Tag Archives: ttm football autograph

College Football HoF, NFL

McMahon, Jim (2) “Jimmy Mac”

Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1989 Update, ProSet 1991, Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent: 10/12   Received: 10/24  (12 days)
See Also: Jim McMahon

So I had gotten Jim almost 20 years ago on a card during a golf tournament, and decided after reading about his recent struggles in “Sports Illustrated” to write him. It was really striking to read about his battles with confirmed early stage dementia from blows to the head that he suffered from over the years playing football. His situation has gotten to a point that his short term memory sometimes gives out. For example, he will know he is going to the airport, run into somebody and have a conversation with them. Two minutes later he’s already asking himself who that person was.  In other words he has little short term memory. Over Jim’s time playing for the Bears, Chargers, Eagles, Vikings, Cardinals, Browns (only in the preseason), and Packers, he suffered at least 3 concussions. On one vicious hit against the Packers, he was picked up and piledriven into the turf. Jim never was taken out of a game for a concussion, and in fact, in a game against Detroit, doctors said his concussion, “Cleared up by halftime.”

Jim is open about his time, and said that if he could do it over- he’d have done baseball instead, but he ultimately knows that football paid his bills through college, as a professional and then on into retirement. McMahon lends some ‘star power’ to the concussion lawsuit group that has greater than 2,500 players as plantiffs against the NFL and helmet makers for knowingly risking head trauma to former players.  Looking at McMahon now, you can see the brash, punky, cavalier image is still there, but clearly he has been worn down as the concussions and the 18 surgeries have taken their toll. He’s granted numerous interviews to media outlets and radio stations, even doing a candid piece for ESPN’s “Outside the Lines”.

He tries to spend a lot of time golfing, and working charity events. He’s involved with design of his apparel line, “SwangWear”, which focuses on quality, functionality, and fun, for the golfing enthusiast.  Jim also gives a percentage of the profit to his sister’s memorial fund, The Lynda McMahon Ferguson Memorial Fund, to help promote literacy. McMahon continues to give time back to the community by being involved with St. Jude as an ambassador and the Wounded Warrior Project.

I am very interested in the lawsuits and the further medical research. I myself suffered 4 concussions before I was 18. I suffered one from heading a soccer ball as a child, one from Scouting where I blacked out for 10 seconds, one from fighting, and finally one from football from constant hitting. I hope that something can be done, as I worry about my own short term memory.

These are some great cards of Jim here. I really wanted to get at least one Bears card signed of his though. I realized that I had not included any of them to send out and had to remove some other great Eagles cards I had to get this ProSet 1989 in. Still getting two of him on these great Chargers cards, just doesn’t do him justice, as his stay was so short there in San Diego. The ProSet 1989 Chargers card would be rushed out so fast that this one is an error card missing the ‘traded’ corner strip. (Still it is worthless because of the sheer overprinting the Pro Set Corporation did of their card lines.) The Fleer 1990 card was the first one from the manufacturer to hit the market since the 1950s. It is generic, but something about it is original in the framing of Jim and how he breaks the picture plane into the yellow. The helmet seems thrown on there arbitrarily along with the hideous shine, but in a sense this added to the naive fun of the product. Again another Eagles card with the ProSet 1991 card. By then McMahon was a full time devotee to the helmet eye shield and still wore the headband, but I like the ‘standing tall’ in the pocket look here.  A great card of on the field action with just the right distance and cropping on the image. Pro Set’s 90 and 91 sets design-wise really run fairly seamlessly together into the 92 series 1 set, before a complete and confusing departure from their design struck the 1992 series 2 cards and ran the company off the tracks.

NFL, University of Texas

Speyrer, Charles “Cotton”

utud11 speyrerCards: UT Upper Deck 2011, UT Upper Deck 2011 Memorable Moments, UT Upper Deck 2011 Icons
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent: 12/10     Received: 12/13  (3 days)

Playing split end for the Texas Longhorns during the advent of the Wishbone under head coach Darrell Royal, Cotton Speyrer was witness to, and a part of integral moments in Texas football history during the late 60s.  Speyrer was an All-American in 1969 and 1970 and All-SWC in 1969. He led the team in receiving in 1968 and 1969 catching passes from quarterback James Street. In the wishbone, it was block first, catch second for the wide receiver corps. On occasion when the run game didn’t work for the Longhorns, they’d put it in the air to Cotton and the receiving corps. During the 1969 Cotton Bowl versus Notre Dame, Cotton had 161 yards receiving and caught two touchdowns in a 21-17 win. He just had this habit of showing up big, in the big games that counted. During his time with the Longhorns, the team won 30 games straight, en route to two National Championships.
utud11 MM 86 passAfter playing for the Longhorns through 1970, Cotton was taken in the second round of the 1971 draft by the Washington Redskins. He did make the roster of the team, but was traded to the Baltimore Colts later in the year for Roy Jefferson. It was through no fault of his own though because, head coach George Allen preferred older, seasoned veterans, versus young, fresh, rookie talent. He’d break his arm in 1971 before he even took the field for the Colts. Speyrer’s rookie season was essentially 1972, where he was used at receiver and later at returner. His best season came in 1973, returning 17 kickoffs for 496 yards (29.2 average) and a 101 yard touchdown against the Bills.  He’d also makeutud11 speyrer icons 17 receptions for 311 yards and 4 touchdowns for the squad that year, and throw a 54 yard TD on a trick play against the Jets. Cotton played another season for the Colts, and then was traded back to the Redskins in 1975.  Unable to make the ‘Skins roster, Cotton was signed by the Dolphins and played on special teams, where he retired in 1976.  He moved back to the Austin area, and has been involved in numerous charitable activities, golf tournaments, and Longhorn reunions.

Speyer marks the fastest response I have ever gotten from an autograph request, at a speedy 3 days.

G/Gs  36/0        Rec  34         Yds    575     Avg 15.7        Td  5      Lg  47
Kr  39      Yds  1035       Avg  26.5         Td 1      Lg 101t
Pr 8      Yds 54     Avg 5.4      Td 0     Lg 18

NFL, Pro Football HoF

Tittle, Y.A. “Yat” (1926-2017)

Cards: Upper Deck Legends 1997, Topps Football Archives
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o YA Tittle & Associates
Sent: 10/12   Received: 10/22  (10 days)

YA Tittle first played way, way, back in the days of the AAFC in 1948 and 1949 for the Baltimore Colts. Arguably the best things that came out of the All-American Football Conference were the Colts, Cleveland Browns.. and YA Tittle, who joined the NFL in 1950.  While with the AAFC, YA was 309/598  for 4731 yards, 30 TDs and 27 picks. He’d be named rookie of the year in 1948.

Pretty good stats for a kid from Marshall, Tx who ran out on the University of Texas, went to LSU, and had asthma.  Well the Colts- went on hiatus really, after the 1950 season, so YA signed with the San Fransisco 49ers and became a major building block for the team’s “Million Dollar Backfield”. Although he shared passing duties his first two seasons, it didn’t seem to discourage Tittle, as he threw for 20 touchdowns in 1953 in his first season as a full-time starter. He’d also play most of the 1954 season with a broken hand. Tittle was named to the ProBowl in 1953, 1954, 1957, and 1959. For his efforts in 1957 where he threw for 2157 yards, completed 63.1% of his passes, 13 touchdowns, and 220 yards rushing, YA won AP honors.  During this period Tittle would perfect one of the first specialized pass plays called, the “Alley Oop”- a jump pass he spontaneously worked on with receiver RC Owens during that season. The alley oop was the predecessor to the modern day lob pass and actually inspired the basketball play by the same name. After 10 seasons with the ‘9ers and the emergence of John Brodie, YA thought about retiring but was traded straight up for a rookie to the New York Giants in 1960.

It’d be there that Yat cemented his legacy as a legendary quarterback and Giant great. The Giants turned him loose and the renewed 35 year old Tittle took the league by storm with 3 of the best seasons of his career setting the passing touchdown record in 1962 with 33, and 1963 with 36. In a game during the 1962 season, Tittle threw an earth shattering 7 touchdown passes and 505 yards in one game. The touchdown number has never been surpassed, but tied by 4 other players including George Blanda and Sid Luckman. Tittle won the NFL MVP honor in 1963 for his 33 touchdown passes.

The amazing thing about the touchdown passing record, is that it stood for over 20 years, from an era where passing wasn’t the science it is today, and it was done in  less games.  (His passing record would be shattered by Dan Marino, and later Tom Brady.) From 61-63 Yat was named to the Pro Bowl and AP, before he had an injury plagued final season in 1964. Tittle was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971 and lives in California. He still runs his insurance agency YA Tittle and Associates, that he started when he was still playing football.

Att  4395     Comp  2427     Yds  33070    Pct 55.2%
Td  242     Int  248     Rat 74.3
Rush 372    Yds 1245    Avg      Td 39    Lg   45

UPDATE: 10/9/17- YA Tittle passed away today at the grand old age of 90.