Tag Archives: New York Jets

Arena, NFL, WLAF

Bell, Grantis

Card: Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o Home
Sent: 6/11/10  Received: 12/3/11  (540 days)

Grantis Bell finished his career at WV with 46 receptions for 819 yards and 6 TDs and after a great Fiesta Bowl appearance, (where Grantis would make 4 catches for 44 yards,) he’d be signed as a free agent  by the Washington Redskins in 1989.  The next two seasons would be with the New York Jets, before he made his appearance in the WLAF for the Orlando Thunder in 1992. A smallish receiver at 5’10”, 160, Grantis could stop on a dime and run routes in traffic, -perfect for the Thunder’s spread offense. Bell in the end had a really nice season playing receiver on the Thunder, hauling in 36 receptions for 435 yards and 4 touchdowns. He’d also serve as backup kick returner with 11 returns for 200 yards and an 18.2 yard average, helping the team appear in World Bowl II, where they’d fall to the Sacramento Surge.

Grantis signed with the Arena Football League and made his debut with the Detroit Drive catching 39 passes for 681 yards and eight touchdowns as the team’s number three receiver in 1993. In ArenaBowl VII against the Tampa Bay Storm, he caught five passes for 77 yards and scored on a 34-yard touchdown catch. Bell transitioned with the team to Massachusetts in 1994, but had an injury shortened season after breaking his elbow, and then the Marauders folded. Grantis made the move to the Storm in Tampa Bay, and play there in 1995 and again in 1997 before retiring. He finished his Arena career with 62 receptions for 1017 yards, a 16.4 average and 13 touchdowns in 4 seasons of play.

I did not have a card of Grantis when the Thunder throttled the Riders in San Marcos back in 1992, however after acquiring the Wild Card WLAF 1992 set, I sent off for him last year. I was surprised that I did not get a response, but recently through SotL, I was able to contact him, where I sent him a new letter with the card.  This one was a bit odd, as he sent this one back in the original envelope I sent him from 2010, so this one officially becomes the longest wait at 540 days.  Shortly before the date of this post he also sent back the other card as well signed and personalized it. Below are Grantis’ WLAF statistics:

G 10   Rec  36    Yds   435     Avg   12.1    Td 4     Lg 46t

NFL, ufl, University of Texas, usfl, WLAF

Bradley, Bill “Super Bill”

Card: Topps 1972, Upper Deck UT 2011
Acquired: In Person, 11/9/11 Card Traders of Austin UD 2011 UT Football Card Launch Party

A tried and true athlete that found his position of calling while at the University of Texas, “Super Bill” as he was dubbed (for having ambidextrous passing skills) came in originally as a quarterback to the vaunted school in 1965. Unable to crack the lineup there or at wide receiver, he found his true calling at defensive back for the Longhorns. He’d go on to become perhaps one of the best secondary personnel in the history of the school and make an SWC record 4 picks in one game.

Super Bill was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 3rd  round of the 1969 draft. The rest is history. The multi-purpose Bradley was inserted into the lineup at free safety, but along the way would play as a kick returner, punt returner, and punter for the Eagles who truly got their money’s worth out of Bradley.  Unfortunately these were also some of the leanest years of the Eagles’ storied franchise.  His 1970 and 1971 seasons stand among the best in NFL history, recording 11 picks in 1970 for 248 yards and making 2 FR leading the NFL, and then following it up in 1971 with 9 picks for 73 yards to lead the NFL again in interceptions. (No other player in history has lead the league twice in picks.) In 1973 he’d add 4 picks to the total but teams would begin to look the other way in fear of Bradley’s ball-hawking skills. For the 3 seasons, he’d be awarded AP or Pro Bowl honors. He’d again make 5 picks in 1975 before finishing out his career with Philadelphia the following year. Bill would sign with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1977 playing one final season and retire. He is tied as the franchise’s all time leader in interceptions with 36.
He’s been active in coaching working with the San Antonio Gunslingers of the USFL, crossing paths with me briefly as a defensive backs coach of the San Antonio Riders, and along the way as well with the Bills, Chargers, and Jets (in no specific order).  He also served as defensive coordinator of the Baylor Bears for 2004-2006.  As of late, Super Bill has also worked in the UFL with the Florida Tuskers and the Hartford Colonials as a secondary coach and is a member of the ‘suspended operations staff’ in Hartford.  Bradley has been inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and also into the Philadelphia Eagles Honor Roll.

I had been following Sports Cards Traders of Austin for a few weeks and it really paid off. When they posted up that Bradley was going to be appearing, I did not hesitate to call them and have the store pull a few cards of him from the racks. I grabbed a Topps 1972, and then heard that he would be in the UT set. After breaking open a few packs, I was happy to find Bradley inside one of them. I gave an extra to him which made him really happy since it was the first time he saw it. The photo that they used was from his Freshman year at UT. He knew it because he was wearing a helicopter pilot’s helmet and apparently they had run out of ones for their players. We also talked about the Riders, and he told me that Coach Riley owns a house down the street from him. Bradley also loved talking about the hail storm game with me against the Ohio Glory back in 1992. It was a great interaction with a great player who was willing to personalize my cards. Here is Super Bill’s statistics:

G 114      Tac  N/a      Sac  N/a     Fum  7    Int   34    Yds  536   Avg 15.8      Td  1    Lg 56t
KR 27      Yds 564       Avg 20.9         Td 0    Lg 42
PR 122    Yds 953       Avg 7.8         Td 0       Lg 60
P  213      Yds 8316     Avg  39.0     Lg 61

 

NFL

Dreessen, Joel

Cards: Bowman Chrome 2005, Leaf Rookies & Stars 2005
Acquired: In Person, 10/11/2011. Texans Whataburger Community Player of the Month

As I was packing to leave California, I started scouting ‘local’ autograph opportunities around the Central Texas Area. I found out that the Texans held community player of the month events during the season and that players routinely appeared around town to sign autographs. In this case the Texans sponsored the event, so I figured I could show up without much hassle since it was Dreesen and his sponsor Matt Schaub. I tried to figure out how early I should arrive at the event by posting something on the message board, but there was no response, so I decided that the best thing to was to just plan to get there an hour before the signing. Arriving at about 345 I was issued the 120th wristband by the corporate staff of both of the organizations by two very nice women. They jokingly asked if I was there to see them, to which I flirted back at them unabashedly which caused them to giggle like school girls. As I waited in line I chatted it up with my neighbors around me. One of them was waiting for a friend and had run out of Joel Dreessen items to get signed, but since there was also a sign limiting 1 autograph per player per person and I had 2 extra cards- things sorta fell into place. He offered to get the other cards signed because he had more friends attending the event, so I thought it’d be equitable to allow them to keep one of the extra cards I had of Joel. The session moved pretty quickly and in roughly 40 minutes I had an autograph in hand from both players. I asked Joel if the route he ran at the end of the Raiders game that almost won them the game was the same play that the Texans used against the Redskins last year that was key in their victory- but unfortunately it wasn’t. I also snapped a hasty picture from my camera of him and then moved on to Schaub. Afterwards, I hucked down a #6 and drove back to Austin like a happy bandit, with the autographs in hand.

The Texans do two things without fail- draft tight ends and get players from Colorado State. Joel Dreessen was initially drafted by the New York Jets in the 6th round of the 2005 draft. As both a tight end and a long snapper, the team felt that they could find him a home under head coach Eric Mangini, but Joel was on the street by 2006.  Houston, using their Colorado State connection (David Anderson, Mike Brisiel, & Jessie Nading) brought in Dreessen to back up Owen Daniels and be the team’s primary long snapper.  At 6-4, 260, Dreessen is a nice sized blocker as well as a decent receiver in traffic. He wouldn’t start any games for the Texans in 2007, and make only 4 receptions, but 2 of those would go for touchdowns, including his first professional TD against the Chargers. He’d build on that and by 2009, Dreessen would start 11 games in relief for Daniels, with 26 catches for 320 yards and a TD.  In 2010, Joel would have his best season, with 36 receptions for 518 yards and 4 TDs.  As 2011 has materialized so far, the Texans continue to find ways to work Dreessen into the lineup including 2 and 3 tight end sets that devastate opposing defensive lines and create heavy mismatches.