Friday 28 June 2019

Players with only one card in my collection - 16

Let's continue the series of posts showing cards of five players with only one card in my collection.  I'm using sorting tools at The Trading Card Database to look through my collection on their site to see who only has one card, and then finding the first five names that I haven't posted yet. I'm also using the images from their site.


1951 Bowman #37



I've shown this card before, but really didn't talk too much about Horace Gillom. This copy from the TCDB is in better condition than mine, but my copy is in good enough shape for me.

Horace Gillom was a fascinating player. He played for Paul Brown at Massillon High School, followed him to Ohio State, and then joined him again with the AAFC Browns in 1947 after his stints in the Army and at the University of Nevada. At every level, Paul Brown wanted the best players regardless of race, and Gillom was the third black player to join the Browns, after Marion Motley and Bill Willis in the team's inaugural 1946 season. (The Browns in the AAFC, and the LA Rams in the NFL, were the first two professional football teams to integrate pro football in 1946.)

During his Browns career, Gillom played at End on both offense and defense, and also punted for the team. He played for the Browns from 1947-56, and when he finished his career, his NFL average punting distance of 43.8 yards was second all-time behind Sammy Baugh's 45.1 average.

In looking up information about him, I came across a book that I'll have to buy (and have since bought), Andy Piascik's "The Best Show in Football: The 1946-55 Cleveland Browns". In it there is a passage that talks about how Gillom helped revolutionize punting. He stood further back than most punters, and that, along with his accurate directional punting, he pretty much introduced the element of hang time to punting.

Horace Gillom died in Los Angeles, at the age of 64, of a heart attack suffered while working as a security guard at a hospital. He was named to the Browns Legends in 2007.

Along with this card, there is a Horace Gillom card in the 1953 Bowman set that I need to acquire.


1991 Score #124



Although this card says Tony Blaylock, his Pro Football Reference page, his Wikipedia page and following football cards that were made of him all refer to him as Anthony Blaylock.

Blaylock was a fourth round draft pick of the Browns, out of Winston-Salem State University, in the 1988 NFL Draft. He played with the Browns through five games into the 1991 season when he was placed on injured reserve with a rotator cuff injury. He was picked up by the Chargers on waivers later in the 1991 season, and played with San Diego through the 1992 season before finishing his career with the Chicago Bears in 1993.

This is the only Anthony Blaylock card on the Trading Card Database that shows him as a Cleveland Brown.


1999 Giant Eagle Cleveland Browns #14



Lomas Brown is probably best remembered as a left tackle blocking for Barry Sanders with the Detroit Lions. Brown was the Lions first round pick, number six overall, of the 1985 NFL Draft. He played with the Lions from 1985-95, making the Pro Bowl with them from 1990-95.

After the 1995 season, Brown signed a three year, nine million dollar with the Arizona Cardinals, and made the Pro Bowl with them during the first season of that contract.

Lomas Brown signed a free agent deal with the Browns to join their 1999 expansion team. He only played one season with the Browns before moving on to the New York Giants for the 2000-01 seasons, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their 2002 Super Bowl winning season to conclude his eighteen season career.

The Giant Eagle Cleveland Browns set gives us the only Browns card of Lomas Brown's career. There is a gold parallel to this card that I will have to find.


1950 Bowman #79



I've actually written about receiving my Tony Adamle card as part of my Secret Santa gift last year.

To save people from looking up the past post, and to make this part of the post a lot easier, here is what I wrote then:

Tony Adamle started with the Browns in the AAFC in 1947, and played with the Browns through the 1951 season before leaving the team to go to medical school.

While still in school, Adamle came back to the Browns to play for the 1954 season, helping the Browns win their second NFL Championship. His agreement with the team was for him to be allowed to practice with the team only one time per week so that he could continue his studies. He retired after the 1954 season to continue his medical schooling and start his medical career.

(For those that recognize the Adamle name, he is the father of Mike Adamle, former NFL running back, sports broadcaster, host of the American Gladiators, and a General Manager for WWE Raw in 2008.)

This is the first Tony Adamle card in my collection. He also has a 1951 Bowman card for me to find.


2009 Press Pass SE #3



I received this card in a Cleveland Browns card lot that I purchased. I was surprised to see it.

Graham Harrell wasn't drafted by the Browns. He wasn't even signed by them after the draft. Instead he was invited to participate in the Cleveland Browns rookie camp in May 2009. He was not signed by the team, and instead signed a contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.

Nevertheless, this card and a 2009 Philadelphia card show him on the front with Cleveland although he is in his college uniform, and there are autographed cards of him in a Browns uniform from the rookie camp in the 2009 SP, SP Authentic, Upper Deck and Upper Deck Exquisite Collection sets.

Graham Harrell made it to the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, appearing in four games in the 2012 season after spending the time from 2010 until then going back and forth between their roster and practice squad.

Harrell was signed by the Jets  on August 28, 2013, and appeared in one series with them in an exhibition game before being released on September 2, 2013.

After his playing career finished, Harrell went into coaching with Washington State from 2014-15, and North Texas from 2016-18. On January 29, 2019, he was hired by USC as their new Offensive Co-ordinator.


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In a minor health update, this week I met with my surgeon at the six week mark of my surgery. He has referred me to rehab to stretch the tendon in my hamstring, but does not want me to work on strengthening it yet.

I am able to walk (limp) without my crutch, but the surgeon does not want me taking stairs normally yet. I am to continue climbing them by going up with my good leg, and then pulling the bad one up to the step before continuing with the good one again. Going down the stairs, I start with the bad leg, and then bring the good one down, and repeat...

I can sit in longer stretches now, for about between a half hour to forty minutes before I have to stand up for a bit. I'll probably try driving down to my PO Box in Ogdensburg sometime next week. I think that I should be able to manage the near hour long drive then.

I know that things are getting better but I'm still frustrated with the speed of it.

1 comment:

  1. Totally remember Lomas Brown... but didn't realize he played for the Browns.

    ReplyDelete