Tag Archives: ttm football autograph

CFL, NFL, WLAF

Tucker, Erroll

psetwlaf91 tucker LL
Card: Pro Set WLAF 1991
Acquired: 2014, EBay. TTM 2015, C/o Home.
Sent: 6/30     Received: 7/27   (27 days)
Failure: TTM 2010, TTM 2013, C/o Home

Well Erroll has been difficult for me to track down and since I had 2 failures, I thought I might as well acquire at least one autograph of him on the cheap through EBay. Anyway, I wasn’t too happy with this seller. After I scanned in the card, and added it into the WLAF book of autographs, I noticed something when it was lined up next to its sister cards: it had been trimmed. Also called shaving, trimming is a frowned upon practice that has gained notoriety as of late because of media attention after a Honus Wagner had its edges removed just ever so slightly to increase the value of the card. In this case a full 2 cm had been removed from the bottom of the card, and as I had doubles of Tucker’s card I could easily see that the height wasn’t consistent with the other cards. Such a pain as I still needed another autograph of him on his ProSet WLAF League Leader card. I decided to give Tucker a final shot in 2015, and it appears my persistence paid off as not only did I get Erroll on another  base card to replace the Ebay card, but also I got him on his league leader card.

psetwlaf91 tuckerA return specialist and speed merchant at Utah, Erroll Tucker led the nation in kick return (29.1) and punt return (24.3) averages in 1985. He was drafted in the 5th round by the Pittsburgh Steelers but did not see any playing time his rookie season. Tucker returned to the NFL in 1988 playing for the Bills (1988-1989)  and Patriots (1989).

Tucker was selected by the Orlando Thunder with the 8th overall pick in the defensive back portion of the WLAF draft in 1991. His 4.6 speed and previous NFL experience fit in well with Don Matthews man to man defense scheme.  Erroll made 2 interceptions in the league’s inaugural season but he was more dangerous on special teams returning 7 kickoffs for 257 yards and a 95 yard TD, in limited duty behind Carl Painter. On punt returns Tucker was equally dangerous returning 18 punts for 373 yards and a 66 yard TD. He earned All-World Honors after the season.

Tucker decided to keep playing and went right over to the CFL signing with the Calgary Stampeders. After winning the 80th Grey Cup, Tucker decided to retire.  He’s been involved with coaching at the college level and currently lives in California.

NFL 18
KR 38     Yds  746     Avg 19.6    TD 0     Lg 37
PR  29    Yds 245      Avg  8.4       TD 0    Lg 26
Tac N/a    Sac N/a     Fum 3
Int 0    Yds 0    Avg -.-   TD 0   Lg -.-

WLAF 10
KR 7      Yds 259    Avg  37.0    TD 1    Lg 95T
PR  18     Yds 373     Avg 20.7    TD 1  Lg 66T
Tac  39     Sac N/a      Fum N/a
Int 2      Yds  1     Avg .5      TD 0    Lg 1

CFL 19
KR   4       Yds 120    Avg 30.0     TD 0   Lg 51
PR 20      Yds 162    Avg 8.1        TD 0   Lg 62
Tac 58    Sac  0    Fum 0
Int  1      Yds 11     Avg 11.0      Td 0    Lg 11

CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Gardere, Peter ‘Peter the Great’

UTUD11 PGardereCards: UT Upper Deck 2011, UT Upper Deck ATA 2011
Acquired: TTM 2015, C/o Work, IP 9/19/15, UT Coop Fan Fest
Sent: 6/30     Received:  7/10     (10 days)

Pete Gardere is one of these dark horse Texas legends. I mean outside of Texas- if you weren’t a Longhorn fan, I’d be verily impressed if you knew who he was, and his contribution to the school. Pete played during the dying years of the SWC, when the way you got to watch games was on the Raycom Sports Network on that Fox affiliate- before it was Fox. Texas had David McWilliams at head coach, who was an acorn off of the Darrell Royal tree.

peter the greatGardere arrived at Texas and quickly assumed the starting quarterback duty as a true freshman.  Over his time at UT Gardere brought Texas painfully into the modern era of quarterbacking in a pro style offense. He also moonlighted as a punter. While playing for the school he set over 15 school records, which were broken and rewritten by the likes of Colt McCoy, Vince Young, James Brown, and Major Applewhite over the next 25 years.

The one record that still stands at this point- much to the chagrin of Sooners fans, is that Peter was 4-0 in the Red River Rivalry versus Oklahoma. In every contest, Gardere found a way to beat the Sooners, and even more impressive was that everytime the Longhorns were nationally unranked. Gardere finished with a record of 25-16 as a starter for the Longhorns.

UTUD11 PGardere ATADespite his resume, Pete was not drafted, however he was given an invitation to camp with the Seattle Seahawks in 1993. He’d be cut, but quickly scooped up by the CFL, and signed by the Sacramento Gold Miners. He’d be the team’s punter and serve as emergency quarterback from 1993 through 1994. In 1995, Pete was the punter for the Memphis Mad Dogs- but the team contracted after the season. Gardere then signed with the New Orleans Saints, but after he was cut in camp, elected to retire from football. Currently he lives in Austin. He served as a filming consultant for the quarterbacks on the movie Varsity Blues, and has been involved in real estate in the lucrative Central Texas market for many years.

I met him at the UT Coop Fan Fest in September where he penned two more cards for me. He then mused about how old he was because I could remember watching him as a kid on Raycom Sports Network during those dying days of the SWC.

Arena, NFL, NFLE, ufl

Greisen, Chris

tntufl11 greisenCard: TNT UFL 2011
Acquired: TTM 2015, C/o Work
Sent: 7/18     Received:  8/29   (42 days)

In the short lived history of the UFL, no quarterback was more prolific than the Florida Tusker and Virginia Destroyers quarterback Chris Greisen.

Long before the signal caller played in the UFL, Chris was a 7th round pick out of Northwestern Missouri, of the Arizona Cardinals in 1999. A two time All-American after leading the Bearcats to their first ever National Championship, Greisen held numerous records upon leaving the school.  He played sparingly for the Cards over the first 3 seasons, and was released in 2002, only to latch on to the Redskins roster by the end of the year. Eyeing more experience, Chris joined the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe. He had a pretty solid season playing in Germany, throwing for 10 TDs, and 843 yards in only 131 attempts.

Following his time in the NFLE, Greisen entered the Arena Football League 2 and played for the Green Bay Blizzard. After a successful debut for the team in 2004, Chris was quickly signed by the Dallas Desperados and became the primary backup.  Signing with the Georgia Force in 2007, Chris was finally able to take over the reigns as the starting quarterback.  The Force posted a 14-2 record as Greisen threw a league record 117 TD passes. He’d continue to enjoy success with the AFL until it suspended operations in 2009.

Wanting to continue his career, Chris pursued a shot with the UFL Florida Tuskers in 2009, backing up former NFL pro Brooks Bollinger. With the return of the AFL in early 2010, Chris decided to split his time in both leagues. He signed with the Milwaukee Iron and then went on to throw an AFL record 5,139 yards.  Back to the Tuskers after the season, Chris ended up starting for the team after Bollinger went down due to injuries.  He’d lead the team to the Championship game and throw for 346 yards while rushing for 2 scores in a loss to the Las Vegas Locos.  He signed with the Dallas Cowboys after the UFL season.

With the UFL still clinging to life in 2011 and the Tuskers moving to Virginia, Chris returned to play for the Destroyers under Marty Schottenheimer. He’d complete 21 passes for 174 yards as the Destroyers vanquished their arch rival Las Vegas Locos 17-3 in the Championship Game. Greisen played in the final season of the UFL’s existence in 2012.

Since then he’s opened up a passing academy in Wisconsin, where he trains and counsels future professional quarterback prospects. I had made this great card of him and decided to see if he’d sign it for me and enclosed extras for him to keep. A month or two later I got a response from him thanking me for the cards, and asking for a few more of ‘these awesome cards’.

NFL    0/5        ATT  16       COMP 7       YDS  69         PCT  43.8%
TD 1        INT 0       RAT 77.3
RUSH 1       YDS 1       AVG  1.0     TD 0     LG 1

NFLE       ATT 131        COMP 76        YDS 843         PCT 58.0%
TD 10        INT 5       RAT 86.8
RUSH  24      YDS  171      AVG  1.7      TD  1    LG  9

AFL          ATT 1695        COMP 1185        YDS 15108         PCT 69.9%
TD 324        INT 40       RAT 127.23
RUSH  46     YDS  70     AVG  1.5      TD  16