Tag Archives: proset wlaf 1991

NFL, WLAF

X, Victor

Pro Set WLAF 1991, #76 A

CARD: Pro Set World League 1991
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Work
SENT: 2/14 RECEIVED: 3/22 (24 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Victor was a rare player, who originally played American Football for English clubs, that was able to successfully make the transition to the World League.
  • His career started with the London Ravens, whom he played for from 1983-86.
  • Victor ran gangbusters over the league with 3770 yards, 66 touchdowns, with an average of 8.9 yards per carry.
  • After a brief foray to the states in ’86, Victor returned to England to play for the Manchester Spartans.
  • Ebubedike first grabbed the attention of the NFL in 1990, as the New York Jets expressed interest in trying him out.
  • Later on he’d be selected by the World League of American Football by the London Monarchs as part of the league’s ‘Operation Discovery’ program for play in 1991.
  • He’d score the first TD in Wembley Stadium by an English- American footballer against Orlando.
  • A fearsome hitter, Ebubedike also was a special teams gunner, logging 16 tackles that year.
  • Returned to the Monarchs for the ’92 campaign.
  • In 1995, he changed his last name to ‘X’, through his studies with the Nation of Islam.
  • At that time the World League was firing back up again, and Victor returned to the Monarchs that year.
  • He played the next 3 seasons with the team, finishing with 116 carries, 416 yards and 4 touchdowns.
  • After the London/ England Monarchs disbanded after 1998, Victor still wanted to play.
  • He’d return to playing football around Europe and then later England, playing his last game in 2013- at the grand old age of 47.
  • Considered a Black Pioneer of the sport, and an Ambassador of American Football in England.

ACCOLADES:

  • Operation Discovery 1991, ’92

NOTES:

Pro Set 1991, #76 B

Wow! First try and a success! I got extremely lucky to get Victor. Apparently one of his friends from Houston was visiting London, so he just handed the return envelope to him and he popped it into the mail when he returned to the US, avoiding any need to figure out Royal Mail return rates or send outs. The mail gods were truly on my side for this one! I was ecstatic to get this one back, and he slides into the top 5- mileage-wise, just a few miles behind fellow Monarch Philip Alexander.

I had been trying to find Victor X, aka Victor Muhammad, aka Victor Ebubedike since I started this project. I was aware that he was back in the mother-country, but wasn’t really sure where, since they don’t allow webcrawlers to aggressively aggregate information on people in Europe. Well I started digging and eventually was able to turn up from an article that he went through a few last name changes. From there I found another article indicated he was a fireman. -And from there… I found an article that he and his coworkers were hailed as heroes for saving some people from a fire. That article gave a station number, and from there I found the address and took a wild shot.

WLAF

RUSHYDSAVGTDLG
1164163.6446t
RECYDSAVGTDLG
331.006
NFL, WLAF

Kennan, Larry (2)

Pro Set World League, #86

Card: ProSet 1991 WLAF
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 11/9 Received: 11/16 (97days)
See Also: Larry Kennan
Failure: TTM 2010, C/o Work

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

Ah Larry Kennan. After getting his autograph sometime ago, I realized I didn’t get Larry’s autograph on this lone World League card in the Pro Set Series II insert set.

Kennan coached at the University of Incarnate Word for 4 seasons, compiling a record of 20-48 from 2014-2017. He’s retired and as of 2020 lives in San Antonio, Texas.

He responded to my request for his autograph in a very short amount of time and wrote on my letter, “My pleasure”. I had to do the digging for Larry’s address on my own, and was very surprised after getting a hit on him, that other people contacted me for his address as well.

NFL, WLAF

Bell, Kenny ‘Ken’

Pro Set World League 1991, #44

CARD: ProSet World League 1991
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Home
SENT: 2/28 RECEIVED: 3/25 (25 DAYS)
FAILURE: TTM C/o Home, 2013, 2015, 2019

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Outstanding speedster out of Boston College, joined the Broncos as a Free Agent in 1986.
  • Quickly became a coach and fan favorite used almost exclusively as a return man.
  • By the end of the ’89 campaign, was ranked first in Bronco history with 104 career KO returns, while his 2218 career return yards was 3rd.
  • Spent a season out of football as a late training camp casualty in 1990.
  • Joined the Birmingham Fire of the WLAF as a free agent signing in 1991.
  • Ended up becoming a part of a devastating 2 headed runningback rotation with Elroy Harris.
  • Displayed exceptional vision and skill catching passes out of the backfield, leading the team with 40 receptions.
  • Caught league’s first fake punt play TD, a 65 yarder from punter Kirk Maggio against the New York/ New Jersey Knights.

    NOTES:

    Son, Kenny Bell played for the Salt Lake City Stallions of the AAF. I packed my WLAF card of Ken just in case I ran into him, but no such luck! The reason being was at one point Ken was living a city over near a day camp I used to go to. I tried in vain to get his autograph on 3 previous occasions, but thanks to one of my fellow collectors, Rick, I got an updated address early in the year and took a stab. With Ken’s autograph, I’ve closed out the Pro Set World League Birmingham Fire team set’s autographs.