Tag Archives: san fransisco 49ers

NFL

Grayson Jr., David

Cards:  Topps 1990, Pro Set Platinum 1991
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Work
Sent:  10/7   Received: 10/27 (20 days)

I was combing through my boxes late one night looking for a player when I stumbled upon Dave’s card and for some reason it stuck in my mind. Recently I’ve been enamored with the football site “School of the Legends” (which reminds me of a slick Facebook for football fans). It has allowed me to connect with many memorable football players I remember from when I was a kid and also follow players who cover the teams. When I logged back in I saw Dave’s card up on the site on his new profile, -so I know when a sign slaps me in the face. After posting on his profile basically what I just explained, we had a good laugh and then he flat out offered me his autograph on a card or two. Another fan, who unabashedly asks mechanically for every player’s autograph admitted that he didn’t have  a card, so I included an extra for Dave to sign for him.

Dave Grayson is a great story. After playing for Cal-Poly Ponoma, Dave transferred to Fresno State where he’d come in and play great defense for the team at linebacker. Drafted by the 49ers in 1987 with the 217th pick, Dave would not make the roster but would capitalize off of the 1987 players’ strike and like fellow alumni Eddie Anderson (Raiders), and Eugene Seale (Oilers) would somehow find a way to stick on the roster of the Browns after the strike ended.

After an abbreviated 1987, Grayson would have a career high 5 sacks in 1988 and score on a 17 yard fumble recovery.  In 1989 during a 51-0 drubbing of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dave would make an interception that he’d return 14 yards for a touchdown on quarterback Bubby Brister. He’d make 2 picks that season and chip in 2 more fumble recoveries, and another of which he’d return for 6. It’d be a short 1991 for Dave, after he signed with San Diego via Plan B, he’d retire after the season.

Grayson throughout his career at 6-2, 230 was a speedy missile and the fastest linebacker in Cleveland’s corps. He also had a knack for finding the endzone, scoring 3 touchdowns with 2 on fumble recoveries and one on an interception.  Below are his career statistics:

G/Gs 54/37      Sac 8.0       Tac n/a         Fum 4         Int 3      Yds 28        Avg 9.1      Td 1    lg 14

Arena, CFL, WLAF

McGuirk, Patrick ‘Pat’

 

Cards: ProSet WLAF 1991, Ultimate 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 9/2 Received: 9/12 (10 days)

After playing in Junior College at San Mateo and raking in an All-Golden Gate Conference choice and team MVP honors,  Patrick McGuirk would play at Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) making 42 tackles and a pick. He’d sign with the Blue Bombers of the CFL in 1990 but not make the squad.

In 1991, the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks, coached by Roman Gabriel, selected Pat in the 8th round of the league’s positional draft.  Despite the team’s woeful 0-10 record, McGuirk had a banner season, with 37 tackles, 9 passes defensed, 3 fumble recoveries and tied for third in the league with 6 interceptions. He would be snubbed for All-World honors.

After the season, the Skyhawks were euthanized by the league, and the players were put back into the WLAF’s draft pool. The Frankfurt Galaxy selected him in the 5th round of the league draft in 1992. He’d play for them that season, but did not notch a turnover.  (His Ultimate WLAF card is considered a major error card, as they note that he is a rookie, and omit his previous season’s statistics, even though he played for the Skyhawks.) The WLAF would be reorganized after the 1992 season but Patrick found new life, -in the AFL.

The young Arena Football League was the perfect landing spot for Patrick. In 1994 he’d sign with the Fort Worth Calvary, crushing ball carriers with 54 tackles, 21 pass blocks, 2 forced fumbles and 5 interceptions. Patrick quickly moved back to his home area in 1995 signing with the San Fransisco 49ers and was assigned to their practice squad.  He’d continue playing in the Arena leagues in the interim, but this time for the San Jose Sabercats where he’d have another impact season with 9 picks for 202 yards and a td. Pat’s followup 1996 season would culminate with 7 picks and 15 pass breakups which earned him first team All Arena honors, and earned him another shot to play on the roster of the 49ers and their practice squad. After the 1998 season, McGuirk would retire from football. He’d finish his career in the Arena leagues with 5 seasons under his belt, 258 tackles, 81 pass blocks, 3 forced fumbles, 29 interceptions for 317 yards and a touchdown.

He didn’t have far to go, as he retired to the San Fransisco area where he was born and currently works in the telecommunications industry.

Finally got another Facebook response. I started off really hot with contacting players through Facebook and getting their permission to send to TTM to their address (Howard Feggins, Corris Ervin, and Jon Horton,) and then just went stone cold. I shot out an email to Patrick in July since he is of the elusive Raleigh-Durham Skyhawk family, that I am woefully short of autographs from, -as they only lasted one season. In late August he got back with me and gave me his address, so I quickly turned around and sent him two cards to sign and a few to keep as momentos. He kindly responded in 10 days.  A real nice return on a hard to find team.

WLAF
Tac N/a   Sac 0       Fum 3   Int   6     Yds    60   Avg 10.0    Td  0    lg  34

CFL, NFL, WLAF

Johnson, Mike (2)


Cards: Ultimate WLAF 1992, WildCard WLAF 1992
Acquired: In Person 2011, UCLA Fall Scrimmage
Failure: TTM 1994, 2010, C/o The BC Lions, C/o The San Fransisco 49ers
See Also: Mike Johnson

Finally, it’s over. I’ve been after Mike Johnson for years now. I’ve sent off for him twice: First in 1994 when he was on the roster of the BC Lions in the CFL and second in 2010 when he was offensive coordinator of the San Fransisco 49ers.  Last year after Mike Singeltary‘s staff was blown up, Mike traveled down the coast and was hired by the UCLA staff to run the offense, putting him literally 10 miles from me. I emailed him a few months ago trying to see if I could get his autograph that way. No response.  I then thought about showing up at UCLA and wandering around until I found him, but in the end learned of UCLAs Fall Scrimmage at Drake Stadium and planned around that instead.

The scrimmage was a lot of fun. I drug my girlfriend around with me to the event and was able to corner him, after Jerry Rice (whose son Jerry Rice Jr, plays for the Bruins) refused to sign cards for anybody. I was perfectly happy with getting his Mike’s autograph as he was really who I wanted the most. He signed the Wild Card and then had to do an interview. Afterwards he signed the additional Ultimate WLAF cards and took a photo with me.

He was surprised that I was a big fan of the Riders and told me that he remembered the infamous ‘hail storm’ game down in San Marcos. I gave him the extras I had, but I think I scared him because I let my geek hang out way too much.  Still that knocks off an elusive WLAF player that I had been after for some time.