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Thread Title: thenavarro's 1988 Notre Dame FB autographed card set RIP Dean Brown
Created On Monday November 30, 2009 9:21 PM


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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Monday November 30, 2009 9:21 PM

I always have my signed rookies as an ongoing project, but I like to have at least one other collecting project going at the same time. Since I am close to wrapping up my 81 Donruss Golf autographed set (I have 62 of the 65), I've decided to embark on another autographed card project. I wanted something that had a bit of personal meaning to it for me, so I've chosen to do the 1988 Notre Dame football set. It's a 60 card set loaded with a lot of my old classmates. There's some great names here including the first cards of Lou Holtz, Raghib (Rocket) Ismail, Chris Zorich, Michael Stonebreaker, Tony Rice, Reggie Ho, George Williams, Stan Smagala, Todd Lyght, Anthony Johnson, Tony Brooks, Pat Terrell, Ned Bolcar, etc. Before I start doing too much research, there is only one deceased that I know of so far, Jeff Alm. This set would have been so easy to complete when I was there (except for the Seniors in 88, as I didn't enroll until 1989), but I really wasn't in to sports graphs when I was there. This is the last Notre Dame football team to win the National Championship and will probably be the last for at least the foreseable future. Some of these guys enjoyed a NFL career, but most of them got their education and moved into other professions. We got a new Alumni directory about 3 weeks ago, so I should have fresh addresses for everyone to help me in my endeavor.

GO IRISH!!!

Wow, this team was stacked,

The following is a list of Notre Dame players that would go on to play or be drafted to play in the National Football League over the next four years. All players listed played for the 1988 team. (borrowed from wikipedia)

Name Year Team Round Pick
Jeff Alm 1990 Houston Oilers 2 41
Ned Bolcar 1990 Seattle Seahawks 6 146
Mike Brennan 1990 Cincinnati Bengals 4 91
Tony Brooks 1992 Philadelphia Eagles 4 92
Dean Brown 1990 Indianapolis Colts 12 316
Derek Brown 1992 New York Giants 1 14
Rodney Culver 1992 Indianapolis Colts 4 85
Bob Dahl 1991 Cincinnati Bengals 3 72
D'Juan Francisco 1990 Washington Redskins 10 262
Mark Green 1989 Chicago Bears 5 130
Tim Grunhard 1990 Kansas City Chiefs 2 40
Andy Heck 1989 Seattle Seahawks 1 15
Mike Heldt 1991 San Diego Chargers 10 257
Raghib Ismail 1991 Los Angeles Raiders 4 100
Anthony Johnson 1990 Indianapolis Colts 2 36
Andre Jones 1991 Pittsburgh Steelers 7 185
Scott Kowalkowski 1991 Philadelphia Eagles 8 216
Todd Lyght 1991 Los Angeles Rams 1 5
Gene McGuire 1992 New Orleans Saints 4 95
Wes Pritchett 1989 Miami Dolphins 6 147
Rod Smith 1992 New England Patriots 2 35
Frank Stams 1989 Los Angeles Rams 2 45
Mike Stonebreaker 1991 Chicago Bears
George Streeter 1989 Chicago Bears 11 304
Pat Terrell 1990 Los Angeles Rams 2 49
Ricky Watters 1991 San Francisco 49ers 2 45
George Williams 1992 Cleveland Browns 6 163
Chris Zorich 1991 Chicago Bears 2 49

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Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

Edited: Friday November 30, 2012 at 10:07 PM by thenavarro

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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Sunday December 13, 2009 2:25 PM

This project began yesterday. I wrote 57 letters and 114 envelopes and finally wrapped that part up a short time ago. Dropped all 57 off at the post office. There were 60 cards in the set, but I was unable to find the following 2 in my directory or elsewhere (Alm would be the remaining card) , so if you have any current addresses for these 2, I'd appreciate any help you could give:

Andre Jones
D'Juan Francisco (just sent him an email requesting permission to send a card)

These are the ones that I sent out today:

Father Edward "Monk" Malloy (President Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, was President during the Championship season)
Raghib "Rocket" Ismail
Darrell "Flash" Gordon
Steve Belles
Ricky Watters
Frank Jacobs
Kent Graham
Arnold Ale
Lou Holtz
Pat Eilers
Anthony Johnson
Andy Heck
Mark Green
Ned Bolcar
George Williams
Billy Hackett
Kevin McShane
Bryan Flannery
Derek Brown
Aaron Robb
Winston Sandri
Todd Lyght
Tony Brooks
Ryan Mihalko
Donn Grimm
George Streeter
Scott Kowalkowski
Chuck Killian
Tim Grunhard
Wes Pritchett
Tim Ryan
Frank Stams
Mike Heldt
Stan Smagala
Kurt Zackrison
Michael Crounse
Jim Sexton
Joe Allen
Corny Southall
Pete Graham
David Jandric
Michael Stonebreaker
Joe Jurosz
Pat Terrell
Reggie Ho
Steve Roddy
Tony Rice
Tom Gorman
Dean Brown
Rod West
Marty Lippincott
Mike Brennan
Chris Zorich
Steve Alaniz
Braxston Banks
Ted Healy
Ted Fitzgerald

I'll be on vacation out of state from December 18 to about December 29, so hopefully when I return, I'll have several back waiting on me at the post office. I bet most of these guys haven't had an autograph request in quite some time if ever once they left the school, so it will be interesting to see the replies and turnaround times.

GO IRISH!!

Mike

-------------------------
Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

Edited: Sunday December 13, 2009 at 6:06 PM by thenavarro

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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Thursday December 17, 2009 4:05 PM

Since Alm has died, I wanted to make sure I have an example of him, so I bought this one to use as a filler.

1990 Topps Jeff Alm

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Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

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lawnmowerman
Catch 22

Posts: 17878
Joined: Aug 2004

Thursday December 17, 2009 4:12 PM

Good luck Mike!

I thought Aaron Taylor would be on that list but I guess he was there later on.

-------------------------

Posts: 788
Joined: Dec 2001

Thursday December 17, 2009 4:19 PM

Good luck-I have been a N.D fan for many years,lived 30 miles from N.D.I remember Zorich,Rocket, and Waters.

later
Jeff

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set needs
03/04 & 05/06 topps black
72-77 topps baseball raw
72-75 topps football raw
any years santo,williams,banks,
payton,butkus,sayers,piccalo,ditka,hampton
wantlist

good transactions katscards,swartz1,packman,Salinas

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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Thursday December 17, 2009 4:26 PM

<< Good luck Mike!

I thought Aaron Taylor would be on that list but I guess he was there later on. >>

If I remember correctly, Aaron was a Freshman when I was a Sophomore, so I think he started in 1990. He was a BIG dude.

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Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

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lanemyer85
Veteran

Posts: 995
Joined: Aug 2006

Thursday December 17, 2009 5:51 PM

yep Aaron Taylor's ND career ran from 90-93. Good luck!

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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Monday December 28, 2009 1:55 PM

Just got back from Orlando and had a whole stack of mail waiting on me. Included were 15 returns from this project. What a nice start, I also got some emails and letters from some of them as well as the cards. As a unit, they were one of the greatest college football teams of all time. As individuals, not all of them could go on to the NFL, but all of them shared in the success of this special season of Notre Dame football. I'll add some biographical details later for the returns, but I wanted to get the scans up first.

Chuck Killian

Father Monk Malloy (University President in 1988)

-------------------------
Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

Edited: Saturday March 27, 2010 at 3:06 PM by thenavarro

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EAsports
Collector

Posts: 1283
Joined: Aug 2006

Monday December 28, 2009 2:31 PM

Two Ho's?

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My LSU Autographs

Only an idiot would have a message board signature.

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gregm13
Master Collector

Posts: 5744
Joined: Jun 2004

Monday December 28, 2009 3:40 PM

Mike,

Nice returns thus far. I didn't think that Holtz was signing TTM any longer...maybe he signed because your an alumni?

Rgs,

Greg M.

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Collecting vintage auto'd fb cards and Dan Marino cards!!

References:
Onlychild, Ahmanfan, fabfrank, wufdude, jradke, Reese, Jasp, thenavarro
E-Bay id: greg_n_meg

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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Monday December 28, 2009 4:00 PM

<< Mike,

Nice returns thus far. I didn't think that Holtz was signing TTM any longer...maybe he signed because your an alumni?

Rgs,

Greg M. >>

Greg,

I had heard he wouldn't sign anymore but I sent the cards anyway with a nice, sincere letter talking about some of my experiences at Notre Dame and thanking him for the part he played in some of them. Such as bringing donuts out to the students and chatting with us while we were in line waiting for football tickets. I think that might have helped get past his screener (if he has one). Very quick turnaround.

Mike

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Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

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baseballfan
Expert Collector

Posts: 4803
Joined: Jan 2002

Tuesday December 29, 2009 8:17 AM

great cards mike. i also can't get holtz to sign for my 1990 set.

boy i loved that team, bolcar, stonebreaker, stams, zorich, terrell- i have the bowl game on tape somewhere, i used to watch it every year or so after holtz left. and my favorite Anthony Johnson i have his rookie signed in the ND uniform, like your alm, i'll never get rid of that card. whould be cool to watch you build this.

well at least for a couple of minutes this morning i got to think about a notre dame team. thanks

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Fred

collecting RAW topps baseball cards 1952 to 1972. looking for collector grade (somewhere between psa 4-7 condition). let me know what you have, i'll take it, i want to finish sets, i must have something you can use for trade.

looking for topps 71-72 hi's-69-62-56-57, i have these sets started

if anyone has 75 topps mini i'm down to 2 cards 63 & 228 (brett)

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Dboneesq
Choose Your Title

Posts: 13379
Joined: Feb 2008

Tuesday December 29, 2009 8:50 AM

Very nice returns Mike ... looking forward to seeing the rest when they come in.

How did your family like Disney? We have a place in Celebration, FL (right next to Disney) and have been to Disney quite often. My girls LOVE IT!

HAPPY and HEALTHY NEW YEAR!

-------------------------
STAY HEALTHY!

Doug

It was tough having to recently sell almost my entire collection of ~1,700 PSA graded cards from the 1910s - 1970's and my ~250 - 300 Graded Packs from the 50s, 60s and 70s. But when your daughter AND your wife are diagnosed with Cancer, sometimes you don't have a choice. One day I'll get some of them back!

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Allen
Master Collector

Posts: 7118
Joined: Nov 2002

Tuesday December 29, 2009 8:52 AM

I never knew the story about Jeff Alm until just now. That is very tragic and crazy.

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This fine post brought to you by the folks at Roethlisberger Brand Condoms; The protection you want for the sex she doesn't.

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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Tuesday December 29, 2009 6:19 PM

Added 4 more today, now I'm up to 19 total and 33% of the ones I sent out already. Also got a really cool email from one of the players that apologized for not sending them back yet, but said he wanted to show his family the cards over the holidays and would send them back soon.

Steve Alaniz

Stan Smagala

Tony Brooks

Kurt Zackrison

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Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

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ndleo
Expert Collector

Posts: 2745
Joined: Jul 2001

Tuesday December 29, 2009 6:57 PM

Didn't Rodney Culver pass away in a Valuejet air crash?

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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Tuesday December 29, 2009 7:10 PM

<< Didn't Rodney Culver pass away in a Valuejet air crash? >>

Yes, it was over the Florida Everglades. Culver was on the team, but he wasn't in the card set.

Mike

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Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

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baseballfan
Expert Collector

Posts: 4803
Joined: Jan 2002

Wednesday December 30, 2009 7:21 AM

great Stan!!!!

what a great set and project

-------------------------
Fred

collecting RAW topps baseball cards 1952 to 1972. looking for collector grade (somewhere between psa 4-7 condition). let me know what you have, i'll take it, i want to finish sets, i must have something you can use for trade.

looking for topps 71-72 hi's-69-62-56-57, i have these sets started

if anyone has 75 topps mini i'm down to 2 cards 63 & 228 (brett)

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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Thursday December 31, 2009 4:31 PM

Got another one today. All-American LB, Wes Pritchett:

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Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

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thenavarro
Master Collector

Posts: 6589
Joined: Jul 2007

Saturday January 02, 2010 7:50 PM

Got one today. Punter Jim Sexton. Sig is hard to see due to the pen he chose, so I scanned it a bit larger.

-------------------------
Mike Navarro

WTB former President John Adams autograph

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