Pro Football Hall Of Fame
Herb Adderly - 1969
Otis Taylor - KC Chiefs
Another year of hall of fame
inductions at the pro football hall of fame in Canton, Ohio have come
and gone, and so it's time once again for the endless debates to
begin about who should be on the ballot for 2017.
It seems just about everyone has an opinion on who is worthy of having their bust placed in the hallowed halls, and if the hall of fame committee, consisting of 46 members, took all of these opinions seriously, half the league would be in Canton by now.
This year the hall of fame committee selected eight new members. By comparison, the baseball hall of fame committee only selected two new members. The pro football hall of fame opened it's doors in 1963 and has 303 inductees. The baseball hall of fame, which opened it's doors in 1936, twenty seven years before the football hall of fame, has only 312 members. You can, of course, make the argument that the NFL has a lot more players than MLB, and that is true. Still, I've always been of the opinion that the hall of fame is supposed to be for the elite player. It seems like baseball, for the most part, has tried to hold true to that, while football, at least in recent years, seems to have gotten away from it.
It also seems that the players from the 1970's, 1960's and before, are being forgotten, while the modern day players are being ushered in very quickly, many in only their first or second year of eligibility. Is it because they have impressive stats and big numbers? Why the big rush to get the modern day player in so quickly? Up until recent years, players had to wait their turn, not matter how deserving they were. For instance, Herb Adderly, who played from 1961-1972, and is considered by many, as the best all around cornerback to ever play the game, did not get voted in until his third year of eligibility.
Yet another example of someone who had to wait his turn is Mel Renfro. In fact he had to wait until his fourteenth year of eligibility. Renfro just happened to be a teammate of Herb Adderly from 1970-1972 with the Dallas Cowboys. Listen to these credentials. Mr. Renfro played for the Cowboys from 1964-1977, during which time they played in eight NFL/NFC Championships, winning four of them, while also winning two Super Bowls. He played cornerback, safety, punt returner, kick returner, and even had a brief stint at running back in 1966. In his rookie year he not only led the team with seven interceptions, he also led the league in return yardage. He had 52 career interceptions, was voted All-Pro five times, was voted to the pro bowl ten years in a row, winning the MVP in that game in 1970, and was only the fifth player in Dallas Cowboys history to be inducted into their ring of honor in 1981. Yet somehow, even with all of these impressive credentials, he had to wait fourteen years to get his bust in Canton, while the modern day players are making it into Canton without hardly any wait at all.
As it stands right now, the seniors committee, which has only nine members voting, can only select two new inductees each year. This means two players or coaches who retired prior to 1985. I believe they need to increase that number to at least three per year.
I also think the committee should consider allowing only one non-player into the hall of fame per year. I'm not saying that coaches, owners, general managers, and other non-players shouldn't have a place in Canton, but I think the players should take precedence over non-players, or perhaps they should have a separate wing dedicated to non-players.
I've visited the hall of fame several times. It's a wonderful place to learn the history of this great game, and to learn about all the great players who played, and the great coaches who coached. I would recommend visiting it to any football fan, but I wonder sometimes if we make the hall of fame too important. What about all the great players and coaches who may never get inducted? People like Jerry Kramer, Drew Pearson, Mike Curtis, Otis Taylor, Coach Tom Flores, just to name a few. Are their contributions to the league, and to their teams any less important or impressive just because they're not in the hall of fame?
In the end, who gets in and who doesn't is all a matter of someone's opinion. So let the debates begin. Once again, I'd rather just cherish the memories.
