Tag Archives: virginia destroyers

Arena, NFL, NFLE, ufl

Greisen, Chris

tntufl11 greisenCard: TNT UFL 2011
Acquired: TTM 2015, C/o Work
Sent: 7/18     Received:  8/29   (42 days)

In the short lived history of the UFL, no quarterback was more prolific than the Florida Tusker and Virginia Destroyers quarterback Chris Greisen.

Long before the signal caller played in the UFL, Chris was a 7th round pick out of Northwestern Missouri, of the Arizona Cardinals in 1999. A two time All-American after leading the Bearcats to their first ever National Championship, Greisen held numerous records upon leaving the school.  He played sparingly for the Cards over the first 3 seasons, and was released in 2002, only to latch on to the Redskins roster by the end of the year. Eyeing more experience, Chris joined the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe. He had a pretty solid season playing in Germany, throwing for 10 TDs, and 843 yards in only 131 attempts.

Following his time in the NFLE, Greisen entered the Arena Football League 2 and played for the Green Bay Blizzard. After a successful debut for the team in 2004, Chris was quickly signed by the Dallas Desperados and became the primary backup.  Signing with the Georgia Force in 2007, Chris was finally able to take over the reigns as the starting quarterback.  The Force posted a 14-2 record as Greisen threw a league record 117 TD passes. He’d continue to enjoy success with the AFL until it suspended operations in 2009.

Wanting to continue his career, Chris pursued a shot with the UFL Florida Tuskers in 2009, backing up former NFL pro Brooks Bollinger. With the return of the AFL in early 2010, Chris decided to split his time in both leagues. He signed with the Milwaukee Iron and then went on to throw an AFL record 5,139 yards.  Back to the Tuskers after the season, Chris ended up starting for the team after Bollinger went down due to injuries.  He’d lead the team to the Championship game and throw for 346 yards while rushing for 2 scores in a loss to the Las Vegas Locos.  He signed with the Dallas Cowboys after the UFL season.

With the UFL still clinging to life in 2011 and the Tuskers moving to Virginia, Chris returned to play for the Destroyers under Marty Schottenheimer. He’d complete 21 passes for 174 yards as the Destroyers vanquished their arch rival Las Vegas Locos 17-3 in the Championship Game. Greisen played in the final season of the UFL’s existence in 2012.

Since then he’s opened up a passing academy in Wisconsin, where he trains and counsels future professional quarterback prospects. I had made this great card of him and decided to see if he’d sign it for me and enclosed extras for him to keep. A month or two later I got a response from him thanking me for the cards, and asking for a few more of ‘these awesome cards’.

NFL    0/5        ATT  16       COMP 7       YDS  69         PCT  43.8%
TD 1        INT 0       RAT 77.3
RUSH 1       YDS 1       AVG  1.0     TD 0     LG 1

NFLE       ATT 131        COMP 76        YDS 843         PCT 58.0%
TD 10        INT 5       RAT 86.8
RUSH  24      YDS  171      AVG  1.7      TD  1    LG  9

AFL          ATT 1695        COMP 1185        YDS 15108         PCT 69.9%
TD 324        INT 40       RAT 127.23
RUSH  46     YDS  70     AVG  1.5      TD  16

NFL, ufl

Rhodes, Dominic (2)

sco09 rhodesCards: Score 2009, TNT UFL 2011
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent:  4/11        Received: 4/17   (6 days)
Failure: TTM 2013, C/o Home
See Also: Dominic Rhodes

Dominic had signed previously TTM for me, and asked for a copy of the UFL customs I had done. It took me a while to get around to printing them out and I sent to Rhodes back in June of last year. The problem was Dominic had moved and the UFL had gone on indefinite ‘hiatus’. I tried contacting him both through Twitter and his foundation, but had no luck. It finally took me getting a new Meiselman list to track down Dom’s latest address in North Texas. Since I was having to go a bit out of my way to find him, I enclosed an extra or two to get signed. He responded in about a week personalizing the cards and wishing that the cards found me well, and quoted Bible scripture to me:

Phil 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

tntufl10 rhodesPretty cool, I just wish that the inscrpition was underneath his autograph. -Instead he wrote it on the card sleeve. While not the most pious or religious person, I do like it when players put scripture on their autograph. It tells me a bit about what they are thinking or what is going on in their lives.

Dominic returned to the UFL for the league’s swan song in 2012.
With the league imploading after 4 games, Dominic finished as the unquestioned career leading rusher of the UFL. He completed the season with 63 carries for 219 yards and a TD. Rhodes has been working out agressively and staying in shape, hoping for another shot with another team, but the odds of him getting the chance, at the age of 35 are now are slim.  It’s a shame because there is little wear and tear on the former Super Bowl Champion’s legs at all.

Unfortunately the UFL didn’t do a good job of tracking the numbers of their 2011 and 2012 seasons, however here are both Dominic’s NFL and UFL statistics I was able to cobble together:

NFL:  G/Gs 99/33   Rush 814     Yds 3286    Avg 4.0    Td 26    Lg 77   |
Rec 147    Yds 1027   Avg 7.0    Td  4   Lg  29
Kr 147     Yds 3374   Avg 23.0  Td 2    Lg  88t
UFL:  G/Gs 18/18    Rush 269     Yds 1180    Avg 4.4    Td  16 Lg  65t
Rec 12          Yds  115           Avg 9.6         Td  1      Lg 22
Kr 12            Yds  260         Avg 21.6        Td 0      Lg N/a

 

 

NFL, NFLE, Super Bowl MVP, ufl, usfl

Williams, Doug

sco89 dwilliamsCard: Score 1989
Acquired: Trade 2013
Failure: TTM 2010, C/o The Buccaneers

One of the first Super Bowls I vividly remember watching was Super Bowl XXII between the Denver Broncos and the Washington Redskins. After spotting John Elway and the Broncos 10 points, Doug Williams came onto the field and guided the Redskins to 42 unanswered points. It was the first time a black quarterback had started in the Super Bowl, -and people were making a big deal about it, but as a kid this didn’t really seem to be the biggest storyline. The best thing to me about the game was Williams’ receivers, Clark, Monk, and Sanders who had really great celebrations. I wasn’t really aware of what Williams had been through to that point to get him to the Super Bowl, little less win and become its MVP. Really it’s pretty legendary.

Well, Doug Williams’ career started way, way back in 1978 when he was drafted out of Grambling State by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he was under the tutelage of offensive coordinator Joe Gibbs for that one season. Although his numbers were pretty atrocious, especially his completion percentage early on, Doug showed marked improvement every season from 37.6 in 1978, to 53.2 in 1982. As the team progressed into the playoffs for the first two times in the team’s history, Williams got embroiled in a contract dispute with owner Hugh Culverhouse after the 1982 season.  Unable to reach terms with the Bucs, Doug bolted for the upstart USFL in 1983. Some would say that the Buccaneers were cursed after Williams left, as they slipped into the doldrums of the NFC Central where they’d languish for nearly 15 years going through a revolving door of quarterbacks (13) that included names such as Steve DeBerg, Vinny Testaverde, Craig Erickson, Chris Chandler, Steve Young, and Trent Dilfer, before they got it right and then later won the Super Bowl in 2001. (Note that both Young and Dilfer also won the Super Bowl after leaving Tampa, and Young was also MVP. Ironically Chandler and DeBerg showed up on the same team but did not win for the Falcons.)

Doug was selected by the Oklahoma Outlaws. He then moved on to play for Arizona when it merged with Oklahoma as the USFL began imploding the next season.  The team didn’t make the playoffs either season, and Williams’ penchant for being an inconsistent passer began to take hold in the media once again. He finished his career in the USFL and it appeared that Williams career was at a standstill as a starter, but an old friend had a roster spot for him on the Washington Redskins- Joe Gibbs.

With Joe Theismann’s career winding down in Washington, the Redskins needed new blood behind Jay Schroeder at quarterback. Familiar with Doug all the way back from his brief stay in Tampa, Gibbs nabbed Williams off the street in 1986. While Doug didn’t really see any playing time that season, it’d be in 1987 that he’d cement his legacy as a historical quarterback of the modern era. Taking over for the injured Schroeder that season, Williams commanded the team and the offense with 11 touchdowns to only 5 picks. He’d also set a then NFL record with the most yards passing in the Redskins’ Super Bowl victory over the Broncos, a game that he won MVP honors for. With Schroeder leaving the Redskins the following season for the Raiders, Doug took over as uncontested starter for the Redskins, but unfortunately Doug could not stay injury free. Instead, he became backup to the next quarterback to win a Super Bowl for the Redskins, Mark Rypien. He retired after the 1989 season, due to lingering back issues. Despite his limited playing time for the Redskins, and 5-9 starting record, Doug is considered legendary by many of the Washington faithful. He was inducted into the Washington Redskins Ring of Fame, and was named one of the team’s 80 greatest players.

Williams jumped into coaching and front office roles with equal vigor, enjoying stops at the US Naval Academy (1994), Scottish Claymores (1995), Jacksonville Jaguars (1995-1996), Morehouse College (1997), Grambling (1998-2003), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2004-2010), Virginia Destroyers (2010-2011), and then returned to become head coach at Grambling where he has remained through 2012.  It’s very easy to say that Williams legacy as the first black starting quarterback in the modern era cemented leadership roles for future players such as Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham and on into the modern era of quarterbacks today.

G/Gs 88/81   Att 2501     Comp 1240    Yds 16998     Pct 49.5      Td  100    Int 93     Rat 69.4  |
Rush 220     Yds 884      Avg  4.0       Td  15    Lg 29