Tag Archives: ttm football autograph

CFL, College Football HoF, NFL, NFLE

Ware, Andre (3)

Card: Fleer 1990, Action Packed 1991, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 3/17 Received: 4/5 (18 days)
See Also: Andre Ware, Air Ware

Andre sure got in a lot of great cards in his short amount of time on the starting stage in the NFL. Even after this third stab at a few more autographs, there are a few more cards I could probably nab him on.

I loved Action Packed and GameDay’s sets. Action Packed 1991 was a pretty well designed set, with that simple swoosh that goes through the left side of the image- it maximized the canvas area to focus on the player image. I also really liked the flat helmet image at the end. It’s a really underrated set, and despite the slight smudging is great to get autographed. Most of the images are indeed- action packed. This Gameday image is really nice, however one of the set’s design flaws comes forward a bit when the silver blends against the gray, the image looks a bit more flat. The Fleer 90 card was one of 4 (technically) that had a college photo of Andre in it. (The others being Topps, ProSet, and Score.) We always laughed at the fact that Fleer didn’t find a shot of Andre actually throwing the ball- but instead chose to get a shot of him pitching the ball out. All of these cards were distant set needs for me in my never ending autograph quest.

About the time that Coronavirus broke loose and some stay at home notices were put into place, Andre started signing his TTM mail after a 5-6 year absence from the game. He was initially playing catchup and then started signing some newer requests. I always liked Andre, and I hadn’t TTMed him since 2012, I decided he was ripe for the picking.

As of 2020, Ware remains the steady voice as the color commentator for the Houston Texans game day radio show.

NFLE

Dyal, Mike

Cards: Score 1990, ProSet 1990, Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 9/30 Received: 10/5 (5 days)

Mike Dyal played collegially for Texas A&I University. Initially recruited as a QB, Mike just kept getting bigger and bigger, and moved from QB to WR, eventually settling at TE. Despite having soft hands, decent speed, and good blocking skills, Mike was not drafted in the 1988 NFL Draft. A lot of it had to do with small school stigma- but Mike was on the radar of many team’s priority free agent list. His agent convinced him his best shot was joining the Raiders, where an aging Todd Christensen was the starter, and the long snapper was his backup. He made an impression in camp, and then took a dive so he could make the squad and become the heir to Christensen at the TE position for the Raiders the following season.

In 1989, Mike had his best season as a pro, starting all 16 games for LA. He caught 27 passes for 499 yards- a whopping 18.5 yards per reception and 2 TDs- including a career long 67 yarder. 1990 and 1991 were largely a wash for Mike due to injury, but by the time he returned to the lineup, the position was in different hands under Ethan Horton. He spent 3 games with the Chiefs in in 92, and then split time between the Chiefs and Chargers in 1993 before retiring.

I had no clue that Mike was a living locally in Central Texas. Once I found that out, I wrote him pretty soon afterwards. He responded very quickly on these 3 cards. While Mike’s career was modestly brief as a starter, he made the most of it, appearing on many of the popular brands of the day. These three cards were my favorite of his, with the Fleer sticking out the most to me with a dynamic frontal shot of him with his helmet breaking the plane of the image design.

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College Football HoF, NFL, WLAF

Williams, Reggie (LB)

Cards: ProSet 1989, Action Packed 1990, Action Packed Whizzer White Award 1991, ProSet 1991 WLAF Inserts
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 10/5 Received: 10/17 (12 days)

Reggie Williams played college football at Dartmouth, and was a 3 time All-Ivy League selection from 1973-1975. Reggie was so dominant that he caught the attention of pro scouts, parlaying his efforts to become a 3rd round selection of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1976.

Over the next 14 seasons, Reggie went on to become one of the Bengals best draft picks. He played in an unheard of 206 games (one short of Ken Riley for the franchise record), and virtually owned the entire Bengals record books at linebacker for every statistical category including: career tackles, sacks, interceptions, and fumbles. He also earned the Whizzer White Award in 1985, the NFL Man of the Year Award in 1986, and SI’s Sportsperson of the Year in 1987.

Reggie made waves next as he went on to work in the front office of the World League of American Football‘s New York-New Jersey Knights franchise in 1991, becoming one of the first African American General Managers in any pro capacity.

He’s been at the frontlines of visionary ideas leading sport and NFL initiatives and then working with Disney overseeing their recreational and sports divisions since then. In the final years of his time with the Bengals he also served as a city councilman, and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

Still despite all this, and being virtually an icon with Cincinnati, Reggie has been largely unheralded by his former franchise. A true warrior, he’s had over 25 knee surgeries since his career concluded, and it has taken its toll on his leg. He’s written a book about his life, ‘Resilient by Nature’, where he gives a great wealth of insight into his life, and shares his dedication and willingness to overcome whatever obstacles he faces.

I had wanted to get Reggie’s autograph for sometime. He is the epitome of who I like to get an autograph from and for whom I like to write about. He has had an interesting journey both in and out of the sport- and I feel that he is someone who doesn’t get enough accolades for all he’s done. I wrote him an email through Facebook and he was kind enough to respond to me. We talked briefly about his foray into the World League- where he told me, “He loved the travel.” I sent him some old photos of magazine clippings from Gametime magazines as well that he enjoyed very much. He was doing a book signing in the area, so I sent him a stack of extra cards for his personal collection and to hand out to fans. A man of his word, Reggie signed these cards in no time flat for me.

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