1981 Topps #347 Don Bass

Since the Run and Shoot days, the University of Houston has had some great wide receivers who put up some amazing stats. But prior to that in the Veer days, the Cougars had some great pass catchers even if they didn't all have the big numbers.

One of those guys was tight end Don Bass who played at UH from 1975-77. He was a member of the 1976 team that won UH's first year in the Southwest Conference, won the Cotton Bowl, and finished #4 in the polls.

Although he never had more than 42 receptions in a season (compare that to UH in 2009 when 5 people had 42 or more receptions), he did lead the team in receptions in 1975 (38) and 1977 (42). Bass also led team in punt returns in 1975 and kickoff returns in 1977.

His biggest single game was probably vs TCU on 10/30/1976 where he scored 24 points, good enough for #5 in UH history.

Bass was named 1st Team All-Southwest Conference in 1977 and was an All-American Honorable Mention in 1976 and 1977.

After his college career, Don was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 3rd round of the 1978 NFL Draft. He played for the Bengals from 1978-81 and for the New Orleans Saints in 1982.

Today's card is the 1981 Topps #347. Now we're starting to get to old school football cards. Notice the lack of team logo or stripes on the helmet. From the 1970s to 1982, Topps did not have the rights to use them. So the helmet is airbrushed.

I remember owning plenty of cards from this set when I was younger. That includes the Joe Montana rookie which I still own although the condition isn't that great.

1982 Donruss - UH Golfers

With 1992 Pro Set, we looked at 11 University of Houston golfers. Now with 1982, we have another 7 golfers which shows even more how many great Cougar golfers there are.

All of these cards are from the 1982 Donruss set.

Keith Fergus #21


Ed Fiori #36


Tom Jenkins #54


Bruce Lietzke #4 and #64



John Mahaffey #24 (I love the Cougar red pants and shirt)


Bill Rogers #5


Jim Simons #33

1983-84 Star #192 Rob Williams

Rob Williams played basketball for 3 years for the University of Houston from 1979-82 including one Final Four. Although his professional career wasn't at the level of some UH alums, he had one of the greatest college careers of any Cougar.

His name is all over the UH record book:
#5 career points (1838)
#7 career scoring average (20.9)
#6 career assists (407)
#7 career assists average (4.6)
#9 career steals (157)
#9 career steals average (1.83)
#8 career average minutes played (35.6)
#1 season average minutes played (39.03 in 1980-81) (I'm glad he got to rest 1 minute per game)
#6 season points scored (749 in 1980-81)
#6 season scoring average (25.0 in 1980-81)

Rob led the team in many categories while he was there:
Scoring all 3 years he played: 1979-80 (608), 1980-81 (749), and 1981-82 (633)
Assists all 3 years he played: 1979-80 (127), 1980-81 (146) and 1981-82 (134)
Free throw percentage in 1980-81 (.785) and 1981-82 (.793)
Steals in 1980-81 (62)

He is the only Cougar named to the All-Southwest Conference 1st Team 3 times. He was the SWC Newcomer of the Year in 1980 and SWC Player of the Year in 1981.

Williams was also named 3rd Team All-American in 1981 and 2nd Team All-American in 1982.

He was also named to the University of Houston Hall of Honor in 2006.

After his college career, Rob was selected by the Denver Nuggets in the 1st round (#19) of the 1982 NBA Draft. He played for the Nuggets for 2 seasons. After his NBA career, he played in the Continental Basketball Association as well as in the Philippines, Italy, Australia, and Spain.

1984-85 Star #133 and #245 Larry Micheaux

Larry Micheaux, nicknamed Mr. Mean, was a 4 year starter from 1979-1983 for the University of Houston basketball team. He played on 2 Final Four teams and was a member of Phi Slamma Jamma. He was co-captain of the 1982-83 team.

There were many great players on those Cougar teams, but Micheaux still managed to make the record books.

4th in career field goal percentage (.587)
9th in career blocked shots (132)
8th (.604 in 1981-82) and 9th (.600 in 1980-81) in season field goal percentage
Led team in field goal percentage in 1979-80 (.530) and 1980-81 (.600)
Led team in blocked shots in 1980-81 (49)

He was named All-Southwest Conference 2nd Team and All-American Honorable Mention in 1983.

After his UH career, he was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 2nd round of the 1983 NBA Draft. Micheaux played for the Kansas City Kings in the 1983-84 season and for the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets in 1984-85. For the next 10 years, he played in the Italian and Spanish leagues.

Today's cards are 1984-85 Star #133 and #245. #133 has Micheaux in his Bucks uniform and #245 is in his Rockets uniform. It's odd to see a player in multiple uniforms in the same product unless there is an update set. This set was released in three series, so perhaps that explains the different uniforms.

1985 Eagles Team Issue #33 Leonard Mitchell

Leonard Mitchell was a defensive tackle for the University of Houston from 1977 to 1980. He played on one of the great UH teams of all time, the 1979 squad that went 11-1 and finished #5 in the polls.

He is #5 on the UH all time career quarterback sacks (22) list and #1 incareer forced fumbles (10). He also led team in sacks in 1977 with 8.

Mitchell was a consensus All-American in 1980 and 1st Team All-Southwest Conference in 1979 and 1980.

After his college career, he was selected in the 1st round (#27) by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1981 NFL Draft. He played for the Eagles from 1981 to 1986 and for the Atlanta Falcons in 1987.

Today's card is the 1985 Eagles Team Issue #33. As the name implies, this set was issued by the Philadelphia Eagles. I don't know if team issue sets in general are rare, but they don't seem to come to market as often as mainstream cards. And as the team sets get older, they become even more difficult to find. Out of the 101 cards in my checklist listed as Team Issue, I've only seen 4 of them, about 4%. Overall, I have images of 35.6% of the checklist.

1986-87 Fax-Pax #7 Nick Faldo

Today's player is a little controversial, Nick Faldo. Faldo is one of the greatest golfers of all time and he did play golf for the University of Houston. So where's the controversy?

He attended the University of Houston for only 10 weeks. As far as I can tell, he only participated in one tournament as a Cougar. He became frustrated that going to class was cutting into his golf practice time. So he left UH to focus on golf full time.

So what do you do with a player like Faldo? Do you claim him as a Cougar?

How about players like Randy Brown in basketball or Barrick Nealy in football who transferred out? I've included them in my checklists so my list will be as complete as possible. They did play for UH so I think they belong.

What about coaches of UH athletes who didn't play at UH? Coaches like head coaches Bill Yeoman and Jack Pardee or current assistant coach Jim Jeffcoat. Should those be included?

Or even more of a disconnect from UH athletics: what about someone who has a degree from UH, but who never played or coached for UH? Tom Landry falls into that category even though he is usually associated with UT because he played football there.

I've been hit and miss on these, including Yeoman and Pardee, but excluding Jeffcoat and Landry. I think I should list them all to be fully comprehensive.

What do you think? I'd love to get your feedback so PLEASE COMMENT.

1987 Dolphins Police #11 T J Turner

Today's card is the 1987 Dolphins Police #11 featuring T J Turner. Police sets are often created to be handed out at community events or as a fundraiser.

This set was sponsored by Kiwanis, Children's Center of Fair Oaks Hospital at Boca/Delray, the Dolphins, and area law enforcement agencies