by Andy | Dec 20, 2010 | Hall of Fame, NFL History, NFL Media, NFL Random Thoughts
We’ve had some spirited debates over the past couple years about who should and shouldn’t be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, many of them relating to senior nominees who in some cases were surprisingly overlooked years ago.
Sports Illustrated’s Peter King devoted a good chunk of his Monday Morning Quarterback today to finding a way to get more “contributors” to the game enshrined in Canton, Ohio as well. He makes a compelling case that many non-players deserve to be enshrined. I think he’s probably right — I particularly agree with the case he made for the Ed Sabol, who founded NFL Films.
I’m not sure, however, if the three alternatives he proposes for making the change to ensure more contributor honorees make the most sense to me (though at first glance I don’t have an obviously better answer, either).
Stolen directly from his column, King’s three proposed options include:
1. Take one of the two Seniors slots and give it annually to a non-head coaching contributor to the game, which wouldn’t mean a contributor wouldn’t get in every year, but rather that one contributor’s case would be heard every year.
2. Take one of the two Seniors slots every other year and give it annually to a contributor.
3. Take the two non-modern-era-candidate slots and make them fit for all other candidates — seniors, scouts, etc.
I admit, I’m not an expert on how the voters would go about changing the process. I do know that the limit on modern era candidates is five and the limit on senior committee candidates is two, for a maximum of seven inductees to the Hall in any given year. To me, as the NFL Hall of Fame prepares to expand its physical footprint anyway, it seems like you could simply add one more slot each year for a “contributor” and make the maximum number of entrants each year eight – with no requirement that number be voted in, of course.
But as I said, I don’t know for sure what the procedure is for making a change like this. So, I’m asking our readers for thoughts. Should more contributors be recognized? If so, how would you suggest changing the voting process? If not, why?
And while you’re sharing your thoughts on this topic I’ll see if I can’t find some clarity to the process under which such a change to the voting could be made.
by Andy | Dec 10, 2010 | Hall of Fame, NFL History
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced plans to renovate a portion of its existing structure and expand from 83,000 square feet to 124,000 square feet in a $23.6 million project that will take two years to complete.
The “Future 50 Project” will wrap up during the 50th Anniversary of the hall’s opening and will lay the foundation for the building’s next 50 years of operations, according to a statement.
“The growth and accomplishments of the Pro Football Hall of Fame during its first 50 years are widely acclaimed,” said Steve Perry, president and executive director. “It’s great that we are able to build upon the success of the past and initiate this major project to set the stage for success in the future.”
The project will include: (more…)
by Tony | Aug 25, 2010 | Hall of Fame
Former Redskins Linebacker Chris Hanburger and former Rams Linebacker Les Richter were selected from a field of 16 finalists to be the 2011 Senior Candidates for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
The two will be included in a vote with five other “modern” finalists as determined by the Hall of Fame voting committee in the coming months. Earlier this month, 2010 senior candidates Floyd Little and Dick LaBeau, not considered strong candidates by many Zoneblitz readers, were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Hanburger played his entire fourteen year career with the Washington Redskins, making the pro bowl nine times and being named first team All-Pro four times after being an 18th (final) round selection out of North Carolina in 1965.
Richter, who died earlier this year at 79, was a first round draft choice of the New York Yanks in 1952, but was subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Rams for 11 players, the largest trade ever made for a single player. He played for the Rams for nine seasons, making eight pro bowls and one first team All-Pro selection. Richter also served as a kicker for his first three seasons (and made a couple of later career kicking appearances), making 106 of 109 PAT attempts and 29 of 55 field goals.
After leaving the NFL, Richter went on to become a high-ranking official with NASCAR.
(more…)
by Andy | Jul 22, 2010 | Hall of Fame, We Forgot
Former Denver running back Floyd Little was one of Tom Mackie’s favorite players while the latter was growing up watching the Broncos. He was so dedicated a fan, in fact, that for years after Little retired he wrote letters and compiled statistics arguing for his idol’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
And as Little and Mackie suffered through years and years of disappointments, Mackie even got to write Little’s biography, which was titled “Floyd Little’s Tales from the Broncos Sideline.”
Little’s induction later this summer has been supported by some and panned by others both here at this site and elsewhere. Those who support him say his numbers don’t tell the entire story of what he meant to the Denver Broncos and the National Football League. Those who disagree with his enshrinement say he didn’t play long enough or put up dominant enough statistics.
Whether you agree with it or don’t, however, you can’t knock the efforts Mackie put forth in supporting his friend and one-time hero. SportsIllustrated.com penned a fascinating story this week that looked at the relationship that developed between the two and at the steps Mackie took to ensure that Little would one-day be memorialized in Canton.
It’s a good read. I’d suggest checking it out.
by Andy | Jul 20, 2010 | Business of Football, Hall of Fame, NFL Random Thoughts
I stumbled across this old profile on former Atlanta Falcons center Jeff Van Note at sportsillustrated.cnn.com today. I often check that site but only occasionally actually click on the stories they have in their “vault,” which for those who don’t check the site, is really a repository for old, interesting stories that seem to randomly pop up from time to time.
I started reading it because of Van Note. I can’t completely explain why but he’s one of my favorite players from the early 1980s when I started watching the game. And the profile was very interesting. It was written as his career wound down. He had lost his starting job at center but was sticking around for a final season or two for no other reason than he really loved the game.
If Wikipedia (and my math) is correct, Van Note is 64 now. He played in the NFL from 1969 to 1986, all of which was with the Atlanta Falcons. When he retired, only Jim Marshall of the Vikings had played in more games with one team (246).
He played mostly for teams that weren’t very good, though he was a solid contributor on the Atlanta teams in 1978, that made and won the team’s first playoff games, and in 1980, that won the NFC West and had arguably the league’s best team before falling victim to a Dallas Cowboys comeback in the the playoffs.
He made five Pro Bowls and strikes me as one of those guys who will not make the Hall of Fame but who will more than occasionally be brought up for consideration.
I was very young and just learning about the game back then but everything I remember and everything I read indicate that he was, at worst, a very solid, workmanlike player and, at best, during his prime, memorably good.
One of the things that struck me about the profile was that he broke the picket lines during a 1974 labor issue only to decide later that he made a mistake. He became a vice president to the NFL Players Association and then the union’s president from 1983 to 1984.
One of the issues of the time was rookie salaries. “We’ve got to stop paying all this money to rookies,” he told Sports Illustrated’s Ralph Wiley at the time. “Salaries are fine, but earn them. What do rookies know about winning in the NFL? Tilt the scales to the proven veteran.”
As top picks like JaMarcus Russell, Tim Couch, David Carr and Ryan Leaf continue to sign massive contracts and fizzle out after a few years, that continues to be one of the main issues in today’s labor discussions as well. Of course it wasn’t a billion dollar institution at the time Van Note played, but it’s still instructive – the league has been fighting about some issues for as long as 25 to 30 years and still hasn’t figured out how to get it right.
Van Note may never make the Hall of Fame. But it was blue collar guys like him who came unheralded from the University of Kentucky to play for just short of two full decades who helped turn this league into what it is today.
His voice was instructive in 1986 when this profile was written. And it strikes me that if you got a half-dozen or so of his contemporaries into a room in an effort to solve the labor issues of today that you might have more success than the league and the union are having with some of the out of touch owners and players of today.
by Andy | Jul 13, 2010 | Hall of Fame
Funeral services were held Monday for former Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers head coach Don Coryell, who died last week at 85.
He was a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year but was not selected for enshrinement, a fact that John Madden apparently took issue with during his eulogy.
Madden, who coached under Coryell at San Diego State in the early 1960s, pointed into the crowd at Dan Fouts and Joe Gibbs, and said all three were in the Hall because of Coryell, according to the Associated Press.
“There’s something missing,” he continued.
Coryell never won a Super Bowl. His playoff record was 3-6. But he led some high-powered offenses that changed the game in the 1970s and 80s.
That, reportedly, is what most likely has kept him out of the Hall. My inclination is that he is right on the borderline, but he was coaching just as I was starting to watch the game. So I’d be interested in hearing people’s thoughts on the influence he had on the game and whether or not he eventually will make it to Canton, Ohio.
Robert we’ll miss you but I do have a point though maybe I’ll take a hiatus from posting here for…
Andy Can we please move on its getting old and stale because you wont stop on this topic im done…
I feel bad for all the voters who were removed
If only if Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft had been elected then these changes wouldn’t have happened
The Pro Football Hall of Fame will never be the same after these changes