3    Td 1   lg 63

AAF, CFL, NFL, usfl, WLAF, XFL

Riley, Mike

Cards: ProSet 1991 Helmet Card, Proset World League 1991, ProSet 1991.
Acquired: In Person, San Antonio Riders,  San Antonio v. Ohio Glory (preseason)

My father and I started going to WLAF games in the summer of 1992 down in San Marcos, Texas at Bobcat Stadium on the campus of what was SWT at the time. The team had played its games the previous season in San Antonio at the dilapidated Alamo stadium (home of the Gunslingers of the USFL), but in 1992 planned to move into the Alamodome. The Alamodome was running behind schedule and that and a combination of a disagreement on sales of alcohol prompted the team to move to a reasonable distance from Austin. The WLAF had a one game scrimmage/ preseason for each team, and the Riders drew the Ohio Glory who they beat soundly that day.

Coach Riley preferred sound defense and a strong running game. A former Alabama CB and Bear Bryant apostle, Mike Riley and I talked for a few minutes after the game about coaching. He was very nice and stopped to take a photo or two with me. Riley isn’t exactly a journeyman coach, but it’s easy to see him as such since he rarely has spent more than 3 years at any college. Winning two CFL World Cups for the Blue Bombers, Riley made the jump to the WLAF in 1991 where he coached the Riders to a  4-6 record and a 7-3 record in 1992. (The team was denied the playoffs by tiebreakers.) After the team folded he was hired by Larry Benson (owner of the Riders and signer on the helmet card with Riley) to coach the expansion San Antonio Texans of the CFL, but that team did not get off the ground and folded quickly.  Riley then went on to coach at USC under John Robinson as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, before he was hired by the Oregon State Beavers in 1997, whom he laid the foundations of success for. In 1999, though Riley was hired to coach the San Diego Chargers where he had a rocky tenure and was released after two seasons.  Riley proved though you could indeed return ‘home’ as he was rehired by Oregon State in 2003 where he has remained since posting 5 bowl wins and a .576 winning percentage in 9 seasons.

WLAF      Seasons  2      Wins 11      Losses 9      Pct .555