Clarkston Hines had huge numbers playing for small fish Duke with quarterback Anthony Dilweg, becoming only the second player in NCAA history at the time to post 3 1,000 yard seasons. In fact, he demolished the school’s record book and finished 6th All-time with 3,138 yards and 38 touchdowns over his career. At 5-11, 163 though he was considered undersized but the Bills took him in the 9th round of the 1990 draft. Stacked at receiver though with Andre Reed and James Lofton firmly entrenched as starters, Hines would not make the roster.
Drafted by the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks in the WLAF with a supplemental choice of the 1991 draft, the team was a patchwork monstrosity at quarterback once the season began, but their receivers fared quite well. Clarkston was the big play threat. He’d finish 9th in the league with 31 receptions for 614 yards and a titanic 19.8 YPC. He had his best day against Orlando posting 6 receptions for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 55 yarder. After the season, Hines elected not to return to the WLAF.
He currently is Vice President of DaVita Inc and resides in North Carolina. The under the radar athlete also has received numerous awards since retirement including being inducted into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame (1999), The ACC 50th All Time Team (2002) and the College Football Hall of Fame (2010). I’ve had a difficult time getting Clarkston, failing both at home and work over the last 2 years, but luckily another member of SportsCollectors.net was willing to float the address to me and the 3rd time is a charm. He also sent me a testament letter about Christ as well.
Coach: Roman Gabriel Stadium: Carter-Finley Record: (1991) 0-10
BACKGROUND:
The Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks were one of the ten founding members of the WLAF in 1991. Owned by Carolina sports enthusiast George Shinn, the team boasted former LA Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel initially as GM, -who later took over head coaching duties as well.
Johnny Walton (who was best known as a quarterback in the WFL of the 1970s, and HC of the Boston Breakers of the USFL during the 1980s,) was the offensive coordinator. Doug Kay was named the defensive coordinator of the Skyhawks and future CFL GM Jim Popp served on the staff as well.
The Skyhawks colors were decided early on. The team wanted red as the definitive color of the franchise. As the area is considered the birthplace to modern flight, the design firm wanted to come up with something futuristic looking and unexpected- so instead of a bird, the franchise went with rocket trails. The logo itself felt abstract- or influenced by Memphis design style.
Carter-Finley Stadium was to serve as the backdrop to the team’s future and it boasted a reasonable seating capacity of some 50,000 at the time.
Things seemed optimistic enough for the young franchise.
The Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks won the first overall pick of the specialist portion of the draft and went for offense, choosing the No. 1 wide receiver, the No. 2 running back, the No. 3 tight end and the fourth quarterback.
1991:
The Skyhawks marquee players were NC product Mark Maye at quarterback, linebacker Shawn Woodson, and defensive end Jon Carter. Paul Wulff- future Washington State head coach, played center for the franchise.
The team opened its first game on USA Network at Sacramento where Raleigh-Durham went to lose its first contest 9-3. Right out of the gate, the team lost promising QB Mark Maye to injury for the season. Joe Pizzo stepped in at quarterback for RD and guided them until Bobby McAllister supplanted him in the lineup due to ineffectiveness. Woefully none of the quarterbacks would finish with over a 55 quarterback rating, highlighting the team’s issue at the position.
The team got walloped by the Orlando Thunder 58-20 in week 2. (The 58 points stood as a league record.) By the time the team played their first home game- in week 3, fans were clearly discouraged, but nonetheless a season high 17,000 showed up for the Skyhawks. They’d play a close game to the Frankfurt Galaxy 30-28, but that is as close as the franchise ever got to winning.
One could point to the running game as well. With the Skyhawks playing from behind or getting little penetration on the line, the team’s leading rusher was Darryl McGill with 187 yards. The team finished with a woeful 748 yards and 7 touchdowns on the ground. Receiving was the bright spot for the franchise. Marvin Hargrove finished as the team’s leading receiver with 38 catches and former Duke star Clarkston Hines had 614 yards.
The defense had its share of issues, but boasted Quentin Riggs as the team’s leading sacker with 4. Jon Carter, Shawn Woodson, and Ezekial Gadson would all tie with 3 a piece.
In the secondary, Peda Samuel chipped in 3 picks, but the true black hole back in the secondary was Pat McGuirk. McGuirk finished with 6 interceptions- good for 3rd in the league, but as an ultimate slap to the franchise, he wouldn’t be nominated for the All World Team at season’s end.
Near the end of the 1991 season only a paltry 4,200 showed up to see rematch between R-D and Orlando. The writing was on the wall for the 0-10 franchise, and the Skyhawks would be euthanized.
NOTES:
Players were reallocated to the draft pool for the next upcoming season, and the Ohio Glory would replace them in the WLAF for 1992.
Since the Skyhawks were only in existence for one season, only ProSet made cards for the franchise.
LEGACY:
Although Carolina proved to be a disastrous venture for the league attendance wise, surprisingly the market grabbed the expansion Carolina Panthers in 1995 where it has enjoyed NFL football ever since.
Raleigh-Durham itself hadn’t been mentioned seriously for Spring football until 2019- as AAF ‘owner’ Tom Dundon lived in the area, however that league folded before the expansion process even began.
Embarrassingly I am a fan who grew up after the Roman Gabriel era, and my memories of him is neither as quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams or Philadelphia Eagles, but rather as head coach of the woeful Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks from the WLAF circa 1991.
These were the only cards I had in my collection of him, and after being informed of his stiff signing fee of $10 per signature, I waited sometime before contacting him a second time for an autograph. He kindly enclosed an Upper Deck legends card from 2005 as well, and thanked me for writing.
An all-around athlete for NC State, Roman Gabriel was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in 1962 as the second overall pick. (He was also chosen in the AFL draft by the Oakland Raiders.) Choosing to sign with the Rams, Gabriel went on to become one of the most successful Asian-Americans in American Football (Philipino). Once he was made the starting quarterback in 1966 he went on to rewrite many of the passing records for the Rams franchise.
After flirting with the AFL and signing with the Raiders, Roman decided to stay put with the signing of head coach George Allen. His patience was rewarded, as Gabriel went on to be named the NFL’s MVP in 1969.
As knee and shoulder injuries began to take their toll on Gabriel, he’d be traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1973 and help right the ship of the woeful Eagles franchise and earn Comeback Player of the Year Honors.
Over the last few seasons he’d play sparingly as a backup quarterback until his retirement after the 1977 season. Gabriel’s strongest attributes as a QB were his powerful arm and his excellent decision making abilities. He’d finish his career with an 84-67-7 record.
Roman (post playing days) remained active in sports and dabbled in acting. Besides owning some car dealerships, he worked as a color commentator and served as a head coach.
In this capacity among his notable stops were that Gabriel was head coach at Cal Poly Ponoma, offensive coordinator of the USFL Boston Breakers in 1983, quarterbacks coach of the Arizona Wranglers in 1984, and finally at his gruesome stop as first- general manager and then finally as head coach of the WLAF Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks.
Unfortunately things didn’t work out for Gabriel the way he had hoped as the Skyhawks finished 0-10 in their only season in the league. From then he diversified his interests and was deeply committed to charitable causes.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989, and the Hall of Very Good in 2015.
Roman was a voracious signing up until his final days, and I had just finished putting a letter together for another request.
ATT
CPD
YDS
PCT
TD
INT
RAT
4498
2366
29444
52.6
201
149
74.3
RUSH
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
358
1304
3.6
30
39
EPITAPH:
4/20/2024- Roman Gabriel passed away peacefully at the age of 83, of natural causes.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
Card: ProSet WLAF 1991
