This year’s ballot from the National Football Foundation
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:13 pmMar 31, 2007
CHRISTOPHER WALSH: College HoF rules need to change
This year’s ballot from the National Football Foundation is 14 pages long, with a shiny light blue motif and a big picture of the most recent honorees smiling on the cover.
In it are different divisions of candidates, from coaches down to NAIA standouts, all deemed worthy of being considered for the College Football Hall of Fame.
Naturally, the biggest category is for Division I-A players, with voters allowed to pick 11 among 75 names. Among them are notable first-timers Tim Brown (Notre Dame); Randy Cross (UCLA); Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern); Doug Flutie (Boston College); and Curt Warner (Penn State).
Also listed are Troy Aikman (UCLA); Randall Cunningham (UNLV); Sam Cunningham (USC); Eric Dickerson (SMU); Deion Sanders (Florida State); and Lawrence Taylor (North Carolina).
As usual, it’s a formidable group, although you won’t hear much about the voting in Alabama this year because the only local Division I-A player eligible is Auburn’s Ed Dyas.
There’s a player from Dartmouth, New Mexico State, Wyoming, even Troy from Division I-AA, but none from the Crimson Tide.
To further put it into perspective, Alabama has only 16 players enshrined. From the national championship teams of 1961, 1964 and 1965, and we’ll even throw in the 1966 undefeated team, there are exactly, get this, two players in the Hall of Fame: linebacker Lee Roy Jordan and tackle Billy Neighbors. That’s it.
Notre Dame, which has 41 players in the Hall, has eight players on this year’s ballot.
To be enshrined, three things have to happen: A player has to be nominated, he must be approved by his district screening committee, and then get voted in.
The problem with many former Alabama greats is they lack one crucial qualification.
To quote the Hall of Fame requirements: “To be eligible for the ballot, players must have been named a first team All-America by a major/national selector as recognized and utilized by the NCAA for their consensus All-America teams."
Over the years, the NCAA has used a number of different sources to compile the consensus All-America teams. It currently uses The Associated Press, Walter Camp Foundation, American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of America and Sporting News.
But many key Tide players didn’t make those first-team lists. Most only started for a season or two, and Alabama has a strong tradition of not running up scores or padding individual statistics. It’s why, in part, Alabama has never won a Heisman Trophy.
The College Football Hall of Fame is a wonderful institution, and the line has to be drawn somewhere, but it’s time to lose the first-team stipulation, and add a veteran’s committee like baseball, to avoid obvious omissions. Under the current setup, the second-best player in history could be outside looking in.
Off the top of my head, I can name 10 Alabama players who should be inducted: Jay Barker, Hootie Ingram, Joe Namath, David Palmer, Ray Perkins, Kenny Stabler, Steve Sloan, Dwight Stephenson, Derrick Thomas, Pat Trammel and Bully VandeGraff.
However, most aren’t candidates, especially the quarterbacks, who have slipped through the eligibility cracks.
For example, Trammell finished fifth in the 1961 Heisman Trophy voting, ahead of both John Hadl of Kansas and Roman Gabriel of North Carolina State. Both are in the Hall.
It also just doesn’t seem right that Michael Proctor is deservingly eligible for consideration, but Barker is not.
What did all these guys do? They won. Shouldn’t that be the most important prerequisite?
Reach Christopher Walsh at [email protected] or at 205-722-0196.
CHRISTOPHER WALSH: College HoF rules need to change
This year’s ballot from the National Football Foundation is 14 pages long, with a shiny light blue motif and a big picture of the most recent honorees smiling on the cover.
In it are different divisions of candidates, from coaches down to NAIA standouts, all deemed worthy of being considered for the College Football Hall of Fame.
Naturally, the biggest category is for Division I-A players, with voters allowed to pick 11 among 75 names. Among them are notable first-timers Tim Brown (Notre Dame); Randy Cross (UCLA); Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern); Doug Flutie (Boston College); and Curt Warner (Penn State).
Also listed are Troy Aikman (UCLA); Randall Cunningham (UNLV); Sam Cunningham (USC); Eric Dickerson (SMU); Deion Sanders (Florida State); and Lawrence Taylor (North Carolina).
As usual, it’s a formidable group, although you won’t hear much about the voting in Alabama this year because the only local Division I-A player eligible is Auburn’s Ed Dyas.
There’s a player from Dartmouth, New Mexico State, Wyoming, even Troy from Division I-AA, but none from the Crimson Tide.
To further put it into perspective, Alabama has only 16 players enshrined. From the national championship teams of 1961, 1964 and 1965, and we’ll even throw in the 1966 undefeated team, there are exactly, get this, two players in the Hall of Fame: linebacker Lee Roy Jordan and tackle Billy Neighbors. That’s it.
Notre Dame, which has 41 players in the Hall, has eight players on this year’s ballot.
To be enshrined, three things have to happen: A player has to be nominated, he must be approved by his district screening committee, and then get voted in.
The problem with many former Alabama greats is they lack one crucial qualification.
To quote the Hall of Fame requirements: “To be eligible for the ballot, players must have been named a first team All-America by a major/national selector as recognized and utilized by the NCAA for their consensus All-America teams."
Over the years, the NCAA has used a number of different sources to compile the consensus All-America teams. It currently uses The Associated Press, Walter Camp Foundation, American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of America and Sporting News.
But many key Tide players didn’t make those first-team lists. Most only started for a season or two, and Alabama has a strong tradition of not running up scores or padding individual statistics. It’s why, in part, Alabama has never won a Heisman Trophy.
The College Football Hall of Fame is a wonderful institution, and the line has to be drawn somewhere, but it’s time to lose the first-team stipulation, and add a veteran’s committee like baseball, to avoid obvious omissions. Under the current setup, the second-best player in history could be outside looking in.
Off the top of my head, I can name 10 Alabama players who should be inducted: Jay Barker, Hootie Ingram, Joe Namath, David Palmer, Ray Perkins, Kenny Stabler, Steve Sloan, Dwight Stephenson, Derrick Thomas, Pat Trammel and Bully VandeGraff.
However, most aren’t candidates, especially the quarterbacks, who have slipped through the eligibility cracks.
For example, Trammell finished fifth in the 1961 Heisman Trophy voting, ahead of both John Hadl of Kansas and Roman Gabriel of North Carolina State. Both are in the Hall.
It also just doesn’t seem right that Michael Proctor is deservingly eligible for consideration, but Barker is not.
What did all these guys do? They won. Shouldn’t that be the most important prerequisite?
Reach Christopher Walsh at [email protected] or at 205-722-0196.