|
RECOMMENDED LINKS
Vivid Seats
Ticket Liquidator
NFL Tickets
 |
||
|
|
GRETZ: Another Shot for D.T.
Feb. 2, 2007
On Saturday morning, here in the city where he was born and where he passed away, Derrick Thomas will come up for discussion again for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
As the Kansas City representative on the Hall of Fame selection committee, I will sit in the room at the Miami Beach Convention Center and take part in the presentation, discussion and voting on the 17 finalists for the Hall.
There are 40 members of the committee and to make the Hall, a finalist must survive a cutdown to 10 names, then six names and finally faces a yes or no vote. For induction, he must receive yes votes from 80 percent of the committee. There will be a minimum of three and a maximum of six inductees for the Class of 2007 that’s enshrined in Canton, Ohio.
So what are D.T.’s chances? Good. I believe that he will be part of the Hall of Fame. Whether that happens this year, or in the future I cannot predict, but some straw polling among the committee indicates he has a strong chance at induction this year. But the vote will be close.
And that’s something Chiefs fans don’t understand. They watched Thomas throughout his 11-season career, remember the sacks and mayhem he caused, and can’t contemplate why the vote is even close.
It comes down to this: it’s hard to get into the Hall of Fame. And, that’s as it should be. This is not the Hall of the Good. This is a group of the very best players in the history of the game. Some players are obvious: Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Dan Marino, John Elway, Barry Sanders, and Reggie White. That’s one-half of one percent of the names under consideration each year.
Consider the previous Chiefs players who have gained admission to the Hall. Of the five players only one did not have to wait. That was kicker Jan Stenerud, who was inducted in his first season of eligibility (1991.) The others, the greatest names in Chiefs history, all had to wait:
 Bobby Bell retired after the 1974 season. He was eligible in 1980. He was finalist and made it in the class of 1983. That’s four votes to make it. Buck Buchanan retired after the 1975 season. He was eligible in 1981, was finalist in 1984, 1985, 1988, and 1989 and finally made it in 1990. That was 10 votes to make it. Len Dawson retired after the 1975 season. He was eligible in 1981, was a finalist in 1982 and 1986 and made it in 1987. That was seven votes to make it. Willie Lanier retired after the 1977 season. He was eligible in 1983, was finalist in 1984 and 1985 and made it in 1986. That was four votes to make it. If Bobby, Buck, Len and Willie had to wait, it’s not hard to understand why D.T. has not gained immediate entrance into the Hall of Fame. They all had something that Thomas did not: championship rings. Dawson had three AFL titles and a Super Bowl ring. Bell and Buchanan owned two AFL rings and a Super Bowl title. Lanier had an AFL ring and one from Super Bowl IV.
And there are a host of Chiefs who have never gotten in, but deserved more consideration than they received over the years and they are now in the seniors’ category. Safety Johnny Robinson was six times a finalist, but never received enough votes to gain induction. Tackle Jim Tyrer was a finalist once. Sadly, wide receiver Otis Taylor, cornerback Emmitt Thomas and guard Ed Budde never reached the final group and thus have never been discussed by the Hall of Fame committee.
Other players, familiar names, had long waits. Consider Pittsburgh wide receiver Lynn Swann who was elected in his 14th year as a finalist, 14 years after he was eligible. Or Minnesota defensive lineman Carl Eller, elected in his 13th year as a finalist and his 20th year of eligibility. Green Bay’s Paul Hornung was 12 times a finalist before he made the Hall in his 15th year of eligibility.
This year’s group of 17 is: Fred Dean, Richard Dent, Russ Grimm, Ray Guy, Gene Hickerson, Michael Irvin, Bob Kuchenberg, Bruce Matthews, Art Monk, Andre Reed, Charlie Sanders, Paul Tagliabue, Derrick Thomas, Thurman Thomas, Andre Tippett, Roger Wehrli and Gary Zimmerman.
Monk is a finalist for the seventh time, Kuchenberg and Guy for the sixth year, it’s the fourth time for Zimmerman and Hickerson and the third time for Grimm, Irvin, Dent and D.T. Back for a second time are Thurman Thomas and Wehrli. The other six men are finalist for the first time.
One of those is Tagliabue, the NFL Commissioner who left the job last year. There’s a big push among some voters to put Tagliabue into the Hall in this his first year as a finalist. But history shows that Pete Rozelle was a finalist for eight years before he was elected in 1985.
So you see, it’s hard to get into the Hall of Fame. It should be.
from KC Chiefs.com
|
|
|
|
||