Tag Archives: ttm football autograph

NFL

Dykes, Hart Lee (2)


Cards: Upper Deck 1991, ProSet 1989, GameDay 1992, Collegiate Collection 1991
Acquired: TTM 2016, C/o Home
Sent: 11/14/16    Received: 12/16/17     (397 days)
See Also:  Hart Lee Dykes

Hart Lee Dykes had some very nice cards during his heyday. Outside of his GameDay and his ProSet entries, there was his Score 1990 and his Action Packed 1990/91 that had solid action shots. Color me unimpressed by the warmup picture of him in his Upper Deck debut. (It is notable because it comes from a company that boasts about its quality action photography and poster cards.) The Collegiate Collection card is an OK photo but a terribly bland design. Why did I send those cards and not the Score 1990 or the Action Packed 1990? – I didn’t. He replaced my cards with these other ones.

In a rare move I traded the Upper Deck 1991 to D-Rock on Sportscollectors.net- ironically for another Patriot, Eugene Chung (Action Packed Rookies 1992) for a set need.

I then applied a remover to take the dedication to ‘Earl’ from the GameDay 1992 card. I don’t use removers, ever, but I made a special exemption here. I genuinely wanted that autographed card and to flip through the collection and see the name Earl in it would just drive me nuts. Again I do not like the idea of removing autographs/ dedications from cards. Typically that is a technique that is reserved for resale purposes, something I am strictly against.

I kept the sad looking Collegiate Connection card and the Pro Set 1989.  Hart Lee certainly had a very unique autograph. I mean I think he’s one of a handful of players who could get away with using a heart as the main part of his autograph.

Despite having a bevy of teams get caught with their hands in the cookie jar bidding for Dykes’ services, Hart Lee went on to have a prolific college career and still holds many of the Big 8 records today.

NFL

Stewart, James

Cards: Atomic 2001, Upper Deck 2000
Acquired: TTM 2017, C/o Home
Sent: 8/29     Received: 9/30  (32 days)

Tecmo Super Bowl on the Super Nintendo expanded upon the previous entries most notably updating the rosters and adding the Jaguars and the Panthers. I played the game, but not with the same fervor as I did the previous entries- as the Houston Oilers had been gutted due to the salary cap and Bud Adams meddling. The Jags showcased James Stewart as their main back. He was more of a powerback with high hitting power and low speed and provided somewhat of a challenge when he was in excellent condition.

James was selected in the first round of the 1995 draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars (19th overall). This draft had a pretty solid lineup of runningback talent headlined by the cursed Ki-Jana Carter. Other notables included Tyrone Wheatley, Napoleon Kaufman, Rashaan Salaam, Sherman Williams, Curtis Martin, and Terrell Davis. Stewart plodded away behind the Jaguars line for 5 seasons. His best year came in 1999 when he put up 931 yards on 249 carries, while rushing for 13 TDs.

In 2000, he was allowed to sign as a free agent with the Detroit Lions. The Lions had been looking for a replacement for Barry Sanders since his sudden retirement in 1999. While James was up to the task, it would’ve been impossible to replace the future Hall of Famer. Still, Stewart put together 1184 yards and 10 TDs in 2000, and 1021 yards and 4 TDs in 2002.  During the 2003 preseason, James’ shoulder was shattered. Unable to fully recover from the injury he retired at the conclusion of the season.

G/GS 101/69        Rush 1478       Yds  5841        Avg 4.0      TD 48     Lg 56
Rec 220       Yds 1715      Avg 7.8        TD 9        Lg 56

Arena, NFL

Dixon, James (2)


Cards: Score 1990, ProSet 1990, Topps 1990
Acquired: TTM 2017, C/o Home
Sent: 8/21    Received: 9/12    (21 days)
See Also: James Dixon

James is notable as he helped rookie Troy Aikman break the NFL rookie passing record (at the time) with 203 yards receiving, including that 75 yard bomb.  He also set the club mark with his 1,181 kick off return yards, breaking the mark previously set by Mel Renfro back in 1964- all in his rookie season.  Still he’s fallen into relative obscurity over the years and lives comfortably in Texas.

James Dixon was quite lucky. He played on a terrible Cowboys squad, but stuck out enough to get noticed before he faded off into obscurity. It was enough that 4 major brands (Topps, ProSet, Score, and Action Packed) all put out cards of him. After returning to the hobby, I was surprised that he didn’t appear in any lists on websites or any fans were clamoring for his address, so after many years, I decided to go ahead and do some sleuthing and figure out where he was at. He did not disappoint, signing these 3 cards in under a month.