Tag Archives: ttm autograph

NFL

Bentley, Albert

pset89 bentleypset90 bentleypset91 bentleyap90 bentley

Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1990, ProSet 1991, ActionPacked 1990
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Home
Sent:  6/6   Received: 6/22    (16 days)

To most fans, Albert Bentley achieved fame for the Indianapolis Colts as Eric Dickerson‘s teammate during the late 1980s. In fact, early versions of the Nintendo game Tecmo Bowl featured Eric Dickerson initially as the starting runningback, as Tecmo was unaware that he was not a member of the NFLPA. In later production releases of the game, Dickerson was replaced by Bentley in the lineup with the same rushing abilities. Obviously when I played the Jack Trudeau led Colts, I relied heavily on Bentley screaming at my friends,” Here comes the Bentley!,” Referring of course to the luxury car brand by the same name.

An amazing transformation from walk on to starter, Albert helped Miami win its first national championship, scoring the winning touchdown in the 1983 Orange Bowl against Nebraska.   Going undrafted, Albert, (like his Miami teammate Jim Kelly,) elected to join the USFL in 1984, signing with the Michigan Panthers. The very next season the team merged with the Oakland Invaders and after injuries decimated the squad, Bentley moved to fullback. He’d champion the ground game with 1,020 yards, in an offense that featured such future NFL players as Anthony Carter and Bobby Herbert. As the USFL collapsed the NFL held a supplemental draft of USFL and CFL players. The Colts grabbed Albert’s rights in the second round with the 36th pick. The slasher-back became a jack of all trades for the Colts, averaging well over 1,000 all-purpose yards from 1985-1990. Eric Dickerson joined the squad in 1987,  and he and Eric went on to become the first pair of Colts runningbacks to each surpass 1,000 yards from scrimmage in the same season. He finished second in the league with 1,578 yards from scrimmage.  After he emerged as the Colts fulltime fullback in 1989, Bentley, Bill Brooks, and Andre Rison became the first trio of Colts to combine for 50 or more catches in a season that year. Albert checked in with 52 of them and  he’d follow this up in 1990 with a career high 72. An injury riddled 1991 ended Bentley’s season just after 1 game though. He’d sign with the Steelers in 1992 but not see any significant playing time, retiring after the season. Looking back at his time with the Colts, it was obvious that Bentley was one of the toughest and finest conditioned athletes on the team. His 7,775 all-purpose yards rank 7th all time in Colts history. Versatile and difficult for linebackers to cover one on one out of the backfield, Bentley is one of seven Colts backs to amass more than 200 receptions in their career.

Inducted into the Miami Hurricanes Sports Hall of Fame, Albert currently lives in Florida where he works in finance and investing.

G/Gs 90/33    Rush  526   Yds   2355   Avg  4.5    Td 19    Lg 70  |    Rec  226   Yds 2245   Avg  9.9    Td 8  Lg 73
Kr  149    Yds  3192   Avg 21.4   Td 0  Lg 48

NFL, WLAF

Sancho, Ron

pset91 sanchoult92 sanchowcwlaf92 sancho

Cards: ProSet WLAF 1991, Ultimate WLAF 1992, Wildcard WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Home
Sent: 8/15   Received: 8/21 (6 days)
Failure: 2010, C/o Home

An LSU linebacker from 1985- 1988, Ron Sancho earned Honorable Mention All-American and 2nd Team All-SEC after recording 77 tackles, 10 TFL, and 5 sacks in 1988. Ron was selected in the 7th round of the 1989 NFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs but did not survive the final cuts. Ron signed with the Broncos later that season. He re-upped with Denver again in 1990, but did not make the squad.

The WLAF New York-New Jersey Knights selected Ron during the 2nd round of the league’s positional draft in 1991. He’d go on to record a banner year for the team scoring 3 defensive TDs (recovering a fumble against Frankfurt in the endzone, blocking and recovering a punt against Montreal, and returning a fumble 14 yards against the Skyhawks). The Knights went on to lead the league with 8 defensive touchdowns that season behind Ron’s impressive season. Ron finished second on the team with 69 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, and 6 sacks. His nose for the endzone earned Sancho Second Team All World Honors in 1991.  Ron returned to the Knights for the 1992 season where he’d add another 4 sacks to his career totals, but the league under pressure from the NFL owners (who did an about face on supporting the league) elected to suspend the operations of the WLAF.

Ron retired in 1993 and currently owns his own company- Cardio Health Solutions LLC, and has been married to his high school sweetheart for some 25 years, while raising 3 wonderful children. He kindly took the time to write me a short letter thanking me for updating him on the status of his friends and teammates, -many of which he hadn’t seen or heard from in 20 years.

WLAF      Tac   N/a      Sac 10.0     Fum N/a    Int  0   Yds 0   Avg -.-   Td 0

 

 

NFL, WLAF

Ross, Phil

wcwlaf92 rossult92 ross

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cards: Ultimate WLAF 1992, Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Work
Sent: 7/12   Received: 7/20   (8 days)

Phil Ross was a 4 year letterman for the Oregon State Beavers. He finished second on the team’s all-time receiving list with 153 receptions for 1,827 yards, and 6 touchdowns. His biggest highlight was an electrifying 73 yard catch and go as a redshirt freshman. Selected by the Dolphins in the 9th round of the 1990 draft, he’d be cut in training camp, but fit exactly what the WLAF was looking for in young talent. Offensive mastermind Chan Gailey selected Phil with the 10th pick of the 1st round in the TE portion of the WLAF inaugural draft.  His 6’4″, 238 frame mixed right in with the Birmingham Fire‘s offensive attack and he’d pair with Mark Hopkins to give defenses fits.  Based on his rushing stats, it looks like Gailey used Phil’s skill set at H-Back in addition to his normal duties at TE.

Every once in a while I scour the web and hit a virtual jackpot refining my Google technique. Around the middle of 2013 I readdressed what I liked collecting and decided to return to my roots and start really going back after WLAF guys. Thanks to modern networking sites I was able to locate a host of the members of the sets I need still. I emailed Phil and he was kind enough to accept and sign these cards for me. He also attached a nice note, and thanked me for updating him on the status of many of the members of the Birmingham Fire squad. Phil currently works in the mortgage industry in Washington.

Rec 24   Yds 227   Avg 9.5   Td 0   Lg 21
Rush 4   Yds 24   Avg 6.0   Td 0   Lg 11