CARD: Wildcard World League 1992 ACQUIRED: EBay, 2023 FAILURE: TTM 2020, C/o Work
CAREER SNAPSHOT:
Eddie Brown played WR at Iowa State where he racked up 27 catches for 562 yards and 5 TDs in 22 contests.
Undrafted he’d play in the CFL in 1990 and ’91 as an import player for the Stamps and the Rough Riders.
In 1992 he took his game to the Sacramento Surge of the World League, where he led the league in receiving and set records for yards in a season.
After the Surge won World Bowl II and the World League went on hiatus, Brown went right back to the CFL playing for the Argos that year but not seeing the field.
It was with the Esks that Eddie really found a home and hit his stride, playing with the team from 1993-’95.
He pounded out back to back 1000+ yard seasons, including a career high 1,378 yards and 15 TDs in ’93, and a career high 79 catches in ’94.
As part of the CFLUSA invasion in ’95, he’d split his time with the Memphis Mad Dogs and the Esks that year.
In ’96 he returned to Edmonton for another 2 year stint.
He’d return to form that season with another 70 cathces for 1,325 yards and 7 TDs.
He’d also go down in Grey Cup and CFL lore for making an incredible, juggling catch for a TD in a snow covered stadium during the ’96 contest.
After a small stint with the Alouettes in ’98, Eddie saw a renaissance of sorts playing out on the left coast with BC through ’99.
Downtown took his game to the Arena Football League, playing one year with the Iowa Barnstormers in 2000 catching 11 TDs on 39 receptions.
By the end of the year he was back in the CFL playing for Toronto.
A small hiatus in 2001, led him back to Renegades for his final season in 2002.
Infamously walked off during a game, frustrated with the team’s lack of focus on getting into the playoffs and never looked back.
Has been a positional coach in the Ottawa area for almost 10 years.
ACCOLADES:
All World League 1991
CFL All-Star 1996
CFL West All-Star 1996, ’99
NOTES:
I had been eyeballing this card for a few years on EBay and decided to lowball offer the seller. To my surprise he accepted- and Eddie Brown was soon to be mine. I’m not a big fan of ball point pen autographs but I can’t complain since the last time I sent to him I basically overpaid and flushed Canadian postage down the toilet.
Eddie ‘Downtown’ Brown, is not to be confused with Eddie ‘Touchdown’ Brown- former Arena football star and father to former NFL receiver Antonio Brown. He is also not to be confused with former Bengals WR Eddie ‘Downtown’ Brown either.
He finished the season with 27 tackles, 11 assists and a sack for the Monarchs that season as a hybrid LB/S.
During the 1992 season, Wilson secured a 10 yard interception.
Wilson stayed in playing shape and joined the Arena Football League in ’95 as a LB/ WR.
Played for the Connecticut Coyotes in 1995-96, and the Florida Bobcats from 1996 to ’98.
NOTES:
I gave up on Harvey, since I failed on him back in 2017. I saw that a seller on EBay had 3-4 autographed cards from World Leaguers that I wanted, so I threw him out a package offer. I would be surprised if these were forgeries, as there’s little to no market for player autographs from a forgotten league. It appears that Harvey signed this in pen or a fading marker, and then signed over his original graph with a sharpie.
CARD: Wild Card World League 1992 ACQUIRED: EBay, 2023 FAILURE: TTM 2010, 2011, 2020, C/o The Chiefs
CAREER SNAPSHOT:
Willie Davis caught 63 passes for 1292 yards over his college career for Central Arkansas.
He holds the school all-time record for longest reception with a 99 yard TD.
He’d go undrafted in 1990, but be signed to the Chiefs practice squad.
Willie was allocated to the Orlando Thunder of the World League in 1992 by the team to give the young receiver more seasoning.
With future NFL veteran Scott Mitchell at QB, Davis caught 20 passes and a 51 yard TD in his first professional action.
The Chiefs, impressed by what they saw opted to give Willie some playtime in their offense.
Willie became one of the World League’s success stories, catching 36 passes for 756 yards later that year.
His best season perhaps came the following year when he caught 52 passes for 909 yards and 7 TDs.
He played for the Chiefs through 1995.
With Houston Oilers WR Haywood Jeffires demanding more money to stay with the team, the franchise opted to go in another direction and signed Willie Davis to essentially replace him.
Willie played with the Oilers from 1996-98, transitioning with the franchise to Tennessee in 1997.
Willie returned to the Chiefs after a few years away from the sport and joined the team’s front office, where he serves as the team’s front office scout of the southwest.
ACCOLADES:
Central Arkansas Hall of Fame (2001)
NOTES:
I finally gave up on trying to get Willie through the mail after 3 attempts through the Chiefs over the last 12 years. He signed sporadically for others and just didn’t respond to me. Whether or not it was an intentional snub or not or just the fact he may not want to sign his true rookie card, I am not sure. -So I just decided to haggle with an EBay seller who had some World League autographs that looked legitimate enough to me to close the deal.
WL
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
20
242
12.1
1
51t
NFL
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
286
4503
15/7
33
74
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
