Tag Archives: ttm football autograph

College Football HoF, NFL, Pro Football HoF, Super Bowl MVP

Bradshaw, Terry

Card: Pro Set 1990 SuperBowl MVP
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent: 4/5   Received: 4/14  (9 days)

I love these old Pro Set SuperBowl MVP cards. Merv Corning is an amazing artist and did such a classy set for Pro Set. I wish they had done an addendum later and included the additional cards through the latest MVP using Corning, but this could obviously never come to fruition, especially with the dissolution of the Pro Set company and its assets some years ago. The white hitting Terry’s head as he stands there with his hands on his hips is just a stroke of genius. I can see why Terry didn’t autograph it directly on his likeness.

So with Terry, don’t expect a response from him so quickly. He’s typically somebody who only signs about once a year- if that. I was incredibly shocked to have received a response from him in 9 days, but I suspect tax and off-season may have had something to do with that. I was alerted to him signing about 2 weeks before I got the success when I saw a few successes from other posters on the NFL TTM thread on Fanmail.biz, and dropped something quickly in the mail to him the next day.

Terry Bradshaw is a bigger than life personality and one of the first gunslingers in football. An incredible leader and gambler on the field, Bradshaw had his ups and downs before winning 4 Super Bowl Titles, becoming one of the most indelible Football Commentators on television, and being inducted into the NFL HoF in 1989.  Louisiana Tech wasn’t exactly the hub of pro football when Terry Bradshaw- a local product from Shreveport came a calling, but he certainly put them on the map, for other quarterbacks to come.  The Pittsburgh Steelers took Terry with the overall #1 pick of the 1970 draft, -the first season in which the NFL and AFL had merged. (The two leagues however had been conducting combined drafts since 1967.)

The Steelers had become a doormat of the NFL, but with the hiring of Chuck Noll in 1969 and a switch to the AFC, their fortunes slowly began to change.  Bradshaw’s rookie season was horrendous, as he adjusted to the pro game, throwing 6 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. It’d be much of the same over the next few years, 13 TD – 22 INT (1971), 12 TD – 12 INT (’72), and 10TD – 15INT (’73). With a succession of strong drafts, talent would build, but so would frustration. At one point fans didn’t feel that Bradshaw was the key to the future of the franchise, but Bradshaw turned to his spiritual faith to press forward, and with that an amazing statistical transformation also took place. Shed of his stress and outward pursuits, Bradshaw began to refocus his life and thus began the era of the Second Super Bowl Dynasty- the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’d lead the team to SuperBowl victories in 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979. Bradshaw nabbed MVP honors in both 1978 and 1979, becoming the first two time back to back MVP since Bart Starr. What was more astounding was Bradshaw managed to put up his best numbers in what is referred to in NFL annuls as ‘the dead ball era’- a period of time in which passing favored defenders, so offenses were forced to more of a ground game approach. Although injuries claimed a significant percentage of the latter half of his career, he still managed to lodge 107 career wins and retired following the 1983 season. Among his other accomplishments was being named NFL MVP in 1978, and most people forget that he was an able scrambler, rushing for 35 touchdowns over his career.

Bradshaw made the transition seamlessly into the booth, where he has developed a knack for being openly critical of players who do the sport wrong, and also his self-deprecating sense of humor. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989, has appeared in a variety of media including television and movie acting, and has recorded some Country music.  Terry was named to the Pittsburgh Steelers 75th Anniversary team, the NFL 1970’s All Decade Team, College Football Hall of Fame and was named the #50 NFL player of all time.  In 2006 Bradshaw donated a truckload of his personal affects and awards to his Alma Matter, LA Tech for display at the institution. Truly a great guy.

G/GS  168/158     Att 3901    Comp 2025     Yds  27,989     Pct 51.9     Td  212      Int  210     Rat  70.9   |
Rush 444       Yds 2257       Avg 5.1       Td 35       Lg 39

 

NFL, NFLE, WLAF

Bicknell, Jack “Cowboy Jack”

Cards: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991, Proset WLAF 1991 HC
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home.
Sent: 6/1    Received: 7/11  (41 days)

Jack Bicknell was quarterback for the Montclair St. Redhawks back in 1959.  After establishing himself as a successful high school coach, he found himself at Boston College coaching runningbacks in 1968, – a position he’d hold through 1975.  He’d take his first head coaching gig at Maine for the Black Bears, that next year, but return to be named head coach of Boston College in 1981.  He’d really put BC on the map, and put his faith in a young quarterback by the name of Doug Flutie, who led them to a victory against the Miami Hurricanes with a last second hail mary, and won the Heisman in 1984.  Before his arrival at BC, the school hadn’t appeared in a bowl game in some 40 years. Bicknell not only got them there, he got them to four over his tenure including the Tangerine Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Liberty Bowl, and the Hall of Fame Bowl.  Over his coaching career at BC through 1990, Jack’s teams in those 4 bowl appearances went 2-2, and his overall mark was 59-55.

A new football world beckoned in 1991 to Jack, and the WLAF came calling. He’d be named head coach of the Barcelona Dragons franchise and was the face of the franchise for the next 11 seasons.  In the team’s inaugural season the Dragons finished an impressive 8-2, but eventually lost in the World Bowl to the Monarchs. 1992, the team won an overall weaker division, and was bounced from the playoffs.  It wouldn’t be until 1997 that Cowboy Jack won his only World Bowl, 38-24 over the Rhein Fire.  The team also returned to the big game in 1999, and 2001, but lost on both occasions. Bicknell coached the Dragons through 2003, when the franchise was shuttered, finishing with a 61-55 record.

Jack also coached with the Scottish Claymores in 2004 to a 2-8 record, and then the Hamburg Sea Devils in both 2005 (5-5) and 2006 (3-6-1), before citing health reasons for retirement. Boston College in 2007 also named a Scholarship in his honor. He currently has a home in New Hampshire and Florida, and enjoys watching both of his sons coach at the NFL level.

Jack was kind enough to sign 3 cards for me through the mail. I had checked sportscollectors.net and it appeared as though there was no success from him since 2007 so I went ahead and took a stab in the dark on this one that it might just still work.

W 71    L 74   T 0    Pct .489

 

NFL

Givins, Ernest “EG” (2)

Cards: Score 1989, ProSet 1989
Acquired: In Person, 6/10/12, 610 Houston Fan Fest III
See Also: Ernest Givins

Ernest Givins is just a classy guy. He treats his fans incredibly well, – especially those who recognize him and remember him for his playing days with the Oilers. At Fan Fest in Houston this year, both Ernest and Haywood were stationed at the same table.  I had gotten Givins a year or two ago TTM, and in person, lo those many years ago at Oilers Training Camps, so I was super stoked to see him again in person. It did not take me long to recognize him in the crowd wandering around on the floor. When I bellowed “EEEE GGGGG!” ,  he turned around and said hello. I asked him again to do the Electric Slide, and he laughed and said he just might.

A few hours later I got to the front of the line and asked him about it. Haywood started laughing and Ernest told me he had already done it twice, once at the front and back of the auditorium. I growled a bit and we laughed. He resisted the handlers attempts to move his line along and signed 2 cards for me. I thanked him for being so good to his fans, and even to his TTM fans. He told me that he tries extra hard to honor all his requests, and signs everything he can for his fans. I told him that I had gotten some autographs earlier last year and I wanted him to know that his efforts go above and beyond were surely appreciated. I asked him if Louisville had inducted him into their HoF, to which I learned they still hadn’t. (An absolute crime in my book.) He flashed his trademark smile and told me he’d love to be there.

Jeffires has been quoted on record that Givins is the best receiver he has ever seen. Givins played slot, primarily in the run n shoot. While people try to bag on it as a gimmicky offense, remember that most teams now run a spread variant or similar which is the same thing. He always seemed to have somewhere around 900 sub yards, and 70 catches or so, but he also had two other primary receivers (Hill, Jeffires, and Jeffires, Slaughter), that always got more looks than he did. But Givins made the acrobatic catch over the middle, -and rarely dropped the ball.  He was basically the Wes Welker of his day.  Currently Givins is a Vice Principal and coaches semi pro football in Florida, but still looks to be in fine shape. He has been quoted as saying that based on the amount of money kids make these days playing football, give him two weeks to prepare and he’d be back in game shape.

Givins and Jeffires do the Electric Slide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHtL40i2Xvc