1985 Topps #45 Jim Jeffcoat

We'd like to welcome Jim Jeffcoat as the Defensive Line coach for the University of Houston. Click here for the official announcement. As a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, I'm very excited by this hire. He was a great player and solid coach for the Cowboys.

Today's collectible is Jeffcoat's rookie card, 1985 Topps #45. This is a very sharp looking card with the black border which is always a danger to collectors. If you handle your cards at all, you'll know it's very difficult to keep those black borders in excellent shape.

1994-1995 Jam Session Gamebreakers #5 Hakeem Olajuwon

Who doesn't love an oversized basketball card? Probably a lot of people, but I enjoy them. The extra long cards seem to emphasize the height of the players. In the '60s there were oversized cards including Elvin Hayes' Rookie Card. In 1993, Fleer introduced the Jam Session brand which brought the oversize back.

Today's card is from the 1994-1995 Jam Session set. It is an Gamebreakers insert card featuring Hakeem Olajuwon. In addition to being oversized, the image of Olajuwon is also embossed which also makes it pop.

It's a gimmicky card, but I think it's a clean look with some sharp graphics.

1991 Wild Card Draft #134 Chuck Weatherspoon

SPOON!!!! Chuck Weatherspoon is definitely a UH fan favorite. I have plenty of memories of watching Spoon play, but my favorite was watching him run over UT in 1988.

That was my first UH game in Austin and the Coogs destroyed the Horns 66-15. With a score like that, plenty of players had gaudy numbers. For example, current Cougar coach Jason Phillips had 11 catches for 171 yards and 4 TDs. But I remember every time Spoon touched the ball, it seemed like he was breaking a long run. He only had 11 carries, but he managed to gain 218 yards and had 1 TD. That's 19.8 yards a carry.

Today's collectible is the 1991 Wild Card Draft card #134. For those not familiar with Wild Card, the brand had a trade in element. There was a base card as well as 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 1000 stripe cards. A collector could mail in 5 of the same card, for example, and get a 5 card stripe card in return. Or he could mail in a 50 stripe card and get 50 base cards in return. Interesting concept and an early variation card set, but I don't know how successful it was.

2005-2006 Topps Fan Favorite Ollie Taylor # FFA-OTA

I am happy to report that I have a new scanner. That means more & better pictures from my personal collection. Digital cameras can do wonders, but scanners are just better for cards.

Today's card is my latest addition to my collection. I've been trying to win one on eBay for a while, but at a price I wanted to pay. Unfortunately I kept getting my bids sniped at the end. So I put bids on 2 different auctions that ended within an hour of each other. I figured if I got sniped on one, I'd win the other. Of course, I won both of them. The duplicate will be going to a fellow Coog that was nice enough to give me a set of the 1992 Motion Sports Football cards featured in August.

The card is of Ollie Taylor from the 2005-2006 Topps Fan Favorite Set. There are so many reasons why I love this card.

First of all, it's an old school style card. Just a clean picture on a plain, but colorful background. The back of the card has some stats and a fun fact. No fancy graphics, multiple photos, glossy card stock, or special effects. This reminds me of the cards of my youth. Probably some good old day syndrome, but I love it.

Second, it's from the ABA. Who doesn't love the ABA? Maybe some people who never got to see it, but I can't imagine anyone else.

Third, it's Ollie Taylor. Long before Phi Slamma Jamma, Taylor was skywalking and dunking for UH in the late '60s. Supposedly he had a 46" vertical. WOW! At 6'2", he played post & jumped center (and won) against guys like Kareem. I highly recommend reading this article about him. It's an amazing story.

Finally, it's autographed by Ollie Taylor. Where else am I going to get his autograph?

2007 Topps TX Exclusive Silver Vincent Marshall 152

The 2007 Texas Bowl featuring UH vs TCU is coming up December 28th, 7 PM at Reliant Stadium. Click here to buy your tickets. If you can't make it to the game, watch it on the NFL Network or channel 27 in the DFW area.

Speaking of UH bowls, let's look back on one of the best plays in recent bowl history. Who can forget the end of regulation time in the 2003 Hawaii Bowl when Vincent Marshall took an 81 yard pass from Kevin Kolb to tie the game up in the final minute?



Unfortunately Houston lost the game in overtime, but Marshall would go on to become UH's all-time career leader in receptions and receiving yards.

Since you're a UH collector, you need to have a football card for UH's all-time receiver, so let's look at the 2007 Topps TX Exclusive set card #152. There are 4 variations of this card: Base, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Pictured below is the Silver variation.

As far as I know, this is the only Vincent Marshall card on the market, but hopefully he'll have more in the future.

Baseball Card Checklist

Finally an addition to the UH collectibles checklist. Previously I did a checklist for basketball (which I'm sure needs updating by now). This time, I have a list of UH baseball collectibles. The list is available both in Excel & pdf formats. If you know of any missing players or collectibles, please let me know.

Baseball Checklist Highlights:

• There are 3313 collectibles for 38 ex-UH players
• The player with the most cards is Ryan Wagner with 602. That does include all card variations.
• The oldest card listed is from 1954 for Bill Henry on a Red Sox Team Issue card. 1955 Bowman card of Bill Henry was released the next year.
• Plenty of minor league cards are included on the list

Click here for the pdf version (178 kb)
Click here for the Excel version (730 kb)

The checklist will also remain available in the navigation on the left for your future reference.

Next checklist... football

Carlton Hanta 1960 Doyusha 4 in 1

Not all UH baseball players play in the US. For example, Carlton Hanta played in the Japanese league. He played for the Nankai Hawks and Chunichi Dragons.

This card is from the 1960 Doyusha 4 in 1 set. Also featured on this card is Japanese Base Hall of Famers Motoshi Fujita, Osamu Mihara, and the legendary Sadaharu Oh.

Hanta is at the top left.