The Chancellor Of Football’s Take: Hall of Fame Voting

Article Reissue: Original – 29, August 2012

The world has been rocked by the snub of Bill Belichick not being selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot, and the selection process has now come under scrutiny. Well, 14 years ago, during the height of my advocating for players for the Hall, I brought this up. This was before even the Terrell Owens snub.

For those new here, 15 of the 22 men (links below) I advocated for are now enshrined, and I’ll send a letter to the Pro Football Hall of Fame asking to become a voter.

Players Who Should Be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: *=Enshrined Taylor Blitz Alumni

Robert Brazile / Kevin Greene */ Sterling Sharpe */ Terrell Davis */Everson Walls /Jerry Kramer */ Randy Moss * / Cris Carter  / Tom Flores* / Lester Hayes / Chuck Foreman /Edgerrin James* /Andre Reed */Roger Craig */Corey Dillon / Ken Riley  */ Ken Stabler */ Drew Pearson* / Cliff Branch* / Todd Christensen / Eli Manning / Hardy Nickerson / Wilber Marshall / Mike Holmgren 

I’ve kept it respectful and written out what I would argue in the same room with those voters. I touched this up over the years, but here is the original article:

When I learned that Jerry Kramer was skipped over as a senior nominee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I had utter contempt for the sportswriters who seemed to be the gatekeepers of history. It felt like they were going to work against the groundswell of support for Kramer and the passion from fans talking about his exclusion. I think the selection committee needs to have a few more wrinkles thrown into the mix.

Sure, there are personal reasons as to why I would think a player deserves to be in the Hall, and that is the foremost problem with the voting. There is no way to ignore your own thoughts or feelings about a person’s nomination being put before you. There will be partiality. You’ll remember that last year (______) didn’t vote for my guy, so I won’t vote for his this year. That is human nature. So you have to do it by committee. There would be no other way.

When I think of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I think of a treasured museum that everyone who ever played the game, at ANY level, could appreciate. It represents the ongoing history of the greatest sport there is and the telling of that story. Don’t tell me that Emmitt Smith is the greatest if you can’t tell me who Jim Brown was, or O.J. Simpson, Ernie Nevers, or Steve Van Buren. Someone saying they didn’t see Bronko Nagurski or Red Grange isn’t enough.

There are books, Taylor Blitz Times, or more importantly, this incredible museum housing all this history. That’s what makes this building significant.

With its enshrinees and special wings dedicated to memorable moments, the 92-year history of the NFL, the 10 years of the AFL, and the early football pioneers before the NFL come to life. This is where fathers get to teach their sons moments in history… like the famous “wristband” of Baltimore Colts running back Tom Matte from the 1960s.

When injuries to the Colts’ quarterbacks pressed Matte into service, Don Shula supplied him with a “wristband” with the play calls on it for him to remember. That is how he got through the game as a fill-in quarterback.

Not only does that legacy live on to this day with every NFL quarterback wearing one, but right now, as you read this… there is a father or mother teaching their son that story and looking at the actual “wristband.” What dreams and goals will that kid aspire to upon learning that and tossing the ball with his father the next day? What if that kid grows up to be the next Dan Marino or Johnny Unitas?

This is why it is important that the players, coaches, innovators, owners, and their stories are here to be told. It’s for us to relive those moments and for future generations to learn how things came to be. These are the special men who were the embodiment of the very spirit of football.

Which brings us back to The Chancellor’s thoughts on the matter. A few things should be changed that would allow for a smoother selection process. First things first… we couldn’t just turn the vote over to the fans. This would significantly cheapen the situation and dumb it down to just a popularity contest. We would just have Dallas Cowboys or Pittsburgh Steelers enshrined from this point on… so this one gets thrown out, yet not entirely…

The first item to be changed is that there should be 30 Hall of Fame players involved in the voting. Who would be better at this than those players who played with or against the players coming up for nomination? How has it gone this far without their inclusion? A Hall of Famer would best know what another Hall of Famer would look like and play like. Here, a nominee would need a majority vote. These votes are confidential…

Secondly, scale back the number of non-football-playing voters to 30, which would include The Chancellor. These voters, along with the enshrined members, would make for a better panel to debate who is a Hall of Famer and who is not. Those writers would be able to hear firsthand accounts from the inside that they wouldn’t otherwise be aware of without hearing from those players’ peers. Here, a nominee would need half of the vote to make it.

Not only that…there needs to be new blood in this pool with the advent of successful blog writers and historians in the mix, the terms for limitation to be on this committee should be 7-10 years. These votes aren’t confidential…

Last would be one where the fans would have a vote. There would be a write-in candidate who, with a specific number of write-in votes from fans and former players, could be considered for enshrinement. That number would be determined by the committee, and the fans—who are the paying customers—would have a little say.

If this were to be done, there would be a better selection process, and those voting would be held accountable for their vote. Why have the Hall of Famers’ votes confidential? They belong to an exclusive club. It’s like the Ray Nitschke Luncheon. That is not for us… that is for those players who belong to that club to share in its exclusivity, what it means to be there, and how they are their brothers’ keepers. They don’t have to share who they think should be in and why. They do so with a vote.

My feelings on the selection process have been this way for many years, yet I had the chance to see it from the other side. Those of you who have been following this blog know that I have my own nominations for players who should be in the Hall of Fame. One of the first articles I wrote was on Jerry Kramer last year, on July 26th. Now, I’m not exactly sure where it took place, but I shared many videos of the 1960s Green Bay Packers here and on Facebook.

I came to know Alicia Kramer, who spearheaded a great campaign to help her father get inducted into his rightful place. She asked me to be an administrator of the Jerry Kramer HOF Facebook page, which I was honored to do.

Seriously, I read two of his books as a kid, including Distant Replay, which is one of the reasons I love and write about pro football. The fact that he had read and enjoyed a few of my stories on Facebook was a reciprocal part of the journey and why I share with other fans what is on my mind about football and the history of the game. I contributed as often as I could with videos and such, and wrote a letter to “The Hall” advocating for his nomination.

I remember uploading the 1968 Green Bay Packers America’s Game to the page. To be right there from the start of that page and watch her work grow to include Hall of Fame members lending their support, along with passionate fans, was something incredible to be a part of.

When the senior nomination came back without Jerry Kramer’s name on it, I took it personally… and still do. There were countless letters written by enshrinees such as Lem Barney, Jim Kelly, Bob Lilly, and Dave Wilcox, just to name a few, yet Kramer’s nomination comes down to writers over former players? No way. All the while, from my first article to placing it on my Facebook page several times, at least one person would ask, “Jerry Kramer is not in the HOF?” Every single time.

I also shared an email exchange with Kevin Greene when he didn’t make the finalist round that year. These players, who deserve to have their legacies secured, earned this right. Those gatekeepers of history need to be guarded more by the enshrinees themselves than by writers. That is what I learned over the last year through Alicia’s work. If it were up to them, Kramer wins by a landslide. Yet it’s time for forward and positive energy. Onward to 2013 and his certain nomination.

Dedicated to the memory of Hall of Famer Steve Van Buren, who passed away last week. RIP. You were a great running back and a true warrior of the game.

Other articles on who The Chancellor thinks should be in the Hall

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