He was the original gunslinger. Putting up insane numbers in college, winning the Heisman Trophy and being drafted 7th overall by the Detroit Lions. He was supposed to be a savior of that team, it just didn’t work out that way.
Ware played with the University of Houston from 1988 – 1989, he just happened to be in the right place a the right time. Coach Jack Pardee along with offensive coordinator John Jenkins ran the run and shoot offense those years, and two quarterbacks (Ware and David Klinger) both benefited from that offense as far as their draft positions. His junior year, he threw for a then record 4699 yards and 44 touchdowns. He became the first black quarterback to win the Heisman trophy that year. He also won the Davey O’Brien award for best quarterback. Originally he had decided to go back to school for his senior year, mainly because of how much heat Barry Sanders took the previous season for bailing out of college early. However he ended up going early and the Detroit Lions snapped him up with the 7th pick in the draft.
We all know what happened after that, 14 career starts, barely over 1000 career passing yards, 5 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, and a career rating of 63.5. After being released from the Lions in 1993, he signed with the Raiders, but never made it past the practice squad. He also had stints in Ottawa, BC, and Toronto in the CFL as well as Berlin in the NFL-Europe.
There is though one moment that converted me to an Andre Ware fan, October 21, 1989, Houston versus SMU. That day Andre threw for 517 yards and 6 touchdowns . . . in the first HALF! He sat out the second half and David Klinger came in for “mop up” duty, although he threw for over 300 yards and 4 touchdown passes. It was the single biggest win since 1968, they won 95 – 21 and still remains one of my all time favorite games to watch. It’s because of this game that I rooted for Andre through his entire career. I still feel as though he could have done better if he wasn’t A) drafted by the Detroit Lions and B) wasn’t just thrown to the wolves.
Andre has several cards that are certified autographs, most are either through Press Pass and TriSTAR (see below). He is generally considered one of the biggest busts in NFL history, but he is still well-loved in the Houston area, where he works for ESPN radio broadcasting regional college football games and also is the color commentator for the Houston Texans radio broadcasts.
I see Ware b-casting an NCAA games all the time and you just think of the career that could of been. But he seems to handle the boot well, and a great college career is better than no career at all.
This article makes me wonder what will happen to current UofH NFL gunslinger Kevin Kolb – his time is coming soon.
And just for the sake of accuracy, I think you are referring to David Klingler not Klinger but yeah his NFL fate wasn’t that much different then Ware’s.
Nice post.
You do wonder a lot about guys who were great in college but not so much in the pros. Like you said, if he hadn’t gone to the Lions….who knows?
Routing SMU after the NCAA handed down the death penalty isn’t exactly something to be proud of, haha.
A few days ago, I decided I’d sit down and try and collect every rookie card that I deemed important for the price of a box of exquisite.
The first card purchased was SMU’s coach during ’89 and packers’ great, Forrest Gregg.
http://www.pigskincardboard.com/2009/10/forrest-gregg-1960-topps/
Either way, Andre Ware and Houston’s system marked the start of a huge change in college football that’s far too often over looked.
When you look at the winners before Ward (sanders, brown, testaverde, jackson, flutie, etc) and then look at the streak of winners afterwards( Deitmer, Howard, Terreta, Ward, Salaam), and the systems they played in, it all makes sense.
It was just a strange era when it comes to College Football.