Leo Lewis was an offensive weapon in college at Missouri, seeing time rushing receiving and punt returning.
Played for the Tigers from 1975-’78.
Over college career amassed 82 receptions for 1043 yards and 9 TDs, 17 carries for 104 yards and 2 TDs, and returned 51 punts for 468 yards.
Undrafted he played in Canada for a season splitting time with the Calgary Stampeders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1980.
Signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings in 1981.
Had most successful season in 1984, catching 47 passes for 834 yards and 4 TDs for the Vikings.
Doubled as the team’s primary punt returner in 1988 and ’89.
Led league with 58 returns (550 yards) in ’88, and had another 44 in ’89.
Split the 1990 campaign with the Browns and Vikings.
Retired after the 1991 season and 11 seasons with the Vikings.
Caught 182 passes for 2924 yards and 16 TDs while returning 49 punts for 1868 yards and a TD.
Vikings Director of Player Development from 1992-’05
Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development at the University of Minnesota from 2005-’14.
NOTES:
Leo appeared early on in the Topps sets before the big boom of cards. I was surprised that he didn’t appear in Pro Set or Fleer for that matter near the tail end of his career, so I was happy to see that there was a Score 1990 floating around of him. He has a great autograph and I was a bit disappointed he wasn’t my first return of 2026.
Leo appeared in the classic Nintendo game Tecmo Bowl as a member of the Minnesota Monsters franchise and is a fantastic punt and kick returner.
Well I needed John on a few more cards, since he only signs one per attempt, so I decided to chip away at it with an easy slam dunk via eBay on his Fleer 1990.
CARDS: Pro Set 1989, Pro Set 1990, Fleer 1990 ACQUIRED: TTM 2025, C/o Home SENT: 7/29/25 RECEIVED: 8/8/25 (10 days) FAILURE: TTM 2011, C/o Home. TTM 2015, C/o Work
CAREER SNAPSHOT:
Pat Beach played TE at Washington State where he caught 62 passes for 936 yards and 5 TDs.
A 6th round draft pick in 1982 by the Baltimore Colts, Pat Beach worked his way into the lineup at TE as an extra blocker and deep snapper.
After blowing out his ankle in ’84, Pat Beach started all 16 games in 1985.
He led the team that year with 36 catches for 376 yards and 6 TDs during a strike shortened season.
Then caught 20+ passes in each of the next 3 seasons from 1986-’88.
Played for the Eagles in 1992, and then Phoenix in 1993.
Retired, Pat lives in Washington and is an avid diver.
NOTES:
Pat Beach. One of the OG from Tecmo Bowl on the NES who played for the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts back then didn’t have much. Dickerson (Bentley) was the bread and butter on the run plays. Trudeau didn’t get any love- and when Brooks was being covered.. Beach was THE MAN. I loved throwing it to Pat near the endzone and just saying, “BEEAACCCHHH,” As I threw a TD to the underutilized TE. It was good times.
Over the years, Pat became a lunch pail TE that I was really interested in, but unlike Cap Boso, Beach actually had some great cards. I had tried Pat in the past but didn’t have any luck. He had a really narrow and random response window for many years. It took me three tries but I was very excited to finally nab him.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
