Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Discuss candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the PFRA's Hall of Very Good
sluggermatt15
Posts: 606
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:57 pm

Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by sluggermatt15 »

Do any members on here have a list of their own personal Hall-of-Fame?

Meaning, of all the enshrinees in Canton or those who aren't (such as HOVG players), who are the players that you would place in your own Hall? I'd like to try to put my own together and eventually share it with those who may be interested. I think it could be another great point of discussion. Obviously there are a lot of threads on here disputing players who are in/out of Canton.
Oszuscik
Posts: 169
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 2:34 pm

Re: Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by Oszuscik »

I'll speak to the Packers, as that's the team I've followed my whole life. There are six individuals from the 90's Packers that I believe deserve enshrinement in the Hall of Fame:

Ron Wolf
Mike Holmgren
Brett Favre
Reggie White
LeRoy Butler
Sterling Sharpe

Wolf, Favre, and Reggie are already in. Butler I believe will be in soon. Sharpe had his career cut short by injury, but he was a Hall of Famer. Five Pro Bowls, three All-Pros, he led the league in receiving three times, yards once, and touchdowns twice. He dominated his era. Holmgren deserves to be enshrined too. More so than Bill Cowher, who's going in this year. Holmgren helped resurrect two separate franchises and led them both to Super Bowls. He coached Favre into a three-time MVP. He deserves just as much credit as Ron Wolf gets for turning Green Bay around.

As a side bar, Darren Sharper came from this era too and has been a Hall of Fame nominee. Not taking his crimes into account, he should still NOT be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was absolutely terrible his first three years in the league, and only in his fourth season did he start racking up hollow interception numbers. And he's at the center of two of the most infamous plays in Packers history, The Catch II and 4th & 26.
User avatar
TanksAndSpartans
Posts: 1153
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:05 am

Re: Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by TanksAndSpartans »

I think players who had their best seasons prior to the formation of the NFL are underrepresented. I’d have something like this (these are mostly from the latter years of the Ohio League - I still need to add some from the early years and pre-Ohio League years as well):

Backs
Jim Thorpe (HOF)
Homer Davidson
Norb Sacksteder
Al Mahrt

Linemen/ends
Bob Nash
Ralph Waldsmith
Al Nesser (HOVG)

Hybrid
Frank Nesser

Contributor/Coach/Manager
Jack Cusack
Peggy Parratt
User avatar
JeffreyMiller
Posts: 819
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2014 11:28 am
Location: Birthplace of Pop Warner

Re: Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by JeffreyMiller »

I'll tackle the Bills ….

Tom Sestak
Butch Byrd (shockingly overlooked and underappreciated)
Fred Smerlas
Steve Tasker (a controversial choice, yes, but if an ST ever gets in, it should be him)
"Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football."
JuggernautJ
Posts: 1379
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:14 pm
Location: NinerLand, Ca.

Re: Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by JuggernautJ »

Hey Matt, you reminded me of this old topic from waaay back in 2018...

http://www.profootballresearchers.com/f ... f=5&t=4783
JuggernautJ wrote: I think I'd have to start with Jim Brown, Don Hutson, Sammy Baugh, Jim Thorpe and Jerry Rice.
My top 20 would almost certainly have George Halas, Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange, Vince Lombardi, Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, Walter Payton, Gino Marchetti...
That's already 13 and a lot of guys aren't going to make the list...
I neglected to include Lawrence Taylor on that list... so those would probably be my first 14...

If it really were my personal Hall then I'd also include Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott (homer choices) and Leroy Kelly, Steve Van Buren, Chuck Bednarik and.... Deacon Jones.
Today. Probably.
JWL
Posts: 1188
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 12:35 pm
Location: New Jersey

Re: Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by JWL »

sluggermatt15 wrote:Do any members on here have a list of their own personal Hall-of-Fame?
My personal HOF would not include a number of the actual Hall of Famers. Some non-HOFers who would be in it are Al Wistert, Sam Mills. Sterling Sharpe, Randy Gradishar, and Chuck Howley.
sluggermatt15
Posts: 606
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:57 pm

Re: Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by sluggermatt15 »

JWL wrote:
sluggermatt15 wrote:Do any members on here have a list of their own personal Hall-of-Fame?
My personal HOF would not include a number of the actual Hall of Famers. Some non-HOFers who would be in it are Al Wistert, Sam Mills. Sterling Sharpe, Randy Gradishar, and Chuck Howley.
Great point. No minimum or maximum number of players. Whoever you feel is worthy. :)
RichardBak
Posts: 815
Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:04 pm

Re: Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by RichardBak »

I think Buddy Parker should be in. He was an innovator, had Paul Brown's number, and had a long string of successes as a player and coach. As a rookie back he scored TD and had INT in 1935 title game vs NYG as Lions won their first championship. Was assistant coach (and "brains" of Cardinals defense, said Vince Banonis) when Cards won a couple division titles and the '47 title game. Then he took the Lions to 3 straight division titles (52-54) and back-to-back NFL championships. On two other occasions (1951 and '56) all he needed was a tie on the last Sunday of the regular season to grab another division championship. Each time he fell short (ironically, both games were played on his birthday, Dec. 16). If the Lions had won that 3rd straight championship in '54 instead of getting stampeded by the Browns, he would've been a shoo-in.
User avatar
74_75_78_79_
Posts: 2331
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 1:25 pm

Re: Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by 74_75_78_79_ »

On the older thread, "if the HOF started today", I opined that the HOF started when it actually should have started or maybe it should have started slightly earlier in the late-'50s; thus allowing for a rich enough history leading up to choose from. Looking back, I think it perhaps should have started even earlier than that.

How about after the War instead which would have made it a quarter-century in? Twenty five years should be a good enough time to start a HOF for any sport (2008 inaugural year had USFL stayed around all this time). Had the first class been - say - in 1945, so many old-timers that in real-time are forever without hope would have gotten in long ago. Of course there still would be arguments anyway, but still.
JuggernautJ
Posts: 1379
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:14 pm
Location: NinerLand, Ca.

Re: Your personal Hall-of-Fame

Post by JuggernautJ »

Oszuscik wrote:I'll speak to the Packers, as that's the team I've followed my whole life. There are six individuals from the 90's Packers that I believe deserve enshrinement in the Hall of Fame:

Ron Wolf
Mike Holmgren
Brett Favre
Reggie White
LeRoy Butler
Sterling Sharpe
No Cal Hubbard?!
He's probably one of the best tackles from the days of yore...

Edit: Didn't see the "90's" comment. My bad.
Post Reply