Tag Archives: ttm football autographs

NFL

Hill, Kent

Cards: Topps 1983, Topps 1988
Acquired:  TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 11/8  Received: 11/17  (9 days)

Kent Hill was a member of some solid offensive lines during his career. Perhaps best remembered as blocking for HoFer Eric Dickerson and seeing the Rams to their lone Super Bowl Appearance against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1980, Hill spent his final two season blocking for the Houston Oilers alongside Bruce Matthews and Mike Munchak for HoFer Warren Moon. Over his career he was named to the ProBowl 5 times (1980, & 1982-1985).

Originally drafted by the Rams with their first round selection out of Georgia Tech in 1979, Hill would earn the first LA Rams team honor for rookie of the year.  He’d go on over his career to start 114 games over a 132 game slate before being traded by the Rams to Houston as part of the mega trade that ushered in the Jim Everett era in Los Angeles.  During his tenure on the Rams Kent was honored to play with Jackie Slater, Doug Smith, and Tom Newberry among others.

I was very surprised to locate Kent through SotL, – little less that there were any cards of him, but I was extremely happy to add him to my collection.  A really nice guy. He wrote on the letter, “Thanks for writing!” A solid through and through lineman that really never got his due, he’s the perfect addition to my Hall of Fame.  Of odd note is the fact that Kent Hill played along side Drew Hill (no relation) at Georgia Tech, were both drafted in the same year by the Rams, and then played together on the Oilers.

 

Arena, NFL, WLAF

Shaw, Ricky


Cards: Ultimate WLAF 1992, WildCard WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent:  10/6  Received: 10/17 (11 days)

A 4th round pick out of Oklahoma State in 1988 by the New York Giants, Ricky Shaw recovered a fumble playing primarily on special teams his rookie year. Cut midway through the 1989 season, the NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles would sign Shaw where he’d spend the rest of the season and 1990. Originally meant as a replacement for Paul McGowan, the Birmingham Fire of the WLAF would draft Shaw to play in their 3-4 defense alongside John Brantley and Maurice Oliver, at linebacker in 1992, but the London Monarchs had different plans and traded to get Ricky from the Fire.

The London Monarchs, fresh off of their World Bowl I victory, had their work cut out for them – reassembling the team from coaches to players as much of their staff had been picked clean for NFL and CFL rosters. They’d make the move and Shaw would provide valuable depth to a depleted Monarchs team notching .5 sacks during the season. After the season the WLAF would reorganize and Ricky would return stateside.

He’d play in the Arena Football League for the Orlando Predators, then in 1995 sign with the San Jose Sabrecats and play alongside WLAF veteran Pat McGuirk through 1996, recording 5 receptions for 28 yards and a touchdown, to go along with 7 tackles and a sack. In 1997, Ricky played one final season for the Miluaukee Mustangs and retired.

Post retirement, I stumbled Ricky through Sotl.com, and found that he was working as a school teacher. He was more than happy to sign a few cards for me and signed these 2 cards in 11 days. I also included a few duplicates for him to keep and pass out to his students.

NFL

Calloway, Chris

Cards: Action Packed Rookies 1990, Topps Metal 1996
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent:  9/2  Received: 10/7   (35 days*)
*Slight delay. Forwarded from old address.

Chris Calloway is another receiver from the Great Blue of Michigan, who played opposite of blue chip prospect Greg McMurtry, finishing with 8 touchdown receptions.  At 5’10”, 189 it was thought that the speedster may have been a bit small, but the Steelers pulled the trigger on him in the 4th round of the 1990 draft.  He’d make 10 receptions his rookie season and 15 in 1991, but would find himself on the street in 1992.

Calloway would find a home with the New York Giants who liked his speed, route running, and willingness to do the dirty work. Calloway would continue to build slowly off of his previous seasons with 335 yards receiving, endearing him to Giants fans. Chris in fact his first 6 seasons saw career highs in receptions and yards every season.  After a slight dip in 1996- Chris would peak with 848 yards receiving and 8 touchdowns in 1997. 1998 was a career high in catches for Calloway with 62.  Chris signed with Atlanta in 1999 and start 6 games, making 314 yards receiving. He’d then play one final season in New England starting 2 games in 2000 before retiring in 2001.  At the end of his career, Chris ranked 7th on the Giants receptions list with 334 catches. Among receivers Chris reminds me a lot of former Houston Oilers wideout Curtis Duncan. Since retirement, Calloway has not forgotten about football and avidly wants to get into coaching or scouting. He lives in the Altanta area and is also a member of SotL.

Well this is the first one I got back TTM after moving with my forwarding address on it. I’m assuming it went back to my old address in California from Chris’ place in Georgia then came back to me here in Texas in a round about sort of way. Still I am happy to add him to my collection. Chris’ Action Packed Rookies card from 1990 was another example of Hi-Pro Marketing doing their due diligence at the time as this would be one of the earliest of his rookie cards by 4 or 5 years. His Topps Finest gives you a good idea of what the card industry was doing during the late 90s as it was losing traction and attempting to feel out its market. Using a similar metal process to Playoff, Topps produced this shiny metal format for a while, before returning to a much more flat style. I was surprised that the card also took the ink as well as it did.  Here are Chris’ final statistics:

G/Gs  158/96    Rec  386      Yds 5497       Avg 14.2       Td 30       Lg 68