Tag Archives: ttm autograph

Koy Jr., Ernie “Little Koy”

utud11 er koyCards: UT Upper Deck 2011, UT Upper Deck 2011 Memorable Moments, UT Upper Deck 2011 All-Time Alumni
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Home
Sent: 3/4      Received: 3/8    (4 days)

A real surprise to open my mailbox and find Ernie Koy responded so kindly and quickly to my autograph request. Inside he signed all 3 cards and told me his fondest moment playing for UT was the 1965 Orange Bowl victory over Alabama, a game in which Koy ripped off a 79 yard touchdown run and finished with a school record at the time, 24 carries for 133 yards. I then realized that he had played in utud11 cotton Navy MMBOTH the ’64 Cotton Bowl and the ’65 Orange Bowl, and had forgotten to include another card.  I later wrote him back to get the final Memorable Moment card signed (in black).

Ernie Koy Jr. and his brother Ted, were part of a family father/sons lineage combo that enjoyed much success through the University of Texas, much like the McCoy family does today. A wingback in the Longhorns much touted Wishbone offense under head coach Darrell Royal, Ernie converted to fullback and led Texas in rushing his Senior season with 707 yards and 10 TDs in 1964. He was also an accomplished punter.

utud11 ekoy MM65A part of the 1965 NFL draft, Ernie was taken in the 11th round by the New York Giants. A multifaceted player, Ernie not only was able to play runningback, but also punter and returner as well. As a member of the shortlived ‘Baby Bulls’ backfield for NY, Koy was a member of a group of basically 5 fullbacks that were straight ahead in-line rushers, and all were roughly the same size and possessed great hands. Upon arriving in New York, Koy was named starting punter and played Flanker throughout his first two seasons.  After a move to Halfback, in 1967 he earned his only Pro Bowl berth, rushing for 704 yards on 146 carries, and 4 touchdowns.  He retired after the 1970 season.utud11 er koy ATA Over his career for New York, Ernie was a jack of all trades as evidenced by his statistics that not only included rushing and receiving, but punting, kick returning, and an occasional pass here or there.

Ernie is an upstanding member of the Texas community. He’s been a successful banker working from the ground floor up, and has given a lot of his time back through his charitable activities. He lives outside of Houston on a 200 some odd acre ranch, and has a masters in education.

G  79     Rush 414    Yds 1723    Avg 4.2     Td 9    Lg  61      |     Rec 76    Yds 498     Avg  6.3     Td 6      Lg 41
Att  12   Comp 6     Yds 129    Pct 50.0   Td  1    Int 1     Rat 81.6
Kr 25    Yds 439   Avg 17.6    Td 0   Lg 38
P 223    Yds 8583   Avg 38.5     Lg 67   Blk  0

Bentley, Albert

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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

Sancho, Ron

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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