Bill Cohwer one of 2 coaches in Centenial Class

[Bryan]

Interestingly, while reading up on Abner Haynes I discovered that Buddy Parker and Bobby Layne paid a recruitment visit to the Haynes family home. Abner had been drafted by the Steelers and, like many during the NFL/AFL wars had to choose between playing in the NFL or the AFL.

The story goes that Abner's father, a man of the cloth, advised his son to play for the Dallas Texans as Layne and Parker showed up to the family gathering "after having had a few cocktails."

If Parker didn't want a black player then why did he make the trip to Texas to recruit Haynes?
Then again, he didn't seem to care enough to show up sober...

I can believe the bit about problematic relations with owners (although the Rooneys didn't seem to have that problem with him). But that was a (more-or-less) common attitude among coaches in those days. It doesn't seem to have kept Lombardi or Paul Brown out of the HoF...

Parker tried to trade for Emerson Cole in the early 50's, but Paul Brown nixed the deal. Someone else mentioned JH Johnson, and Parker also had him on his Steelers teams, along with Big Daddy, Johnny Sample, Brady Keys, etc. I think its difficult to label Parker as a racist for having all-white teams in 1952 & 1953...there weren't that many blacks in the NFL in general, and his teams were winning titles. I think racism is more apparent when you have teams like the early 60's Redskins mired at the bottom of the standings and refusing to bring in black players who could help them win. Maybe my opinion is wrong; I don't know.

Parker's issue with Detroit's ownership was the structure itself. There wasn't one owner...it was a board of directors consisting of IIRC 14 people. Parker got tired of answering the same questions from14 different directors.

[JWL]

Parker tried to trade for Emerson Cole in the early 50's, but Paul Brown nixed the deal. Someone else mentioned JH Johnson, and Parker also had him on his Steelers teams, along with Big Daddy, Johnny Sample, Brady Keys, etc. I think its difficult to label Parker as a racist for having all-white teams in 1952 & 1953...there weren't that many blacks in the NFL in general, and his teams were winning titles. I think racism is more apparent when you have teams like the early 60's Redskins mired at the bottom of the standings and refusing to bring in black players who could help them win. Maybe my opinion is wrong; I don't know.

Parker's issue with Detroit's ownership was the structure itself. There wasn't one owner...it was a board of directors consisting of IIRC 14 people. Parker got tired of answering the same questions from14 different directors.

Yeah, I don't know that Parker was actually a racist. Even if he was that should not keep him out of the PFHOF. I mean, if a guy was kept out for racism and bigotry and odd viewpoints about non-football things, the PFHOF might have nobody in it.

I merely mentioned this whole thing earlier in the thread because racism is something that other people have cited as a knock on Parker.

[conace21]

Parker tried to trade for Emerson Cole in the early 50's, but Paul Brown nixed the deal. Someone else mentioned JH Johnson, and Parker also had him on his Steelers teams, along with Big Daddy, Johnny Sample, Brady Keys, etc. I think its difficult to label Parker as a racist for having all-white teams in 1952 & 1953...there weren't that many blacks in the NFL in general, and his teams were winning titles. I think racism is more apparent when you have teams like the early 60's Redskins mired at the bottom of the standings and refusing to bring in black players who could help them win. Maybe my opinion is wrong; I don't know.

Parker's issue with Detroit's ownership was the structure itself. There wasn't one owner...it was a board of directors consisting of IIRC 14 people. Parker got tired of answering the same questions from14 different directors.

Yeah, I don't know that Parker was actually a racist. Even if he was that should not keep him out of the PFHOF. I mean, if a guy was kept out for racism and bigotry and odd viewpoints about non-football things, the PFHOF might have nobody in it.

I merely mentioned this whole thing earlier in the thread because racism is something that other people have cited as a knock on Parker.

I looked up the Pro Football Chronicle regarding the Lions and integration. In 1949, under Bo McMillan, they had three black players, including Wally Triplett and 1,000 yard receiver Bob Mann. They next year, they only had Triplett. Parker came aboard in 1951 and that's when they went all-white.
I never heard that Parker had racist attitudes, but it was unusual that the Lions started off as one of the most integrated teams in the league, and then went backwards.

PFC also had a section about Parker's resignation. It concluded that it was probably due to a combination of several factors; the structure of management, the lack of discipline among players, and (ironically) his own alcohol use (implying that he decided to quit while under the influence, not because alcohol was impacting his health.)

[sluggermatt15]

I'm a through and through Steelers fan, and I do not think Bill Cowher is a Hall of Fame caliber coach. He's not a guy who everyone refers to in history or as one of the greatest coaches or innovators. I think inducting him gives Mike Tomlin a great chance. Tomlin almost has the same credentials, and even a higher regular season winning percentage.

[sheajets]

Jimmy Johnson is a Hall of Fame coach. Bill Cowher...well I personally would take him over Tony Dungy but still not a Hall of Fame coach. In my eyes for him to be a HOF coach he would need one more Super Bowl appearance. He has two...one W and one L. If he could've given me that 3rd appearance I could've accepted him being in the Hall without any qualms.

Personally I'm a bit shocked he hasn't come back to the sidelines yet. He still may at 62 but the door is rapidly closing on that. Guess those TV gigs are pretty cushy

[sheajets]

I don’t like the way David Baker goes with the enshrinees and his protagonism. For the casual fan (and sometimes even me) it seems that only he picks who gets in and who doesn’t. I predict he will have a bust in Canton before most of this year’s nominees.

Baker is kind of a sketchy character too

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... story.html

It is extremely cheesy how they're trying to make getting into the Hall these contrived social media viral moments.

I'm actually starting to thing future Hall of Fame inductions will be helped out if the player is still a visible media figure that can be surprised by Baker. If the players leads a quiet personal life or is deceased? nah why bother we can't have a FOX NFL Sunday drop in with a teary Joe Klecko. Let's leave him out.

Baker is also such a huge guy he ends up attracting a lot of attention himself. I didn't care for his Drew Brees white glove shenanigans either

[Reaser]

Baker is kind of a sketchy character too

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... story.html

It is extremely cheesy how they're trying to make getting into the Hall these contrived social media viral moments.

At the time other arena football fans always gave him credit for 'growing the league' but I never liked his time there since arena football went from something unique to trying to be NFL lite which obviously was never going to work. And wasn't shady at all that he resigned out-of-nowhere mere months before it came out the league owed millions and was a mess, and eventually had to shut down the original version of the league.


So I didn't like him in advance, and don't fall for the, as you well put, "contrived social media viral moments."

[JohnTurney]

Baker is kind of a sketchy character too

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... story.html

It is extremely cheesy how they're trying to make getting into the Hall these contrived social media viral moments.

At the time other arena football fans always gave him credit for 'growing the league' but I never liked his time there since arena football went from something unique to trying to be NFL lite which obviously was never going to work. And wasn't shady at all that he resigned out-of-nowhere mere months before it came out the league owed millions and was a mess, and eventually had to shut down the original version of the league.


So I didn't like him in advance, and don't fall for the, as you well put, "contrived social media viral moments."

Arena League was a Ponzi scheme. The only money that came in was initial franchise fees, then distributed to existing owners. New cities would fail and someone would 'sell' new cities on the fake fact that NFL support and TV contract was coming soon