Ended up being one of the league’s most effective punter, averaging 42.3 yards on 39 punts.
Had a 62 yard boomer against Birmingham during the season.
Did not return to franchise for the 1992 season and has lived in fair anonymity ever since.
NOTES:
I’ve tried Bobby a few times TTM with no success. What’s even more frustrating is that he resided somewhere in Central Texas- or at least used to. He’s a zero burger through the mail, but I just kept trying.
My reverse search led me to Facebook, and I realized he was friend with a mutual contact of mine, John Walker. John and I had built up a rapport. I had done some custom card work for him and in exchange he promised to help me get Bob’s autograph. That time has come and gone. What? A year? Two?
Anyway, I got tired of waiting so I secured Bob’s autograph on his Pro Set card via eBay, knocking out one of 3 set needs from this elusive Longhorn.
Tabbed 37 total tackles, 1 sack, and 2 picks in 1991.
Against Orlando that season, he blocked and returned a field goal 57 yards.
Followed that up in 1992 with 3 picks for 89 yards in 1992.
NOTES:
Tony Jones WR-DB from Florida (pictured here) is not to be confused with Tony Jones WR from Texas or Tony Jones who played for the Browns- that ALL played around this same era.
Tony’s Ultimate World League card is considered an error because he was listed as a WR, although it could probably be overlooked or forgiven since he did play WR in college. (It is an uncorrected error.)
Back around the time I had gotten ahold of Andre Alexander through Facebook I dug through his friends list and reached out to Tony. At that time I must have said the wrong thing or talked about the success of Fresno State at the World League level. He thumbs downed my conversation starter- so I took that as bad.
Later my Instagram friend Brent was able to get him TTM and said he was pretty cool and wrote him a nice note. I thought I should give him another shot and he signed these two cards for me in no time flat!
He’d start the first contest in franchise history against the Barcelona Dragons, but was supplanted in the lineup by Jeff Graham.
Throughout the season, Hammel saw spotty playing time.
Signed with the Arena Football League in 1992 and joined the Dallas Texans.
After two seasons in Dallas, this led to a stint with the Fort Worth Calvary in 1994.
Then in 1995, it was off to Milwaukee where he saw his greatest success.
In 1998, Todd threw for 60 TDs and 3,100 yards.
Later in 1999, he became the first Arena player to throw for 300 TDs, 1,500 completions and 18,000+ yards.
From 2000 on, Todd entered the journeyman phase of his career, with stops no longer than a season playing for the Bobcats (’00), Thunderbears (’01), Rampage (’02), Gladiators (’03), Soul (’04), Rush (’05), and Crush (’06).
After a 2 year break from the AFL, Hammel returned again to play for the Iron (’09), Sharks/Rush (’10), and finally with the Blaze (’11).
Todd has gone into coaching and has been teaching in the Dallas, Tx area.
ACCOLADES:
J Association Hall of Fame 2003
SFA Hall of Fame 2003
AFL All-Star 1993
NOTES:
As you can see here, I’ve tried Todd quite a few times. One time I even asked a TTM friend of mine who worked in a neighboring school district if he could hit him up for me. No dice on that even. I saw a few successes on him throughout the years so I always wondered what gived? Furthermore I even got a ringing endorsement from his former teammate at SF Austin- Melvin Patterson, to hit Todd up. So after 4 attempts, I spied out an autograph on eBay and pulled the trigger.
That being said, I can finally close the book on the Pro Set 1991 Series II World League player inserts. The 32 card set- not including the 10 helmets, was a laborious effort, as many of these players I really had to work to find their addresses. Two of them were dead when I restarted the project, so I got lucky with Mike Lynn and Jack Elway. Later I also added the only international name in Jacques Dussault. Over the years, I had to eBay out Mark Maye, Ben Bennett– and Todd.
ATT
CPD
YDS
PCT
TD
INT
RAT
LG
55
25
321
45.5
2
3
53.7
39
WLAF
ATT
CPD
YDS
PCT
TD
INT
RAT
LG
3964
2255
28022
56.9
442
150
91.0
N/A
ARENA
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
