Joined the AAF in 2019 playing for the Atlanta Legends in their 3-4 alignment.
Compiled 6.5 tackles, 1 sack, in 6 starts for Atlanta.
Played in 3 games for the Washington Defenders in 2020.
Had 4.5 tackles, and 1.5 sacks.
Signed with the Calgary Stampeders in early 2021, retiring later in the year.
NOTES:
My buddy Seth, a diehard Washington XFL team fan, had me send a stack of cards to him, that he was more than happy to get signed for me. A great card, Tavaris was one of the many players who gathered around and was excited to apparently sign his card for Seth during the fan meet and greet. He even took the time to inscribe ‘GO TIGERS!’, on it in gold.
I am just beside myself with my greatest trading card accomplishment. It is fitting that the first player that I got an autograph of on my Pro Set 1990 Super Bowl Hack card would be the first player who didn’t receive the Merv Corning treatment, Super Bowl XXVI MVP Mark Rypien.
Since I was a kid, I loved these cards and consider them one of the best subsets ever in the trading card industry. It disappointed me immensely that Pro Set didn’t continue making Merv Corning MVP works after Ottis Anderson (Super Bowl XXV) so I thought, if I ever had the chance, I’d do it myself. I was inspired.
Frankly it took me a long time to get to this point. A lot of personal pain, the humiliation and burn out from a previous design job, leaving the art field again, only to take this challenge upon myself finally to see this through- all over the last year.
The OJ Anderson MVP card was the final Merv Corning art card from this set (L), The Rypien and Aikman cards seamlessly transition to the additional set.
I painstakingly made sure that the design was as close as possible to the original. The typography, both front and back, the colors, matching the alignment, ensuring fidelity to the originals, and that’s without even doing the artwork and tinkering with the printer.
Eventually I posted them to the Facebook autograph group I am an admin of, and then started printing them out in early September of that year. I hadn’t been this excited in a while to get a return like this- except for the fact that Mark signed it on the back.
