Tag Archives: ottawa rough riders

CFL, NFL

Manley, Dexter “Secretary of Defense”

pset89 manley pset90 manleyCards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1990, Score 1991
Acquired: 2014, Paid Signing
Failure: 2012, C/o Home

Dexter Manley has proven himself to be a very popular and colorful figure during and after his time in the NFL. A dominant pass rusher during his time with the Washington Redskins, Manley spent as much time in his career injured as he was suspended for drug abuse. Dexter Manley was a fast lane living defensive lineman at Oklahoma State University. He was selected by the Washington Redskins in the 5th round of the 1981 NFL draft. During his rookie season, he posted 6 sacks (before the NFL recognized them officially as a statistic). In 1983, Dexter began to establish himself as a top flight defensive terror, with his first of 4 consecutive 10+ sack seasons with 11.  Over the next 3 seasons, Manley’s sack numbers continued to climb, from 13.5 in 1984, to a league leading 18.5 in 1986. It’d all culminate in a Super Bowl victory in 1987 and an appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He’d post 8.5 sacks in 87, and back to back 9 sack seasons in 1988 and 1989. By this time though the nasty spectre of cocaine began to assert itself in Dexter’s life- and by the 10th game of the 1989 season, Manley had received his 3rd strike and was suspended by the league for 1 year. Later Manley was cut by the Redskins, unceremoniously ending his tenure in Washington.

sco91 manleyA year after the suspension, Manley signed with the Phoenix Cardinals and played 4 games for the team in 1990. In 1991 he’d sign with the Buccaneers and experience a return to form, drawing in another 6.5 sacks. Unfortunately Manley relapsed and received a lifetime ban from the NFL, forcing his tearful retirement. Still desiring to play football, Dexter played for the Ottawa Rough Riders of the CFL from 1992 to 1993.

After officially retiring, Dexter has continued to make waves, testifying before a league senate committee that he was a functioning illiterate even after college.  He’s also had to battle multiple relapses, was briefly incarcerated, and at one point facing homelessness, even pawned one of his Super Bowl rings. Still Manley has his friends and family to thank who strongly stuck by him through thick and thin, – and he did get that Super Bowl ring back. In 2002, he was named one of the 70 Greatest Redskins of all time, and in 2005 underwent surgery to treat a life threatening brain cyst. Still a popular figure in Redskins lore, he’s done talk radio and is a motivational speaker.

Dexter used to be a decent signer through the mail, and I attempted to get him a few years ago, but it was RTS. After seeing multiple failures on him, I went ahead and just did a paid signing for him through Sportscollectors.net. I always liked Dexter as a kid, unaware of drugs or what it was doing to him. I even had Manley’s Starting Lineup figure and had always hoped that he would return to the defensive dominance that he exuded during the mid-80s.

G/Gs 143/120    Tac  N/a    Sac 103.5      Fum  6      Int 2     Yds -1   Avg -.5     Td 0    Lg -.-

 

Arena, CFL, NFL, WLAF

Fears, Willie

jo93 fearsCards: Wild Card WLAF 1992, Jogo 1995
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 1/7       Received: 1/16    (9 days)

Willie Fears took a strange,winding, inspiring route, to his dreams of being a professional football player and coach. Undrafted out of Northwestern Louisiana St in 1985, Willie played 5 games for the Ottawa Rough Riders in the CFL.  Invited to the Miami Dolphins minicamp, he showed up admittedly out of shape and had to put his career on hold.  He became a corrections officer at the Arkansas State Maximum Security Prison, but along came the NFL Players Strike in 1987. At 6’4″, 280, Fears had the frame to still play, and probably had the greatest vacation time ever from work, spending 3 weeks as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals. Afterwards he went back to the CFL, playing for both Ottawa and Toronto in 1988 and 1989, before returning again to the NFL in 1990 as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.

Willie was then drafted by the WLAF San Antonio Riders in 1992. Willie’s technical precision, skillset, and size, allowed the team to shift him into any of the 3 places on the line, which was invaluable to the Riders 3-4 alignment. An experienced force on the line, he proved difficult for offensive linemen to handle, and helped the Riders be one of the staunchest defenses in the league.  After the league went on hiatus, Willie begun a career playing in the Arena Football League. He’d sign with the Cleveland Thunderbolts and played for them through the 1993 season, before hopping back into the CFL with the Sacramento Gold Miners. In 1994 the Gold Miners moved to San Antonio and became the Texans. He’d join them there back in his old stomping grounds. Afterwards, Fears joined the AFL again, playing in 1996 for the Tampa Bay Storm, and then in 1997 for the Nashville Katz.

wcwlaf92 fearsHe then continued his dream by becoming a football coach.  In the ArenaFootball2 league, he’d coach with the Arkansas Twisters for 3 seasons, before joining Jay Gruden on the Predators to coach the linemen. Ironically, later Pat O’Hara, joined the staff replacing Gruden as head coach. Pat was a member of the Ohio Glory and probably felt Willie breathing down his neck more than once during the Riders 17-0 stomping of the Glory back in 1992. Fears remained with the Predators through 2011. Currently he lives in Arkansas. My first success from the Meiselman 2014 list, I had been looking for Willie for quite sometime, and had been unable to locate him since his stint ended with the Predators. He was kind enough to not only sign the Wild Card WLAF 1992 card I enclosed, but like Billy Hess also enclosed one of his own from the Jogo 1995 set. Unfortunately both of the autographs were smudged as he signed with an overhead Vis-A-Vis instead of a Sharpie. The Riders card was smudged beyond recognition, so I resent it back out with a team photo of him and the other linemen for Willie to keep. He sent it back in about 2 weeks signed with the marker I gave him.

AFL    Tac  46     Sac 9    FF 2    Int  0   Yds   0   Avg  -.-   Td 0   Lg -.-
WLAF  Tac   N/a    Sac   2   FF  0    Int 0   Yds 0   Avg -.-   Td 0  Lg -.-
NFL  2     Tac  N/a    Sac 0   FF 0   Int  0  Yds 0   Avg -.-   Td 0  Lg -.-
CFL  N/a

 

CFL, NFL, WLAF

Hess, Billy “Bill”

ULT92 hessjo95 hess

Cards: Ultimate WLAF 1992, Jogo 1995
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Work
Sent: 7/15    Received: 8/24  (40 days)

Billy Hess at the time of his departure from West Chester University was the school’s all-time leading receiver with 2,729 yards and 19 touchdowns. Playing both ways at the tiny college, in his senior year he caught 47 passes for 833 yards and 11 Tds while also recording 23 tackles and 3 interceptions.  He’d be signed by the Eagles as a free agent in 1989, and then by the Cardinals in 1990.

The San Antonio Riders decided to draft Bill in the 4th round with the 37th pick of the 1991 WLAF wide receiver pool draft.  A crafty receiver who runs good routes and has solid hands, Hess caught 28 passes for 399 yards and 2 touchdowns from quarterbacks Jason Garrett, Lee Saltz, and Mike Johnson.  He had his best game against the Skyhawks catching 2 passes for 63 yards and a touchdown. After the season he resigned with the Eagles.

Later on he’d go on to play for the San Antonio Texans of the CFLUSA in 1995. A possession receiver, Hess caught 28 passes for 333 yards in 12 games from QB David Archer in the slot. He’d play one final season in the CFL after it folded the USA franchises with the Ottawa Rough Riders before retiring.

As of 2013 he works in real estate in the greater Philadelphia area. I was scouring the web and got lucky on this hit. As I get further and further along in my attempts to track down members of the WLAF, it has gotten progressively more difficult to find some of these players. Bill was also nice enough to include a Jogo 95 and a note for me as well thanking me for bringing back some great memories.

WLAF    Rec  28    Yds 399    Avg     Td 2