Tag Archives: new orleans saints

Arena, NFL

Ridgeway, Dante

Card: Topps Premium 2005
Acuired: 4/9/12, Target Authentic Memorabilia Autograph Edition

A dangerous receiver for tiny Ball State, Ridgeway set school records for receptions (105) and yards (1,399) in a season. Dante finished with 238 receptions, for 3,030 yards, and 22 touchdowns in a mere 35 games. He elected to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft in 2005. Despite running a blazing 4.36 40, at 5’11”, 212 he was considered a bit undersized. Also playing in the MAC didn’t earn him any points with scouts. The St. Louis Rams pulled the trigger on Ridgeway during the 6th round.

Inexplicably, a month after signing a 3 year contract with the Rams, the team would cut Dante in August of 2005. A short stint on the Bengals landed Ridgeway on the roster of the Jets, from 05 to 06, and then the Saints from 06 to 07.  After joining again the off-season roster of the Jets in 2007- Dante returned to the Saints from 2007-2008. He’d contribute primarily as a special teamer, or rarely suit up.  2009 led Ridgeway to the Peoria Pirates of the AFL, and then quickly to the Chicago Rush in 2010.

Topps never seems to top itself, creating some of the worst cards on the market. Even their autograph cards are foul. Who creates an autograph card and then puts the word ‘Common’ on it?

NFL

Burrough, Ken “Kenny” (1948-2022)

Card: Topps 1977
Acquired: 11/23/2012, Fiterman Autograph Event

So give the New Orleans Saints credit for nabbing a small Texas product in the form of Kenny Burrough (6’4″, 210) from Texas Southern in the first round of the 1970 draft. He played for New Orleans for one season before the Oilers got the itch to trade for him. (Coach J.D. Roberts suspected that Ken was ‘goldbricking’  the Saints by making up a turf toe injury.)  Burrough was traded along with DT Dave Rowe to the Oilers, while the Saints received RB Hoyle Granger, a second round draft choice and two linemen. Former Saints coach Tom Fears said the team would, “Rue the day that they traded Burrough,” and he was right.

Burrough almost immediately filled a void at WR providing a deep threat for rookie quarterback Dan Pastorini, in the continued ‘Dead Ball Era’. Burrough was allowed to keep his signature ‘double zero’ jersey, and provided the team some excitement as they continued to plow through some truly bad growing pains, before the Bum Philips and Luv Ya Blu’ years of the Houston franchise. 

In 1975, Ken led the NFL in receiving yards with 1063 yards and 8 touchdowns. His deep threat skills were nearly unparalleled at the time, and in that season he averaged 20.1 yards per reception on a career high 53 receptions.  After losing the majority of the 1980 season to a knee injury, Ken came back for one final season for the Oilers in 1981 and then retired.  At the time of his retirement, Ken was the Oilers’ franchise all time leader in most receiving categories (since surpassed by Drew Hill and Ernest Givins), breaking many records held by Oilers’ great Charlie Hennigan.

G 156    Rec 421      Yds 7102     Avg 16.9      Td 49     Lg 85

UPDATE 2/24/22- Kenny Burrough passed away at his home in Jacksonville peacefully. He was 73 years old.

NFL, WLAF

Kennan, Larry

Cards: Pro Set 1991 First Game, Pro Set WLAF 1991
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Incarnate Word University
Sent: 11/12  Received: 12/5   (23 days)
Failure: TTM 2010, C/o NFL Coaches Assn.

After playing quarterback for the LaVerne Leos, Larry Kennan went right into the coaching ranks where he built an impressive resume as an offensive coordinator and positional coach even before I was born. He spent time with UNLV (73-75) and at SMU (76-78) as an OC before landing the head coaching gig at Lamar University, outside of Houston.  Kennan coached the Cardinals through 1981. During his stop there with the college, Kennan’s highlights were posting a 6-3-1 record in 1979, and knocking off the 20th ranked Baylor Bears 18-17 in 1981. Overall the attendance to games improved to record levels.

Larry made his first stop at the professional rank in 1982. He’d coach with the Los Angeles Raiders through 1988, -first as quality control and then later as a quarterbacks coach, where he had the privilege of working with players like Steve Beuerlein, Jay Schroeder, Jim Plunkett, Marc Wilson, and Rusty Hilger. Kennan spent the next two seasons with the Broncos (WR coach, 1989) and (quickly moved up to be) the Colts offensive coordinator for the 1990 season with head coach Ron Meyer working helping indoctrinate rookie Jeff George into the pro game, while at the same time trying to find an offensive balance for future HoF RB Eric Dickerson.

After the season the London Monarchs of the WLAF came calling and made him an offer to join their staff as head coach in 1991. The team ran away with the league title that year winning World Bowl I over the Barcelona Dragons 21-0. The Monarchs also won the first game in league history against the Frankfurt Galaxy. His team was outstanding through and through, with quarterback Stan Gelbaugh setting numerous passing records behind an incredible offensive line, and wide receiver Jon Horton. The defense was also equally good as well, and the team posted a 9-1 record. Plucked from the WLAF after the season, Larry returned stateside to the Seattle Seahawks for 1992 to become Tom Flores OC.

The Seahawks were not doing so well on offense. After jettisoning longtime quarterback Dave Krieg, the team was in flux between Dan McGwire and Kelly Stouffer. In fact, it got so bad that Kennan had to dial up Gelbaugh to help out. Rick Mirer was drafted to lead the offense in 1993, and Kennan did an admirable job of triage with him, but by 1994 with numbers slumping the the Seahawks still doing badly in the standings, the staff was released. Larry continued to find work in the NFL with the Saints (1995, TE’s), Raiders (1996, QB’s), and 1997 with the Patriots as offensive coordinator. He then moved up to the executive level working for the NFL Coaches Association from 1998-2011. As of 2012, Larry is the head coach of the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.

WLAF:   W 9     L 1     T 0     Pct .900