Tag Archives: patriots hall of fame

NFL

Coates, Ben ‘Winter’

CARD: Pro Set 1993
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Home
SENT: 4/11/22 RECEIVED: 7/5/22 (85 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Ben Coates played TE at Livingstone College from 1987-’90.
  • He had 103 receptions for 1,268 yards and 18 touchdowns over his college career.
  • 5th round pick of the New England Patriots in 1991.
  • Career took off in 1993 with the arrival of rookie Drew Bledsoe.
  • Caught 53 passes for 659 yards and 8 TDs that season.
  • In 1994 had a career high 96 receptions for 1174 yards and 7 TDs.
  • And in 1995 had another 84 catches for 915 yards and 6 TDs.
  • Had a career high 9 TD receptions on 62 receptions in 1996.
  • Coates then had two back to back 65+ catch seasons in ’97 and ’98.
  • After a subpar 1999- Ben played one final season in Baltimore.
  • Returned to his alma mater as a coach for Livingstone College from 2000-’04.
  • From there he hopped over to the NFLE working with the Frankfurt Galaxy’s TEs that year.
  • Worked with Browns TEs from ’05-’07.
  • Assistant head coach and OC for Central State from 2009-’12.
  • And then Saint Augustine’s from 2013-’14.

ACCOLADES:

  • All Pro 1994, ’95, ’98
  • NFL All-Decade Team 1990’s
  • Pro Bowl 1994-’98
  • Black College Football Hall of Fame
  • Patriots Hall of Fame
  • Patriots 50th Anniversary Team
  • Patriots All-90’s team

NOTES:

Ugh! Ben was so gracious to me. I accidentally sent him I think a card of Daniel Graham too! He was kind enough to sign this one and put a note on the other letting me know that it wasn’t him. Not my finest moment.

Coates gets little traction outside of the AFC East and the Patriots for Hall of Fame consideration. He’s got a lot of great skills to do it all and was considered the freak of his day at the position. Greatly overshadowed by Shannon Sharpe out of Denver, Coates could block and catch with ease.

He really should be in the HoF. At the time of his retirement Ben was ranked 4th in receptions among tight ends trailing only Ozzie Newsome, Shannon Sharpe, and Kellen Winslow.

NFL

Grogan, Steve (2)

Upper Deck Legends 1997, #110
Action Packed 1990, #163

Cards: Upper Deck Legends 1997, Action Packed 1990
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 2/2 Received: 3/5 (31 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

A venerable signer TTM, Steve Grogan wraps up his collection for me by signing these two set needs for me. I never saw his Action Packed in the wild so when I bought a box of the set before the market blew up, I was very inspired by his entry- even though it’s of him handing the ball off. The Upper Deck Legends, well, I didn’t see why I should spend a dime on a certified autograph from him when I could get it TTM for free. This too is a great looking card. Too bad it doesn’t feature the signature ‘Grogan Lob’ from Tecmo Super Bowl.

NFL

Armstrong, Bruce (2)

pset92 armstrong pset91 armstrong PCards: ProSet 1991, ProSet 1992
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 11/17   Received: 11/24    (7  days)
See Also: Bruce Armstrong

The venerable Bruce Armstrong really nailed down the right/ left tackle positions for New England throughout the late 80s and into the 1990s, so much so that he was nominated for the NFL HoF in 2011, and the Patriot organization retired his number. Armstrong over his storied career played in a franchise high 212 games. Amazingly enough he started as a tight end at Louisville, before switching over to tackle as a Senior- where he allowed zero sacks. Armstrong had it all over his career with the Patriots, combining speed, power, and durability, making him a formidable pass and run blocker.

Merv Corning’s work on the Pro Set Superbowl cards were  not enough, so the company had him come back to create the All Pro subset in 1991. He also chipped in some spot work on ProLine as well. While I was never a fan of ProSet 1992’s break in style between the two series that year, they still had some pretty good photos littering the set and this card with the red pants is a really nice throwback issue the Patriots briefly did.  A solid signer, the venerable Armstrong boasts a 90% response rate (250+ attempts) through 2015.