PFHOF myth
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2024 10:21 pm
I'm sure most of you here know this already, but I wanted to put this out there, since this myth comes up every February. The myth is:
"A player is going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a <insert team here>."
No player goes into the Hall of Fame as a member of a single team. All teams are listed equally under their busts. Sure, there's dates that make it clear that a player spent more time with one team than another. But Franco Harris is listed equally as Steeler and Seahawk. Brett Favre is listed as Falcon, Packer, Jet, and Viking. Joe Montana as 49er and Chief. And so on.
Even at the interactive screens the Hall of Fame has in the middle of the busts room, the players can still be found under any team they played for. The only thing is that the player's primary team is bolded. But that's hardly "going into the Hall of Fame as a..."
I'm sure this myth comes from the Baseball Hall of Fame, which I've never been to. There, a player's plaque has the hat of a certain team. That isn't the case in the PFHOF.
Now, I will grant that even the PFHOF's website will list players as having a primary team. But the Hall itself doesn't do that. Or at least it hasn't since the renovation in the early 2000s. I remember it being a lot different when I first visited in 1997, which I miss dearly (but that's a story for another day).
"A player is going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a <insert team here>."
No player goes into the Hall of Fame as a member of a single team. All teams are listed equally under their busts. Sure, there's dates that make it clear that a player spent more time with one team than another. But Franco Harris is listed equally as Steeler and Seahawk. Brett Favre is listed as Falcon, Packer, Jet, and Viking. Joe Montana as 49er and Chief. And so on.
Even at the interactive screens the Hall of Fame has in the middle of the busts room, the players can still be found under any team they played for. The only thing is that the player's primary team is bolded. But that's hardly "going into the Hall of Fame as a..."
I'm sure this myth comes from the Baseball Hall of Fame, which I've never been to. There, a player's plaque has the hat of a certain team. That isn't the case in the PFHOF.
Now, I will grant that even the PFHOF's website will list players as having a primary team. But the Hall itself doesn't do that. Or at least it hasn't since the renovation in the early 2000s. I remember it being a lot different when I first visited in 1997, which I miss dearly (but that's a story for another day).