Tag Archives: ttm football autographs

NFL, University of Texas

Leaks, Roosevelt “Rosey”

Card: UT Upper Deck 2011, UT Upper Deck 2011 AA
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 11/30/11   Received:  4/16/12  (139 days)

UT is a machine when it comes to cranking out quality runningbacks. While some point to recent names like Ricky Williams, Priest Holmes, and Cedric Benson, take a look at Roosevelt Leaks, -the man who made Earl Campbell play second fiddle for his Freshman season.  Leaks was a consensus All American in 1973 and set the school record for most yards rushing (since broken) with 342 against SMU.  A team captain and MVP, Roosevelt set an SWC mark with 1,415 yards rushing that season and was named the MVP of the Conference.  Today he is ranked 7th all time on the school’s rushing chart totaling 2,923 career yards and was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1985.

The Baltimore Colts needed a presence at fullback and felt that Roosevelt fit the bill, taking him in the 5th round of the 1975 draft. Considered the first guy in the weight room and the last one out, Leaks over his career was utilized as a short yardage back but was also a punishing blocker. His best season came in 1976, where he ran for 445 yards and 7 touchdowns.  After 5 seasons in Baltimore, Roosevelt signed with the Bills in 1980. He’d experience a small renaissance scoring 6 touchdowns in 1981 and 5 touchdowns in 1982 while blocking for RB Joe Cribbs.  In the end, Roosevelt finished his pro career with 32 career touchdowns, before retiring after the 1983 season as a Buffalo Bill.

He’s retired to the Austin area, where he resides today,  is an active member of his chapter of the NFLPA, and a real estate developer.

G/Gs 107/59    Car  663    Yds  2406    Avg  3.6     Td  28    Lg  42
Rec  71    Yds  590    Avg  8.3    Td 4    Lg 27


NFL, ufl

Glanville, Jerry

Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1990, ProSet 1991
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o Home
Sent:  2/19     Received: 2/25  (6 days)
See Also: Houston Oilers Official Autograph Souvenir 

Jerry Glanville certainly has earned a reputation for being controversial- from wearing all black at football games, getting bit by a rattlesnake before a game, to leaving tickets at the will call ticket booth for Elvis. Its these antics that earned Glanville a reputation in the media over his accomplishments as a coach primarily for the Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons.

After his college career as a linebacker ended at Western Kentucky, Jerry became a graduate assistant at the school alongside Joe Bugel. By 1974 the enigmatic Glanville had worked his way into the professional ranks with the Detroit Lions as an assistant coach. He’d join the Falcons as an assistant in 1978, and be promoted to defensive coordinator in 1979. He’d help the team win its first NFC West Division Title in 1980 behind strong defensive play, and remain with the franchise through 1982. Glanville briefly joined the Bills in 1983, before heading over to the Oilers to become their defensive coordinator in 1984. With the dismissal of Hugh Campbell after the 1985 season, Glanville secured the head coaching job from owner Bud Adams, and vowed to return the Oilers to glory- something they hadn’t seen since the Luv Ya’ Blu Era and Bum Phillips.

After a slow start in 1986, Glanville’s team began delivering on those promises in 1987. The team rolled to a 10-6 record and second place in the contentious AFC Central and advanced to the Divisional Round after beating the Seahawks in an overtime Wild Card contest. They’d get spanked by Denver. The Central at the time consisted of Marty Schottenheimer in Cleveland, Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh, Sam Wyche in Cincinatti and Jerry in Houston. The Oilers had been a disrespected doormat since the early 80s, but under Jerry’s leadership they transformed into a mean and dirty team. The Oilers gambling defense and special teams became the hallmark of the franchise and the Astrodome became known to other teams as: The House of Pain. The Oilers quickly became upstarts, and were rivals of every team in the division. Infamously after being skewered by the Oilers at the Astrodome, Noll approached Glanville at mid-field after the game and accused him of being dirty. Wyche and Glanville traded punches running up the score on each other’s home contests. The Oilers were also known as a ruthless home team, but a paper tiger on the road- that got in trouble making stupid penalties and errors.

Glanville also had a flare for implementing college style offenses, forcing Warren Moon to run the option, and quietly implementing portions of the Run ‘N Shoot offense, calling it the “Red Gun”. Glanville returned the Oilers to the playoffs in 1988, and again the Oilers came on late to beat the Browns in a snowy nail-biter at Cleveleand 24-23 advancing to the Divisional Round. Again the Oilers were beaten- this time by Buffalo. By 1989, Glanville’s schtick was beginning to wear, and the Oilers, were the prime losers in Plan B as many future players and stars left for greener pastures. Among the bigger names to leave during the Glanville years were offensive lineman John Davis and special teams demon Steve Tasker leaving for Buffalo, safety Keith Bostic heading for Indianapolis, and TE Jamie Williams headed for San Fransisco. Eventually this took a heavy toll on the Oilers’ depth. They’d scrape up enough elbow grease to enter the playoffs in 1989 and 9-7 but be bounced in the first round after losing an embarrassing contest to the Steelers. During the game, Jerry would kick an onside to Pittsburgh to show them how much he disrespected their offense. It only served to backfire in his face. It would be the end of the road for Jerry in Houston. Unable to get past the Divisional Round of the playoffs, Bud Adams demanded Glanville’s resignation after the season. It was sudden and unexpected for somebody who had guided the team out of the cellar of a hotly contested division and into the playoffs 3 straight seasons.  A tearful farewell by Glanville, only proved to be what amounted to crocodile tears between the two, as Glanville was quickly snatched up by Atlanta, while Houston went with the opposite of Jerry in Jack Pardee.

It appeared that Jerry was going to have the final laugh against Houston at first. He drubbed the Oilers 47-27  in his debut and then gave the gameball to SMU (-a team that had been trounced by Pardee’s Houston Cougars a year before 95-21). The Falcons embraced Jerry’s persona going so far as welcoming the franchise back to its black uniform roots. A full-time commitment to the Red Gun offense saw the transformation of Chris Miller into an All Pro quarterback, and the fleecing of the Colts in the Jeff George trade allowed the Falcons to get offensive tackle Chris Hinton and budding wide receiver Andre Rison from Indianapolis, in addition to a bevvy of draft choices.  He’d also sign cast off Oilers, grabbing Mike Rozier and Robert Lyles in 1990, and Drew Hill in 1991 via free agency. After a 5-11 mark in 1990, Jerry helped Atlanta return to the playoffs for the first time in roughly 10 years after the 1991 season posting a 10-6 record. The Falcons also played close to the fire like the Oilers, with an aggressive 3-4 defense, great special teams, and a bad attitude, but after taking a step back in 1992 and 1993 with duplicate 5-11 records, Glanville’s tenure in Atlanta would be up. He’d be replaced by his personal friend June Jones-which would initially chide Glanville.  Jerry was a notorious ‘doghouser’ and if you didn’t play the way he wanted, you were either cut, traded, or even worse- sat on the bench.  During his tenure in Atlanta, Glanville had the distinction of getting rid of not one, but two future Hall of Famers in the beginning of their careers. Brett Farve was be traded to the Packers for John Stephens, and future CFL HoFer Mike Pringle was cut but found greater glory in the CFL as their career leading rusher.

Glanville spent extensive time in the studio as an NFL broadcaster, a stock car racing owner, and then returned to college football in 2005 rekindling his friendship with June Jones at Hawaii. After 2 seasons there as the defensive coordinator, Jerry brought his style to Portland State to coach the Vikings, but after a dismal tenure there from 2007-2009, Jerry was dismissed. In 2010, the UFL hired Jerry Glanville to coach the Hartford Colonials. Assembling an impressive staff and then rallying fans, Glanville couldn’t understand why the UFL couldn’t work. Then the UFL ‘suspended’ the Colonials before they even took the field. Jerry was not without a job. The league reassigned him to color commentating games, and helping the league find new locations to play at. Glanville did not answer my question about if the UFL had folded.

Jerry Glanville was a character I grew up with. I really liked him. I just thought that his mouth and attitude got him in a lot of trouble with other teams and the media. While he’d always have something smart to say, he was always a target. I remember being very upset that the Oilers fired him- especially since he had guided the team to the playoffs those previous seasons. When people talk about the attitude of Rex Ryan, I always tell people he was nothing compared to the bravado that is Jerry Glanville.

W 63  L  73   Pct .463

CFL, Heisman Trophy Winner, NFL, XFL

Salaam, Rashaan (1974-2016)

Cards: SkyBox Impact 1995, Topps XFL 2001
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home.
Sent: 9/2/11  Received: 3/24/12  (204 days)

Well I had chocked it up to the mail gods that I would not be receiving this one back, but after a 200+ day wait, I received these two beauties back in the mail. Salaam had been signing at a breakneck pace, and I had been tracking him through Sportscollectors.net, so I shot these two cards out as soon as I had a chance back in September of last year. It appears that I was in the first round of signings that had to wait a while. Still I am really happy to add Salaam to my collection and he was kind enough to inscribe the cards with his Heisman year.

Rashaan Salaam first came to my attention when Texas joined the Big 12. An imposing runner, he had 2,055 yards in 1994- still one of the highest numbers in college history. He’d have his best game against the Longhorns, galloping for some 350+ yards against them, (-obviously a CU record), becoming the first Buff to win the Heisman, and grabbing Unanimous All-American honors. While I thought that the Buffs would continue to provide a rival to the Longhorns, unfortunately their 3rd place national ranking after the season was their best, for the rest of Colorado’s time in the Big 12.  Salaam declared for the NFL draft after his amazing 1994 season.

The Chicago Bears in 1995, now led by head coach Dave Wannastedt, tapped Salaam with the 7th pick overall in the 1995 draft. Salaam had a decent rookie season. In his rookie campaign, he amassed over 1000 yards rushing and had 10 touchdowns.  The runningback Sophomore jinx struck in 1996 as Salaam started only 6 games that season, plagued by injuries running for a shade under 500 yards. It also didn’t help that Rashaan didn’t protect the rock well, and after a short 1997, the writing was on the wall with the addition of Curtis Enis to the roster in 1998. Salaam was a free agent, and played briefly for the Browns and Packers in 1999.

Salaam was a rare breed as far as backs go. He could do it all, but the abuse he took running for Colorado clearly had taken its toll by the time he emerged onto the NFL scene. The double-edged sword to Salaam was that the more carries he got, the more dangerous he became. After sitting it out for a few years, the XFL called wanting to know if he was interested in reviving his career in 2001. Salaam took the opportunity by the horns, and was drafted by the Memphis Maniax. In his first game Rashaan ran for a league high 156 yards, but was injured with 4 games left in the season. He’d accumulate 528 yards on the ground (4th), 5 TDs rushing (3rd), 88 YPG (2nd), and  key the Maniax’s league leading rushing game.  The league disbanded after the season.

Salaam attempted a comeback to the NFL, with the Detroit Lions in 2002, but did not make the cut. He then spent a brief time with the Argonauts in the CFL, and retired after the season. Salaam also made an appearance in Tecmo Super Bowl Final Edition for Super Nintendo where he was a very good budget runningback for the Bears.

NFL  G/Gs 33/21 Rush 471   Yds 1684   Avg  3.6     Td  14    Lg 42
Rec 16   Yds  120   Avg 7.5   Td  1   Lg 18

XFL  G/Gs 6/6   Rush  114    Yds 528      Avg   4.6     Td   5     Lg  39t
Rec   6   Yds  41    Avg  6.8     Td 0     Lg  8

UPDATE 12/6/2016: Rashaan passed away today at the age of 42. His body was found at a park less than two miles away from the stadium where he starred at the University of Colorado.  It is believed at this time that he passed away of natural causes.