Tag Archives: ttm autograph

Arena, CFL, NFL, XFL

Pawlawski, Mike

Cards: Topps XFL 2001, Classic Blister 1992, Gameday 1992
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent:  3/17     Received:  4/10  (24  days)

Mike Pawlawski has enjoyed nothing but one of the more curious professional football careers. It all started back in 1992 when the highly decorated signal caller from Cal was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 8th round. He spent one year with the team and the next two out of football.

Mike reignited his football career when he joined the Arena Football League. First with the SabreCats, and then later with the Miami Hooters in 1995. (- Yes named after the Hooters restaurant franchise.) He played one season with the team (66/133, 674 yards, and 6 TDs) in primarily relief duty. He also spent time in the CFL with their USA invasion as a member of the Shreveport Pirates. Mike jumped to the Albany Firebirds the following year- and really impressed (22/35, 296 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT) in limited play.  It’d be in 1997 that Pawlawski came into his own as a starter. He’d throw for 4,272 yards and 69 TDs on 509 attempts. For the next 3 seasons he’d be the unquestioned starter of the Firebirds and threw for at least 70 touchdowns in each year.

He heard the siren call of the XFL in 2001 and joined the fledgling league and be the starting quarterback for the San Fransisco Demons. In the lone season for the league Pawlawski finished second to only Tommy Maddox in passing, while leading the team to the Million Dollar Game. With the XFL hemorrhaging money and with bad TV ratings, the league shut down after the lone season.

Mike retired due to injuries and followed his passions for the outdoors, working on the show Gridiron Outdoors. He also does color commentating for Cal games for a variety of networks.

Mike was kind enough to sign these three cards in about a month’s time, however I wish he actually had a sharpie handy as his autograph gets lost on these canvases.

ARENA    ATT 2045   CPD 1351   YDS  16673
TD  303    INT 45   RAT 118.98
R 93    YDS 181    TD 19

XFL   ATT  297    CPD  186   YDS 1659    TD 12   INT  4

NFL

Ambrose, Ashley (2)


Cards: Action Packed Rookies 1992, Classic Blister 1992, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Colorado
Sent:  3/16   Received: 3/29  (13 days)
See Also: Ashley Ambrose

So Ashley’s autograph has come a long way since 1992 or 1993, when it more or less represented a signature, at least compared to what I got through the mail in 2018.

Since his time as the defensive backs coach for the Golden Bears of Cal, Ashley has been quite busy. He worked as an intern for the Saints in 2013, and followed that up with one year stints with the Idaho Vandals (2014) and Texas State (2015) as their cornerbacks coach. From 2016 to 2017, he coached for the Broncos of Boise State, and currently is at Colorado as their defensive backs coach- a capacity he held with the Buffs way back in 2010.

Ashley gets no respect. The venerable cornerman finished with 42 career interceptions, which is quite respectable in this day and age of football. He had some great cards over the years. After I got his autograph on his Star Pics cards, I had always wanted to get back around to him and get his Action Packed Rookies card signed- really as a set need, however his GameDay card really takes the cake in this spectacular action shot. It’s well framed and the action barely breaks the image plane at the top of the card.

Ashley’s TTM trail had grown cold. I noticed a few attempts through colleges he had previously coached with, so I made sure I had his current whereabouts in mind before I sent this out.

NFL

Trumpy, Bob

Cards: Topps 1970, Upper Deck Legends 1997
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent:  1/2/2018        Received: 3/8/2018   (60 days)

A Cincinnati legend, Bob Trumpy is a great example of the early AFL/ NFL reaching for a player whose primary sport was basketball. A surprise 12th round pick of the expansion Cincinnati Bengals in 1968, Trumpy didn’t have that much in the way of stats.  He played for Illinois in 1964 as a wide receiver. – There he had 28 receptions for 428 yards and 2 TDs, and then later In 1966 he played one additional year at Utah catching 9 passes for 159 yards and 2 TDs.

Trumpy had 2 things really going for him from the get go. First, he was an imposing specimen at 6’6″, 230, and secondly, the Bengals expansion franchise was pretty well stocked with veterans, so everyday Bob had to go out there and impress people.  Bob played 10 seasons for the Bengals putting together solid numbers during the ‘dead ball’ era of football. He’d earn 4 Pro Bowl nominations (1968, 1969, 1970, and 1973), and one All Pro nod in 1969- his best season as a pro when he had 37 receptions for 835 yards and 9 touchdowns, including an 80 yard strike. He’d retire after the 1977 season, but find his calling quickly in broadcasting.

Cincinnati loved Trumpy- so much so that he became a mainstay radio personality. Later Bob moved onto the national stage as a network color man. That’s where I became familiar with ol’ Trumpy. He did great color work during the ’80s for the then AFC Central on NBC Sports. Frequently Bob would call a play before it’d happen, or mention that some player hasn’t caught a pass in 6 games and is over due, and then all of a sudden the quarterback would throw a completion towards that overlooked player. He really was a marvel to listen to, and was especially in his element when paired up with Don Criqui or Dick Enberg.

A few months ago, I happened to catch an old rebroadcast of the infamous 1988 Wild Card Playoff slugout between the Cleveland Browns and Houston Oilers. The aforementioned team was assigned announcing and color duties and the game would end up going down in infamy. As the antics of Jerry Glanville went into overdrive, this game proved to be the final game of the Schottenheimer Era in Cleveland. It was an amazing game full of heroes, villains, and a pulse pounding finale. To this day, I still remember the game and consider it an epitome of a sports classic from the old rough and tumble of the AFC Central.

Bob continued in broadcasting for many years and in 2014 was awarded the Pete Rozelle Radio- Television award for outstanding longtime contributions to TV in radio in the realm of professional football, by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

G/Gs 128/121        Rec 298      Yds 4600      Avg 15.4       TD 35    Lg 80T