Tag Archives: skybox premium 1993

NFL

Higgs, Mark

GameDay 1992, #247
Action Packed 1992, #148
Action Packed Rookies 1991, #75
Skybox Premium 1993, #27
Skybox 1992, #98

CARDS: Skybox Premium 1993, Skybox 1992, Action Packed Rookies 1991, Action Packed 1992, Gameday 1992
ACQUIRED: TTM 2020, 2024, C/o Home.
SENT: 9/24/20 RECEIVED: 10/3/20 (9 Days)
SENT: 3/21/24 RECEIVED: 4/5/24 (15 Days)
FAILURE: TTM 2017, C/o Home

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Mark Higgs played RB from 1984-’87 for the Kentucky Wildcats.
  • In his senior season he ran for 1,278 yards on 193 carries.
  • He finished his career at Owensboro with 2,892 rushing yards- good for second all-time on the school’s rushing list.
  • Originally a 8th round choice of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1988 NFL Draft.
  • Buried on the depth chart and relegated to special teams his first 3 years in the NFL playing for the Cowboys (’88), Eagles (’89), and Dolphins (’90).
  • His first TD was a blocked punt he returned 19 yards for a TD against the Patriots in 1990.
  • He’d finally get his shot starting at RB in 1991, in place of Sammie Smith, running for 146 yards in the season opener.
  • The following week Higgs ran for 111 yards, marking the first back to back 100 yard performance by a Dolphins RB since ’82.
  • He finished the season with 231 carries for 905 yards and 4 TDs- the highest season total by a Dolphin since… 1978.
  • Mark topped those numbers in 1992, running for 915 yards and 7 rushing TDs.
  • Starting in 8 contests in 1993, Mark ran for 693 yards and 3 TDs primarily in a backup role behind Terry Kirby.
  • During the 1994 season he’d be cut and sign with the Arizona Cardinals.
  • After spending the majority of the 1995 season on IR due to a back injury, Mark opted to retire.

ACCOLADES:

  • University of Kentucky Hall of Fame 2006

NOTES:

Mark missed out on Pro Set 1989, but he sure did make up for it with a bevvy of set needs in Skybox, Gameday, and Action Packed sets. He provided a nice shot in the arm along with the rejuvenation of the Dolphins offensive line to buy Dan Marino a few more injury free years.

I finally got Mark back in 2020, and then realized I didn’t ask him for his autograph on his Skybox card. Time flew by really quickly after that and I lost track of sending out to him again for it. In the meantime the premium set from the year afterwards became more interesting to me, so it made a lot of sense to send both of them out together.

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NFL

Jeffires, Haywood ‘Freakwood’ (7)

Pro Set 1993, #170

CARDS: Skybox Premium Thunder & Lightning 1993, Pro Set 1993, Memorabilia
ACQUIRED: In Person 2023, GTSM Houston

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

I mean- are there anymore cards that I can get signed by Haywood at this point that from a design point I like that are from his HOUSTON Oilers era? Probably a few, but there are only a few more left.

I decided to get a few more during the GTSM event in Houston in 2023. The Skybox Premium insert is the backside of a Thunder & Lightning with Warren Moon– that I’ll probably have to get at a later time, since Warren cancelled at the last second and GTSM was slow to notify everybody. It’s a great looking card. I wish I had a paint pen. I’d have had him sign in light blue.

NFL

Givins, Ernest (4)

Gameday 1993, #61
Skybox Premium 1993, #173
Fleer 1995, #147

CARDS: Gameday 1993, Skybox Premium 1993, Fleer 1995, Action Packed All-Madden Team 1990, Pro Set 1992, Fleer 1990, Playoff 1992, Playoff 1993
ACQUIRED: GTSM 2023

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

Well since the last time I wrote Ernest, he stopped signing TTM. Such is the life of the game. I had been fortunate to get him many times both in person and TTM, so I was fine with spending a little extra cash to get these last cards knocked out of him.

Action Packed All-Madden Team 1990, #34
Proset 1992, #510
Fleer 1990, #127

For some reason my tickets weren’t popping up properly on the app. The gatekeepers were treating me like I was trying to cheat the system, but yes indeed I had 8 cards I wanted to be signed by Ernest. Since we couldn’t get it to work in time, they had to manually key it in for me. It almost completely ruined the experience for me, but I was able to go behind the curtains and meet the players that way and they gladly signed for me.

Ernest protested because Curtis and Haywood were excited I was wearing an original 1990s #80 Houston Oilers jersey, as at one point during Jeffires and Duncan’s careers they both wore that number, while Givins stuck with 81.

Playoff 1993, #242
Playoff 1992, #8

I had enough time behind the magic curtain to ask him how it was going with tutoring his nephew and trying to get him into a league. He said he’s still at it. Curtis immediately chimed in and started talking about how Ernest was trying to teach his nephew how to drop his shoulder and juke off the LOS- something Givins excelled at doing in the slot. Givins then went on to mention that he was trying to get his nephew to pick up gymnastics, because that really helped Ernest as a receiver take his game to a new level.