Tag Archives: proset 1991

CFL, WLAF

Matthews, Don ‘The Don’ (1939-2017)

psetwlaf91 don matthewsCards: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Home
Sent:  8/5  Received: 9/27   (53 days)

The WLAF scored a coup when the Orlando Thunder was able to lure longtime firebrand head coach Don Matthews to the league. It immediately gave the league some credo in its attempts to stave off the future CFL invasion into the USA.

After spending time in the military, Matthews had some stints coaching at the high school and college level before emerging in the CFL in 1977. There he joined the Edmonton Eskimos led by coach Hugh Campbell and quarterback Warren Moon. The team went on to win 5 consecutive Grey Cup Championships before Don was hired to coach the British Columbia Lions. He’d turn the doormat into a Grey Cup contender, marking their first appearance in some 20 odd years. The Don brought the cup home to the Lions in 1985 as he won his first coach of the year honor. His teams always employed a smash mouth defensive style and his players lovedpset91 don matthews to ‘walk the way he walked’. He coached the Lions through 1987, before his stint in the WLAF in 1990.

Don’s 1990 team was uncharacteristic of his CFL entries. The team had a powerful offense led by Kerwin Bell, but their defense was trashed by most teams, leading to a 5-5 record in Matthews’ only season in Orlando. Don returned to the CFL after the season and coached for the Argos, before hopping over to Saskatchewan through 1993. As the CFL invaded the US market Matthews became the head coach of the Baltimore Colts/ Stallions. He’d earn coach of the year honors back to back as the Stallions won the Grey Cup. Don returned to the Toronto Argonauts from 1996-1998, before sweeping back to the Esks from 1999-2000. Again in 1997 this time, The Don earned another coach of the year honor as his team won back to back championships in 96 and 97. He’d be best remembered by many fans for his time in Montreal guiding the Alouettes, – a team that lived and played as hard as Matthews did, to another championship in 2002. After a year off from the sport, Matthews coached one more season in 2008 for Toronto. His 231 wins are only second to Wally Buono in CFL history.

Living in Oregon, Don has handled anxiety most of his coaching career. He was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 2011 as a ‘League Builder’. A special thanks to DemonXXX on the sportscollectors.net message board for helping me find this one.

WLAF    W 5    L 5     T 0    Pct .500
CFL  W 231   L 133  T 1    Pct .633

UPDATE 6/14/17– CFL Hall of Fame coach Don Matthews passed away today at the age of 77, after a 4 year battle with cancer.

NFL

Bentley, Albert

pset89 bentleypset90 bentleypset91 bentleyap90 bentley

Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1990, ProSet 1991, ActionPacked 1990
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Home
Sent:  6/6   Received: 6/22    (16 days)

To most fans, Albert Bentley achieved fame for the Indianapolis Colts as Eric Dickerson‘s teammate during the late 1980s. In fact, early versions of the Nintendo game Tecmo Bowl featured Eric Dickerson initially as the starting runningback, as Tecmo was unaware that he was not a member of the NFLPA. In later production releases of the game, Dickerson was replaced by Bentley in the lineup with the same rushing abilities. Obviously when I played the Jack Trudeau led Colts, I relied heavily on Bentley screaming at my friends,” Here comes the Bentley!,” Referring of course to the luxury car brand by the same name.

An amazing transformation from walk on to starter, Albert helped Miami win its first national championship, scoring the winning touchdown in the 1983 Orange Bowl against Nebraska.   Going undrafted, Albert, (like his Miami teammate Jim Kelly,) elected to join the USFL in 1984, signing with the Michigan Panthers. The very next season the team merged with the Oakland Invaders and after injuries decimated the squad, Bentley moved to fullback. He’d champion the ground game with 1,020 yards, in an offense that featured such future NFL players as Anthony Carter and Bobby Herbert. As the USFL collapsed the NFL held a supplemental draft of USFL and CFL players. The Colts grabbed Albert’s rights in the second round with the 36th pick. The slasher-back became a jack of all trades for the Colts, averaging well over 1,000 all-purpose yards from 1985-1990. Eric Dickerson joined the squad in 1987,  and he and Eric went on to become the first pair of Colts runningbacks to each surpass 1,000 yards from scrimmage in the same season. He finished second in the league with 1,578 yards from scrimmage.  After he emerged as the Colts fulltime fullback in 1989, Bentley, Bill Brooks, and Andre Rison became the first trio of Colts to combine for 50 or more catches in a season that year. Albert checked in with 52 of them and  he’d follow this up in 1990 with a career high 72. An injury riddled 1991 ended Bentley’s season just after 1 game though. He’d sign with the Steelers in 1992 but not see any significant playing time, retiring after the season. Looking back at his time with the Colts, it was obvious that Bentley was one of the toughest and finest conditioned athletes on the team. His 7,775 all-purpose yards rank 7th all time in Colts history. Versatile and difficult for linebackers to cover one on one out of the backfield, Bentley is one of seven Colts backs to amass more than 200 receptions in their career.

Inducted into the Miami Hurricanes Sports Hall of Fame, Albert currently lives in Florida where he works in finance and investing.

G/Gs 90/33    Rush  526   Yds   2355   Avg  4.5    Td 19    Lg 70  |    Rec  226   Yds 2245   Avg  9.9    Td 8  Lg 73
Kr  149    Yds  3192   Avg 21.4   Td 0  Lg 48

NFL

McCaffrey, Ed

pset91 mccaffreyap91 mccaffrey

Cards: Action Packed 1991, Pro Set 1990
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Pro Link Sports
Sent: 1/7   Received: 4/16   (99 days)

Underutilized by the Giants in their ground and pound based offense, nobody really paid much attention when he signed with the San Fransisco 49ers as a free agent in 1994. Why, Ed McCaffrey only had totaled 92 receptions for 1091 yards and 7 touchdowns in 3 seasons after being a 3rd round pick of NY. It’d be in those early years with the Giants, who were struggling with the departure of their coach Bill Parcells, and a Super Bowl hangover, that I’d see McCaffrey go out one Thanksgiving contest and give his all in a game, while his team lost 30-3 to the Cowboys.  Ed didn’t really impress with the 49ers that next season either, however he won his first Super Bowl title. After that one unimpressive season, the jig was up in San Fransisco-land and Ed was back on the street by 1995.

With the Three Amigos at the end of their career, new offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak was looking to stir things up. The Broncos were transitioning at the time and McCaffrey (and fellow receiver Rod Smith,) seemed to fit the bill. McCaffrey proved to be a nice find for the Broncos as every season through 2000, he increased his receiving production with his sure hands and deceptive speed.  This culminated in career highs that year (2000) with 101 receptions for 1317 yards and 9 touchdowns. While injuries finished his NFL career prematurely in 2003, Ed won 2 Super Bowl rings with the Broncos and was named to the Pro Bowl for his 1998 performance. As one of John Elway‘s favorite targets, McCaffrey finished his career in Denver with 462 receptions for 6200 yards and 46 touchdowns.

In 2009, Ed was named to the Denver Broncos 50th Anniversary Team and in 2012, became a color analyst for the Broncos Radio Network.

G/Gs 185/109     Rec 565    Yds 7422   Avg 13.1    Td 55     Lg 78