Card: Ultimate World League 1992 Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home Sent: 1/15/20 Received: 5/2/20 (108 days) Failure: 2019, C/o Stanford (RTS)
Charlie Young played ball for the Stanford Cardinal where mixed time between runningback and receiver from 1987 to 1990. In 1987 he posted 17 receptions for 246 yards and a TD, while rushing 37 times for 130 yards and another TD. He also returned 17 kicks for 336 yards. He’d be moved to WR for 1988, and have a pretty solid campaign, catching 43 passes for 560 yards and 2 TDs. After his 1989 season was washed due to injury, he saw sparse playing time in 1990 accumulating 233 yards from scrimmage. Charles was not selected in the 1991 NFL Draft, and subsequently did not make the roster of the Raiders.
Charlie was selected by the in the 7th round of the 1992 World League Draft. He’d split time between the London Monarchs and the Montreal Machine that season rushing 50 times for 147 yards and a TD. He’d be a valuable stop valve with the Machine catching 22 passes for 203 yards and a 30 yard TD. (For purposes of the team histories however- he’s classified with the team his card pictures him with.)
After the league reorganized, Charlie returned stateside where he bounced around between squads. He’d see time with the Giants and 49ers in 1992, and the Raiders in 1993. Charlie then returned to the World League in 1995 after it reorganized, playing for the Rhein Fire, rushing for 44 yards and a TD while catching 11 passes for 125 yards. He also spent a small amount of time returning kicks during his world tour, accounting for some 180 yards on 12 returns.
Charlie has put his economics degree/ MBA to good work since his playing days, and after a tour on the board at Stanford, resides in Illinois where he is involved in real estate.
I had been on the hunt for Charlie for quite a while, but with such a common name I couldn’t just look in the phone book. It took an article on Charlie’s work for Stanford to pop up, so I wrote him C/o the university. They responded by giving me his forwarding address. I quickly gave up on this request, but lo and behold after about 3 months, he wrote me back with a nice thank-you card.
John Nies was a punter for the Arizona Wildcats in 1989. He had a unique one step approach to punts that allowed him to down 15 of them inside the 20 to lead the nation. He only logged one season as a starter for Arizona, but had 58 punts for 2406 yards and a 41.6 yard average. In 1987 and 1988, he saw action primarily on the kickoff team, booming 88 kicks, of which only 29 were returned by opposing teams. He was selected in the 6th round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, and punted 5 times for 174 yards in 4 games.
In 1991, Nies would be the 4th special teams player off the board in the World League of American Football positional draft, selected by the Sacramento Surge. He then saw time at both kicker and punter, splitting time with Kendall John Trainor. John finished 11 of 12 on extra points and 4 of 7 on field goals. He punted 23 times for 902 yards including a 53 yard long.
He’d return to the franchise for the 1992 season, and although he’d see an uptick in his kicking stats, Nies was relied upon much more as a punter again as Cary Blanchard quickly established himself as the much more consistent kicker.
Since retiring from football, Nies has been a fitness ambassador with Lululemon, a fashion model, actor, and ESPN host. Currently he teaches East meets West health and wellness philosophies at his group fitness and wellness center, The Power Center, in Red Bank, NJ.
Card: Ultimate World League 1992 Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home Sent: 10/21 Received: 11/8 (18 days)
While working on an art degree, Saute Sapolu decided to pick up football at Arizona State. The Samoan was a formidable defensive lineman, recording 90 solo tackles (142 total) during his 4 years at the school, including a Senior campaign where he had 61 tackles and 4 sacks.
Saute saw time briefly with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1989 as a free agent signee. He joined the WLAF for the 1991 season and had 2 sacks and 22 total tackles for the Sacramento Surge.
After a little bit of effort I was able to locate Saute in Hawaii where he signed this card in a little over 15 days. He currently manages an art studio (FALE O LE FEE).
WLAF
TAC
SAC
FUM
INT
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
22
2.0
0
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Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
