He was a 7th round pick of the New Orleans Saints in 1987.
A big hitter with tremendous speed, Gene also handled kick returning duties averaging 21.2 yards per return (71 returns) over his career with the Saints.
Played Strong Safety and was a solid find for NO, posting 3 interceptions his rookie season and 4 in 1988.
Converted to Free Safety in 1990, replacing Dave Waymer in the lineup, posting 5 forced fumbles.
Best season arguably came in 1991 when Gene recorded 5 interceptions for a league leading 198 yards, along with 4 forced fumbles, and 75 tackles.
Signed with the Dolphins in 1994, finishing his career there after 1997.
SKybox 1992, #258Action Packed 1991, #172
ACCOLADES:
All Rookie Team 1987
NOTES:
Gene’s son, Geno played DT most notably for the Bengals. It is said that Gene suffers from early onset dementia due to concussions sustained from playing football. A fairly rare signer, I felt very fortunate to get Gene’s autograph.
I felt like Gene should’ve gotten a Pro Bowl nod for his titanic 1991 season, but with a logger jam of great safeties out there, he didn’t get in. He had some great cards over the years and also makes an appearance in Tecmo Super Bowl.
Yes! At long last another retry reply in Jessie Hester. Jessie was one of my very first failures from way back in 2010. I thought that I had sent to him multiple times in between 2010 and 2022, but apparently I had not. He had some great cards that I appealed to, especially the classic shot of him from Pro Set’s 1990 Update. (An Action Packed 1992 and Pro Set 1991 were sacrificed to the mail gods in the previous attempt.) The Gameday and the Skybox cards over the year became particular set needs and all of them are welcome additions to the collection.
Played DL for Missou for two seasons, racking up 111 total tackles and 7 sacks.
Selected by the Miami Dolphins in the 9th round of the 1988 NFL Draft.
Made the squad and blocked a FG his rookie year.
In 1989, started at DE, recording 10 sacks- the highest number by a Miami DL since ’84.
Had 60 tackles, 3 FF, and 11.5 sacks in ’90.
Became first 9th round pick in Dolphins history to earn Pro Bowl honors.
Became first Dolphins defender to lead team in sacks three straight years (89-91).
Retired with Dolphins after the 1995 season.
Fleer 1990, #237Action Packed 1991, #131
ACCOLADES:
Pro Bowl 1990
AFC Defensive Player of the Month 1990 (October)
Score 1990, #213
NOTES:
Well played Jeff! Well played. So… I sent off to Jeff, a career non-responder, and was surprised to get an autograph from him on one of the two cards I sent, and a note, asking for more cards for his kids. After digging through my boxes and ordering a few extras, I reloaded and sent Jeff a stack of cards, asking to trade a few autographs in exchange for them. I was surprised to get so many others back, but hopefully his kids really liked the ones he kept.
Jeff appears in Tecmo Super Bowl. He adds much needed power to the Dolphins defensive line front.
Action Packed 1990, #142
TAC
SAC
FUM
INT
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
377
59.5
7
1
0
0,0
0
0
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
