The Card Album

With over 525 player alumni and staff from the University of Miami Football program represented, I believe my Hurricanes card collection is the most expansive in existence. It includes players that have been inducted into Hall of Fames through practice squad members and those that merely committed and walked away before the season began. Also represented are head coaches, assistants, and other staff members of the program. Along with traditional football cards, I also count similar flat collectables like pocket schedules and ticket stubs.

The Card Album is my personal collection showcase. I originally designed my first website, CardMagnet.info, from scratch in Microsoft FrontPage and used tables to organize things. The site was updated regularly 2009 to 2021. I’m proud to say that I had regular viewers from around the world, and my content was frequently in the top results on Google’s web and image results. The time came to put some new tools and ideas to use, and so TheCardAlbum.com was born.

Few stories have captured the hearts of Hurricanes fans like that of Rusty Medearis, who reached the highest of heights and the lowest of lows, but fought back with grit and determination that inspired thousands to cheer him on.  He came to Miami from Ozark (Mo.) High School where he was a two-time All State and two-time conference MVP selection at outside linebacker.  An all around athlete, he also lettered twice in baseball, basketball and track.  But his story was just beginning to be told when he came to Coral Gables.

His first collegiate start was the stuff of legends, as the freshman in recorded 5 ½ quarterback sacks of the Texas Tech quarterback to go along with 12 tackles, nine solo, and was named the Sports Illustrated defensive player of the week.  He was named a 1990 Freshman All-American and finished the year with 10 sacks, second only to UMSHoF member and 1990 Outland Trophy winner Russell Maryland’s 10 ½ sacks.  He also did double duty handling the Canes long-snapping duties.

As a sophomore in 1991, Medearis had a knack for big plays in big games, recording two sacks against Houston’s All-American quarterback David Klingler, 2 ½ sacks against Penn State, two against FSU in the Wide Right 1 game, and would record four sacks in Miami’s 22-0 victory over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl for the Canes 4th National Championship.  Rusty, named All-Big East and 2nd team All-American, teamed with Class of 2015 inductee Kevin Patrick as the Miami defense emerged as the number one defensive squad in the country, allowing just 9.1 points per game.

Named a pre-season All-American by several publications, Rusty would suffer a devastating knee injury in the third game of the season, an injury that required 13 hours of surgery and countless hours of grueling treatment and therapy.  Through it all, Rusty was determined to get back on the Orange Bowl field, and inspired Canes fans by starting the first two games of the 1994 season, recording 6 tackles.  But the chronic pain from the injury finally forced him to retire from competition.  His 22 sacks in just over two full seasons ranks tied for 7th in school history.

Source: https://www.umsportshalloffame.com/rusty-medearis.html