Tag Archives: pro set 1991

NFL, WLAF

Gilbert, Greg

scan0001Card: Pro Set 1991
Acquired: TTM work 2013, C/o Central Florida University
Sent: 2/5     Received: 2/28     (25 days)

Greg Gilbert played for the Crimson Tide of Alabama from 1985-1988 posting 256 tackles. In his banner  Sophomore season he recorded 103 tackles, (5 TFL), recovered 2 fumbles, and intercepted a pass. While he posted 90 tackles in his Junior season (second on the team,) an injury riddled Senior season sent his draft stock plummeting. Gilbert was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 6th round of the 1989 NFL draft. He’d then spend the 1990 season on the roster of the Indianapolis Colts after some training camp action with the Raiders, a team that he returned to in 1991 after a training camp stop with the Eagles.

In 1991, the San Antonio Riders, (coached by Alabama alum Mike Riley,)  selected Greg Gilbert with the second overall pick of the league’s initial positional draft (after Wayne Davis, Orlando). Starting for the Riders at linebacker in the team’s 3-4 alignment, Gilbert starred alongside linebackers Tim Walton and Mark Ledbetter.  He’d make a pick for 15 yards that year, but by the end of the season was on the roster of the Barcelona Dragons. Greg played in 1992 with the Dragons again before the league suspended operations until 1995.

Gilbert is a player that I had been trying to find for a long time. Occasionally I will do Google searches of players, and sometimes, I get a hit. I happened to get lucky and find Greg working for Central Florida University where in 2012 he was named Associate Director of Athletics Development. Since 1995 Greg has been an outstanding member of the business community, working in communications, marketing, and consulting roles.  I immediately put a letter in the mail to him, and he responded in a little under a month. He enclosed a nice note to me, thanking me for the nice letter and how much it means to be remembered, and how great the league was, as they were all just kids trying to play the game they loved. Really nicely put.

G/Gs  N/a    Tac  N/a   Sac  N/a   Fum N/a    Int 1   Yds 15    Avg 15.0   Td 0   lg N/a

NFL

Waddle, Tom

Cards: Pro Set Power 1992, Pro Set 1991
Acquired: Canton Acquisition 2012

Tom Waddle is a player of football lore,  who proves that if you have the tools and can stick with it, you can make it in the NFL. Waddle was an acclaimed receiver for the Golden Eagles of Boston College. With great hands and excellent ability to cut on the fly running routes, it was thought that with his stellar numbers, at BC (finishing 3rd All-Time receiving) he’d sneak into the 1989 draft. As we all know, the 1989 NFL draft was an incredible draft from top to bottom, and despite it still being a 12 round draft, Tom did not hear his name called. Undeterred, Waddle signed a free agent contract with Mike Ditka’s Chicago Bears.

The Bears were pretty set at receiver with Wendell Davis, Ron Morris, Dennis Gentry, and Dennis McKinnon all in front of Waddle. He got in some garbage time as a punt returner and receiver over the next two years, and managed to hang on until he really got his break in 1991.  By the 1991 season we were looking at a vastly different Bears team. The offense was going through major growing pangs converting to a more pass friendly environment with Jim Harbaugh at quarterback. Runningback Neal Anderson and a good portion of wide receiver corps were decimated by injuries, so Tom got his shot on a Monday night game- and didn’t look back….

He’d end up starting 13 games in 1991, and make 55 grabs for 599 yards and 3 touchdowns in 1991. Teams saw that he was fearless trying to make the catch, and made sure to put a licking on Waddle, but he always managed to get his smelling salts, and return right back into the game. Tom recorded career highs in receiving yards in 1992 (with 674 yards receiving and 4 touchdowns on 46 receptions),  and followed that up in 1993 with 44 receptions for  552 yards and a touchdown despite a changeover with Dave Wannastedt becoming head coach. In 1994, Tom was demoted to 3rd string and injuries (concussion, leg) began to take their toll on him. He finished the season starting only 1 contest, but came off the bench still to post 25 receptions for 244 yards and a touchdown. Waddle signed with the Bengals after the season but retired soon there after.

Always a Chicago fan favorite, even after retirement, Tom works radio in Chicago both for ESPN and Fox, and has also done some time as a color and in studio broadcaster for both college and professional football.

G/Gs 60/41   Rec 173    Yds 2109    Avg 12.2    Td 9    Lg  68

Arena, NFL, WLAF

Wilkerson, Eric (2)

Cards: ProSet WLAF 1991 TD leader, ProSet WLAF 1991 Rushing leader, ProSet 1991 WLAF, Ultimate WLAF 1992, Ultimate WLAF 1992 LL, Wild Card WLAF 1992.
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Kent State Alumni Association*
Sent:  6/16    Received: 7/28  (34 days)
See Also: Eric Wilkerson
* Donation requested

The paid side of SportsCollectors.net has been really good to me, and I’ve been able to unearth some very nice gems recently out of there recently. Case in point: Eric Wilkerson. I had been looking for Eric for quite a while. After hearing he had been stabbed, I hadn’t been able to find anymore information on him, but combing the archives of SC I found a success for the elusive runningback by writing to him care of Kent State’s Alumni Association. Since I had reached a desperate level on him, and he is one of those players with a bunch of cards, I decided to give it a shot and throw in a donation, since I felt so guilty about sending so many cards. While reconciling my bank account statements, I noticed that he cashed the check out a few days earlier, and then crossed my fingers on the return.  I would not be disappointed as he signed all 6 cards, which represents the single highest haul from a player since probably – Stan Gelbaugh? With Eric’s autographs on his 3 ProSet WLAF 1991 cards, it officially puts me over the halfway mark on the set (76/150).  Among the cards is the really slick touchdown league leader card, that he split with Orlando Thunder receiver Byron Williams. Nearly all of these cards are just really great heroic images of Eric in action, with probably his regular base card from the Ultimate 1992 WLAF set being my favorite. He signed each one, and wrote 91/92 on either one indicating the year.

During his time at Kent State, Eric ran his way into the record books rushing for 3,380 yards from scrimmage, and crushing the Mid-American Conference’s combined yardage record with 5,974 all purpose yards. During his senior season he set a single season school record with 1,325 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Due to his diminutive size, and the small school he went to, Wilkerson went undrafted but signed with the Steelers in 1989, and the Lions in 1990.

The WLAF gave him a shot in 1991. He’d be the 8th runningback taken in the draft, by the New York New Jersey Knights, and lead the league in rushing in 1991 with 717 yards and 11 TDs.  While his 1992 season was not as successful, it was more about the Knights offense diversifying as much as anything else. Eric is unofficially the WLAF’s career leading rusher- since the league reorganized after the season and was not seen again until three years later in 1995.