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With our draft starting today I thought I'd look back at our previous #1 selections starting from the beginning.

1974 Shawn Arzola, CB Tampa Bay

Arzola was the first ever player drafted in the USFL and he enjoyed a short 5 year career. Arzola was a veteran at the time who bounced around the NFL, having spent time with the St. Louis Cardinals and Baltimore Colts in the early 70's.

He spent 1974 with Tampa Bay before being traded during the 1975 draft to Oakland with a 4th round pick for 2 first round picks and a 4th. He had 10 career INTs and allowed less than 50% completions all 5 seasons.

1975 Fernando Stone, MLB Charlotte

Stone spent his entire 10 year career as a starter for the Hornets, intercepting 31 passes with 7 sacks and 62 hurries. 22 of those INTs came in the last half of his career. Once his playing career ended, Stone joined ESPN for 2 seasons before landing at the USFL Network as one of the studio hosts.

1976 Rodney Preston, CB New York

Preston played for 11 seasons, the first 10 with the Stars. Preston made the All Pro team in 1981, which is odd because it wasn't one of his best seasons (3 INT and 2 knockdowns). Preston had 41 career INTs and he recorded at least 1 in all 11 seasons he played, allowing just 45.6% completions.

Now, Preston coaches youth football in NYC and has received numerous awards and citations for his work with urban kids,

1977 Alton Pastor, DE Michigan

Pastor enjoyed a long, 15 year career with Michigan (12 seasons) and Oakland (3 seasons), racking up 101 career sacks. His career high of 29 came in his All Pro season of 1981 and he even intercepted 5 passes in his 15 seasons.

His post playing career took him back to Southern Mississippi, where he played his college ball. That area is part of the Bible Belt, and he is Pastor Pastor of the Hattiesburg Baptist Church.

1978 Herbert Lynn, SS Philadelphia

Lynn continues the string of defensive players being taken #1 overall, and while he wasn't a bust, his career stats don't look like a #1 draft pick's stats. He was a starter all 10 seasons for the Bell, intercepting 17 passes with a 54.3 completion allowed percentage.

Bell was actually Notre Dame's career INT leader when he graduated in 1977, and after his USFL career ended, he went back to Notre Dame to become the color commentator for the Notre Dame Radio Network.

1979 Norman Shaw, WR Georgia

It was bound to happen eventually, and Shaw has the honors of the first offensive #1 pick. He spent 5 seasons with Georgia before being traded to Southern California during the 1984 draft. He spent his last 5 seasons with the Sun. His best season was 1980, when he caught 55 passes for 1,156 yards and 11 TDs.

Shaw attended UCLA and his post playing career saw his stay in the Southern California area, where he opened a string of surf shops with his wife Kelly, who was a professional surfer.

#1 Picks of the 1980's

1980 Charles Bowles, CB Boston

Big surprise, we're back to defensive backs being top overall pick. In those days of MFN, everyone hoarded DBs, and we'd often see half the top 10 be DBs. Bowles played 10 seasons, the first 8 with the Breakers before signing a $47 million, 2 year deal with New York in 1988. Something clicked once he joined the Stars, as Bowles had a respectable 27 INTs over 8 seasons with Boston, but had 18 his final 2 seasons, including 11 in 1988 as he made All Pro.

Bowles opened a string of car dealerships in Florida upon retirement, where he lives with his family.

1981 Joseph Clark, WR Boston

Boston had the #1 pick again and took Clark. Like Bowles before him, Clark left Boston for New York, but his best days were in Boston. Clark's stats are lacking given his draft status but the Breakers offense really struggled in the early 80's. Clark never topped 800 receiving yards in a season , finishing with 3,769 total receiving yards in his 9 seasons.

His post football days are now spent on his family's tobacco farm in North Carolina.

1982 Joseph Totten, MLB Boston

Totten played all 12 of his seasons with Boston, where he is 6th all time among LBs with 47 career INTs. His 877 career tackles land him on the first page on the all time list and he made the All Pro team in 1985, 1987, and 1988.

Joseph Totten is currently the head of the USFLPA after working his way up the players union ranks after retirement.

1983 Mark Lambert, RB Houston Gamblers

Lambert spent his first 4 seasons with Houston before being traded along with a 7th round pick to Memphis for 4 picks in the 1987 draft (2 firsts, a second and a third). The only knock on Lambert was injuries as he never played all 16 games in a season, but he retired with 10,113 rushing yards, 4th all time and his 46 rushing TDs ranks 8th. Lambert also had 7,133 receiving yards with 47 TDs on 598 catches and will likely be named to the Hall of Fame upon it's revival.

Lambert played for Houston's World Bowl XI Champions, then helped Memphis win World Bowls XIV and XVII. In calendar years that's 1984, 1987, and 1990 so perhaps he should have played in 1993 for another ring rather than retire, but I guess he felt his body had enough.

Mark Lambert is currently a studio analyst for ESPN, covering USFL, XFL, NFL, and NCAA.

1984 Melvin Driggers, QB Tampa Bay

Driggers played 13 seasons, the first 8 with Tampa Bay before wrapping up with Portland. He led the Storm to the win in World Bowl XX and his career 57,375 passing yards ranks 5th all time. He's even higher on the All Time TD list with 437, good for 3rd all time. Likely another future HOF guy.

Driggers stayed in Portland following his retirement, working as an ambassador for the Storm as well as helping chair the committee trying to bring a MLB team to Portland.

1985 Victor Thomas, MLB Oakland

Thomas played 9 seasons, all with Oakland, making All Pro 6 times (1987, 1989-1993). He had 35 career INTs with 2 returned for TDs, allowed 44.3% completion and had 898 tackles.

Thomas makes it 4 seasons in a row the #1 overall pick is in consideration for the Hall of Fame. He now works his VT93 Foundation, helping inner city Oakland youth further their education/job skills.

1986 Alberto Dean, SS Oklahoma

Dean breaks the potential HOF streak but he did play 12 seasons with 4 different teams. Dean had 36 career INTs with 3 TDs. He had a career high 8 INT in his All Pro season of 1992.

Nowadays you can find Alberto Dean on his cattle ranch in Oklahoma, where he and his wife raise a lot of farm animals and 4 children.

1987 Henry Young, RB Charlotte

Young played 11 seasons, the first 9 with Charlotte before finishing his career with Georgia. His best rushing season was 770 yards and 5 TDs and he caught 721 career passes, including a league record 142 in 1996, his first year in Georgia.

Young is now working with the Professional Bull Rider Tour, helping promote their events throughout the Southwest U.S.

1988 Champ Bailey, CB San Jose

Bailey played 10 seasons, 9 with the SaberCats before retiring with Shreveport. Bailey was a gambler on the field, often trying to jump routes for INTs. He had 33 career INTs but allowed 54.5% completion throughout his career, and it's only that low because he gambled less as his career went along, and his completion % dropped his last 5 seasons.

Bailey is still gambling after football as he's a professional poker player who has been on TV several times on the WPT, winning the WPT Season 6 Bay 101 Classic. He also has 3 bracelets from the World Series of Poker, although his best main event finish was 32nd.

1989 Jurrell Casey, DE San Jose

Casey played all 13 of his seasons with the SaberCats, and he helped anchor a DL that saw San Jose make the playoffs every year but his rookie year. His stats weren't anything to write home about, but he was a solid contributor when he could get on the field.

Nobody has heard much about Casey post retirement, as he's living the quiet life with his wife and kids, resting his body that took a lot of punishment during his playing days.

#1 Picks of the 1990's

1990 Freddy Jones, WR Florida

Jones played 10 seasons, 9 with the Blazers before finishing with Shreveport. His career totals are 408 catches, 4,534 yards and 30 TDs, never topping 630 yards in a season.

Having never lived up to the hype surrounding him coming out of Richmond, Jones is now trying his hand at MMA. He has won 3 of his first 4 bouts so far in his second career.

1991 Francis Schultz, RB Birmingham

Schultz played all 11 seasons in Birmingham, cracking 1,000 rushing yards twice and ending his career with 8,964, 11th all time now. He added 2,634 receiving yards and 4,448 return yards with 53 combined TDs.

Schultz now spends his time hunting, fishing, golfing and raising his family with wife Wendy.

1992 Robert Tejada, CB Washington

Tejada played all 9 seasons with the Federals, making All Pro in 1995, 1997, and 1999. He had 42 career INTs with at least 2 in every season.

Tejada currently is the Oakland Raiders DB coach.

1993 Nathaniel Elliott, MLB Jacksonville

Elliott never got along with the coaches in Jacksonville and he recorded just 1 sack and 0 INT in 3+ years before being traded to Shreveport early in 1996. He found a home in Shreveport as he had 5 INTs for the Steamer in 1996, finishing with 18 sacks and 19 INT during his time there.

Elliott was just recently hired as Villanova's LB coach.

1994 Gerald Jones, FS Denver

Jones spent all 9 seasons with the Gold, where he intercepted 16 passes, allowed just 38.6% completion and knocked down 103 passes.

Jones just retired in 2002 and has remained out of the public eye since.

1995 William Haubert, RB Arizona

Haubert is entering his 10th season with the Wranglers in what has been a mostly disappointing career, at least as a rusher. He has 2,285 career ground yards with 13 TDs, the same number of scores as he has return TDs. In fact Haubert's 5 career punt return TDs are the most in league history by far, next closest has but 2. He also has 8 kickoff return TDs and 13 receiving TDs.

Haubert is still playing so no word on his post football life yet.

1996 Hector Segura, SS Southern California

Segura has been a solid player for the Sun and must not have any All Pro luck because he's had a couple of seasons worthy. He has 27 INTs in 8 seasons so far, at least 2 every year and from 1997-1999 had a completion allowed percentage below 40.

1997 Raymond Settles, QB Oklahoma

Settles is entering his 8th season having been to two World Bowls already, winning World Bowl XXVIII. His first 2 seasons were rough but he's coming along quite nicely now, with a 150/94 TD/INT ratio, and taking out the first 2 seasons, it's 135/71. He completes nearly 2 of every 3 throws and should continue to be one of the league's better QBs.

1998 Robert Mosley, CB Oakland

The speedster made the All Pro team in 2000 when he had a career high 10 INTs. He's had 29 INTs so far his first 6 years with a 46.1% completion allowed. He's in the prime of a solid career.

1999 James Knapp, SS Baltimore

It's hard to judge Knapp as his stats aren't good (3 INT in 5 seasons) except for catch allowed % (41.5%). Is the lack of INTs his fault, or the fault of previous ownership? We'll find out as if Knapp has game, Bruno77 will help him show it.

#1 Picks of the 2000's

2000 Brian White, QB Pittsburgh

White had a horrific rookie season, throwing 4 TD and 30 INTs but that experience paid off with a World Bowl XXIX Championship. Since that 2000 season White has a 93/41 TD/INT ratio. It remains to be seen how the change in ownership will affect him this season.

2001 Agustin Fiecke, WR Pittsburgh

Fiecke had a productive first 2 seasons, going 98-1178-4 and 115-1244-11. In fact he made All Pro in 2001 and won Offensive ROY, the first overall #1 pick to win rookie of the year in history. His production dipped in 2003 and his future hinges on Brian White and new ownership.

2002 Gerald Parsons, RB Baltimore

He's listed as a RB now but I suspect he used to be a TE or FB because he has no rushing stats and weighs 246 lbs. He's caught 49 passes for 444 yards and 1 TD his first 2 seasons and his role is unclear given new ownership.

2003 Paul Ford, MLB San Antonio

He was a starter during his rookie year, recording 84 tackles and allowing 55.2% completions. He is entering his 2nd season and looks to improve his stats, and perhaps get his first INT.

2004 Jamie Orman, QB New York

This is the current draft's #1 pick and the card was just turned in an hour ago. If Orman hits his ceiling, he'll have 100 accuracy and 100's in the eye categories. His arm strength and pass release are in the mid to high 80's and his one negative will be his inability to avoid fumbling (14 is his ceiling there).

If he doesn't hit his ceiling. Beercloud will be watching where the accuracy bar ends up, as if it gets too low Orman will ****.

2005 Check back next draft