CANHawk":sznkkshj said:
Jim Kelly might have been my first ever "favorite" player back when I was 10 or so. Him or thurman Thomas. Loved those early 90's bills.
I was a little younger but yeah, Thurman Thomas, Jim Kelly, and Bruce Smith were my favorite players outside of Robinson, Kennedy, and Kasay(hey, I was young). I even wrote to Jim Kelly and sent him a football card of him to sign in '93, and of all the people I wrote to as a child only two of them signed something I sent, Jim Kelly and Jerry Rice. Most everyone I wrote to sent something back, (MJ, Kristi Yamaguchi...soooo hot!, Junior, Kemp, Magic, Gwynn, etc.) like an automated letter with a stamped sig, or a promo for a camp or one of their biggest sponsors. Rice sent back the card I sent to him with an explanation that he couldn't sign it because he only signed a certain brand of cards and not the kind I sent, a promo for one of his camps, but he also sent me a 6x10 black and white signed picture with a certificate of authenticity plus another card. Kelly sent back the card I sent, signed, as well as a handwritten letter and note from the Bills front office encouraging me to support the team despite me being a Seahawks fan. I'll have to find it the next time I go to my parents but it always stuck with me that those two guys put so much effort into connecting with their fans. Kelly is a stand up guy, and he always has been. You'd have to be made of stone to not be moved by his story.