Tag Archives: proset 1991 heisman hero

College Football HoF, Heisman Trophy Winner, NFL, usfl

Walker, Herschel

Cards: Action Packed 1991, Action Packed Rookies 1992, Pro Set 1991 Heisman Heroes, Score 1989, Score 1990 Ground Force
Acquired: In Person 1994, 1997, Philadelphia Eagles Training Camp, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp.  TTM, 2011. C/o Home
Sent: 1/13/11    Received: 7/5/11  (173 days)

Herschel Walker? In my estimates of some of the great runningbacks in football, I would say I was enthralled by Herschel Walker. I knew who Herschel was before I even watched football. A record breaking machine for the Georgia Bulldogs in college, Walker would be a 3 time All American and win the Heisman in 1982. Herschel was a shrewd businessman, and realized that with the advent of the upstart USFL he could effectively carve his own destiny and make more money off of endorsements. Plus without rules regarding underclassmen, Herschel could declare for the USFL draft as a Junior- something he couldn’t do in the NFL. With that being said, Walker would be drafted by the New Jersey Generals of the USFL in 1983.  He’d go on to crush opposing defenses winning the rushing title in both 1983 and 1985 before the league dissolved. In the meantime however, the Dallas Cowboys waited, dropping a 5th round choice on Walker suspecting it would just be a matter of time.

Herschel would join the Cowboys in 1987, and go onto etch his name into the Cowboys faithful minds for years to come not only for his incredible play of which he’d earn ProBowl berths in 1987 and 1988 – but for what would later come to be known as “The Trade”.

The Minnesota Vikings believed they needed one more piece in order to get to the SuperBowl, and in 1989 the Cowboys were looking to rebound from a 3-13 season. Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones found the offer from the Vikings too good to pass up. Without going into details the final totals were astounding. The Vikings would trade the Cowboys 5 players, and 8 draft choices – including 3 first round choices over the next 3 years. Minnesota in return got Walker, 2 3rd round choices, a 5 round choice and a 10th round choice. The implications were far reaching and would set the foundation for the Cowboys championship runs. Looking back in retrospect, it’s hard not to see that Herschel took the trade hard. In the end he was treated as a commodity and his Viking tenure was filled with pressure as being the hailed savior of the franchise.

Walker had just come off a 1500 + yard season rushing for the Cowboys and the Vikings were struggling on the ground.  Inexplicably the Vikings really couldn’t figure out the right way to use Herschel even though he was utilized on kick returns and also as a running back, – he became the butt of jokes in Minnesota. After a failed suicide attempt (by carbon monoxide poisoning) the writing was on the wall for the franchise, and by 1992 the Vikings cut Walker.

Immediately the Eagles came calling with fans hailing Walker as their savior. Walker would not disappoint rushing for over a 1000 yards for the Eagles and posting another 200 plus yards receiving in 1992- his best rushing effort since leaving Dallas. Walker would stay with Philadelphia another 2 years afterwards where I’d get his autograph in West Chester at Eagles training camp that year.

Walker would sign in 1995 with the Giants as a free agent and play one non-descrpit season there before returning home to the Cowboys in 1996. The Cowboys would put him to use as a fullback his final two seasons, where I’d get his autograph in 1997 at Berger stadium (next to Michael Irvin), before he retired.

One wonders how Herschel would have been remembered if he did not go to the USFL or if Michael Irvin was traded to the Los Angeles Raiders instead (as was originally rumored). Combining his numbers from his years in the USFL with his NFL numbers, Walker ranks 5th all time on the rushing list. Herschel also holds the all time record for rushing yards in a football season with 2411 yards. In 1999 he was inducted into the College Football HoF, is widely regarded as the best runningback in the history of college football, had his number retired at Georgia and wrote an autobiography. One of my favorite athletes, (-and easily my favorite Cowboy,) I even owned Herschel’s Starting Lineup figurine. If you played the original Tecmo Bowl, all you could do with the Cowboys is run with Herschel, and that gave you a leg up on the puny Colts. The 1991 offering of Tecmo Super Bowl endeared him to us as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. Despite his popularity Walker has remained a stalwart TTM signer, and I got his autographs on the Pro Set 1991 Heisman Heroes, Score 1990 Ground Force, and Score 1989 cards in 173 days.

Herschel at the time of his retirement minus his USFL numbers, was ranked 3rd in total yards from scrimmage with 18,168 combined yards rushing, receiving, and kick returning. Including his USFL numbers, Walker would hold the combined yards from scrimmage number with an additional 7,115 yards. He is also one of a select few players to have a touchdown rushing, receiving and kick returning, all of over 90 yards.

Walker is a through and through athlete. He remains in peak physical shape, and has over the years participated in the Winter Olympics, is a 5th degree blackbelt, and recently taken up mixed martial arts winning by TKO his first two matches.

NFL
G/Gs  187/138   Att 1954   Yds  8225    Avg 4.2   Td  61    Lg 91 |
Rec 512    Yds  4859     Avg  9.5    Td  21   Lg  93 |
Kr  215    Yds 5084     Avg  23.6    Td   2    Lg  94

Heisman Trophy Winner, NFL

Detmer,Ty

Card: ProSet 1991 HH, Action Packed Rookies 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 6/16    Received:  7/19  (33 days)
Failure: TTM 1/2/2010, C/o St. Stephens

I am really pleased to have finally acquired Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer for my collection on his Pro Set Heisman Heroes and his Action Packed Rookies card. Along with Bart Starr in 2010, Detmer would be one of the first two players I sent out to when I restarted TTM collecting, and he would also constitute my first failure, as he did not sign my cards via St. Stephens Private School in Austin; However, after noting some recent successes at his home address I thought I’d give him another shot. I was happy to have gotten these cards signed in under 40 days.

So Ty Detmer grew up about 50 miles to the South of me in San Marcos, Tx- a straight shot down the I-35 corridor. A wunderkind even at the high school level, I frequently read in the local paper about Detmer’s amazing passing talent throwing and knew he had the ability to exceed expectations at least at the college level.  He’d sign with BYU and by the end of his Freshman season had cemented his status as starter at quarterback for the Cougars. Over his four seasons at BYU he captained the helm of some solid bowl teams, rewriting the school’s passing record books previously held by such names as Jim McMahon and Steve Young, including NCAA records for attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns, and passer rating.  He also won the Heisman Trophy in 1990.

In 1992, Detmer was drafted by the Green Bay Packers during the 9th round. With starter Don Majkowski and future franchise quarterback Brett Favre at second string, Ty rode the bench at 3rd string, playing light mop up duty in 1993 and 1995 throwing for just over 100 yards and a touchdown.

The 1995 season allowed for a change of scenery for the young quarterback, joining the Eagles in Philadelphia, reuniting him with his quarterbacks coach Andy Reid. The Eagles were admittedly rebuilding the franchise, but stubbornly clung to playing respectable football. Detmer replaced injured Rodney Peete at quarterback and guided the team into the playoffs posting a 7-4 record. As a professional it would be his best season, posting up 15 touchdowns and 2911 yards and an 80.8 quarterback rating in 13 games.  Detmer returned for the 1997 season, but disappointingly was forced to share quarterbacking duties roughly halving his statistics.

Ty would then head to the 49ers, where he played one season backing up Jeff Garcia. Coming off the bench and starting 1 game, he’d post a 91.1 QB rating and throw for 4 touchdowns.  Traded in 1999, Detmer played for the Browns for the next two seasons, mentoring young quarterback Tim Couch.  An Achilles injury  washed his whole 2000 season, but he’d sign with the Lions in 2001- but threw an embarrassing 7 interceptions in his first start. He’d ride the bench for the majority of the season playing for the Lions through 2003.  In 2004, Detmer moved on to Atlanta, backing up Michael Vick and future Houston starter Matt Schaub, but would not see any playing time during his stint there retiring in 2006. – Not a bad run for a quarterback who was told he was too small to play in the NFL.

Since football, Detmer has taken up coaching football at the high school level at St. Stephens in Austin, Texas.

G/Gs 54/25   Att 946  Comp 546   Yds 6351  Pct 57.7
Td  34   Int 35   Rat 74.7  |
Rush 72    Yds  177    Avg  2.5    Td  3    Lg  14

College Football HoF, Heisman Trophy Winner, NFL

Brown, Tim


Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1991, Score 1989
Acquired: In Person, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp 1990, 1992

In the history books of modern American Football, Tim Brown stands near the top of the elite wide receivers. The 1987 Heisman winner from the golden domes of Notre Dame (and the first wide receiver to win the honor), Brown was drafted  in the first round of the 1988 draft with the 6th pick overall by the then Los Angeles Raiders. An impressive physical specimen with a total package, of speed, quickness, hands, consistency, and durability, Brown in his first season in the NFL lead the NFL in a variety of kick and punt return categories while racking up over 700 yards receiving. When all was said and done and the dust cleared Brown would own many Raider records, including most games played (224), receptions, yards, and punt return yards.  In his rookie season  Brown would lead the NFL with 1542 punt and kick return yards, and in 1997 would lead the NFL with 104 receptions. He’d also be named to the Pro Bowl 9 times, and the NFL All 90’s team. Tim Brown was not a noisy playmaker, but he quietly amassed incredible numbers that at the time of his retirement left him tied for 3rd all time in receiving touchdowns,  second in yardage, third in receptions and fifth in yards from scrimmage.  He also had incredible streaks that underlined his longevity. An NFL record 10 seasons with 75 or more catches and consecutive starts at wide receiver at 176.

Brown may have even left a bigger mark on the record books if in his final 3 seasons he wasn’t slowly phased out of the offense by owner Al Davis and former coach Norv Turner. In his final season the team asked him to take an even more reduced role to which Tim balked and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a season. To say that owner Al Davis and Tim Brown had a difficult relationship (at least from the outside world) would be  considered a conservative estimate as Brown had no problem expressing his dismay for his treatment at the hands of his owner, but regardless of their feud and problems, after his final season in 2005, Tim signed a one day contract with the Oakland Raiders and retired.

Since football Tim has  been involved with NASCAR, on the FSN Network and was inducted into the College Football HoF in 2009. It was widely hoped that in 2010 he’d also make it into the NFL HoF in his first year of eligibilty, but he was passed by while the #1 receiver of all time Jerry Rice was enshrined. He made the first cut of the current list and hopes to make it to the HoF in 2011.

Josh and I had a certain respect for Tim Brown, who was a Dallas native. Josh had always hoped that Brown would hop ship from the Raiders to the Cowboys and I always would destroy Josh throwing to Tim Brown on Tecmo Super Bowl.

G/Gs  255/202   Rec 1094     Yds 14934     Avg 13.7    Td 100     Lg 80T
Kr 49     Yds 1235     Avg 25.2      Td 1    Lg  97   |
Pr 326   Yds 3230    Avg  10.2     Td  3   Lg 88