Yesterday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame veteran's committee took a monumental step in correcting a couple of mistakes that have been made numerous times over by the Hall of Fame voters. The committee anounced its two nominations for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the 2010 induction. The two names are Dick LeBeau and Floyd Little.
Both men are long overdue for Hall of Fame induction. Lebeau's resume as a player and a coach speaks for itself, and I'm not going to say too much about him. I never had the privilege of seeing either player play football other than the occasional classic NFL Network moments, but what LeBeau accomplished in his time as a player is remarkable. 67 interceptions is a monumental feat for a career, and his coaching career deserves stand-alone Hall consideration.
The player that I really want to talk about, though, is Little. Being a Denver Broncos fan, I can tend to have a jaded view of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and more specifically, the Hall of Fame voters. It's a mindset of Broncos fans. For whatever reason, there seems to be a bias against Broncos players getting into the Hall of Fame. It's not just a strict "east-coast bias" either. For proof, the Kansas City Chiefs have had 7 players inducted, as well as founder Lamar Hunt and coach Hank Stram. The Oakland Raiders have had 11 players inducted alongside owner Al Davis and coach John Madden. The San Diego Chargers have had 7 players inducted. Of those franchises, only the Raiders have a level of success that is comparable to that of the Broncos throughout the franchise's history. However, the Denver Broncos have had a grand total of just 2 players inducted to the Hall of Fame, and of those two, John Elway was the only one that spent a majority of his career in a Broncos uniform. Gary Zimmerman played more years in Minnesota than Denver, but went into the Hall as a Bronco out of loyalty to owner Pat Bowlen. Suffice it to say that the ill-will in Denver toward the Hall of Fame is not undeserved.
The 44-person selection committee can help rectify some of that by voting yes on Floyd Little next January. Little was the Broncos original franchise player. So much so, in fact, that it earned him the nickname "The Franchise" in the 1970's. It can be argued that Floyd Little is the reason that the Denver Broncos are still the Denver Broncos. When he came out of Syracuse in 1967, the Broncos were on the verge of moving out of Denver due to financial struggles. Bears Stadium (later renamed Mile High Stadium) needed to be expanded in order to sell enough tickets to make the team financially viable. Little signed with the Broncos, and fans couldn't wait to see him play. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that Floyd Little is the reason that Mile High Stadium became what it was and that fans in Denver fell in love with the Broncos. He was the original Denver Broncos superstar.
Little was one of the first "multi-purpose" running backs in NFL history. He ran. He blocked. He caught the ball out of the backfield. He returned kicks. He ran some more. In fact, by the time he retired from the NFL, Floyd Little was 7th all-time in rushing yards (the six guys ahead of Little at the time - Jim Brown, Jim Taylor, Joe Perry, OJ Simpson, Leroy Kelly, and John Henry Johnson - are all in the Hall of Fame). Even in those days, everyone in the media had labeled him a "future Hall-of-Famer". When it came time to consider Little for Hall of Fame induction, everyone figured he'd get in after a few years. It became a constant theme: "Wait for next year". The problem was, next year never came. Now, 29 years later, Next Year is finally next year for Floyd Little.
As a fan of the Denver Broncos, I can only hope that this opens the door for more Broncos to make it to the Hall of Fame. A case can be made that it was fitting that John Elway, the Duke of Denver, was the first, but Floyd Little should have been the first. Randy Gradishar should have been next. There are many others that arguably belong in the Hall of Fame - Dennis Smith, Louis Wright, Steve Atwater, Karl Mecklenburg, Shannon Sharpe, Rod Smith - it's a long list of Broncos. Maybe the voters will shut Little out, but it's doubtful, as 16 of the last 18 veteran's committee nominations have been inducted. All we can say is, it's about time. Here's hoping that the next crop of Bronco Hall of Famers don't have to wait as long as Little did.
Ashley Allen
Daniela Hantuchova
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College Superfans
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I don't disagree, Thug, but look at the Broncos in the 1980's and 1990's. The Broncos and Raiders were the premier franchises of the AFC. The Raiders got the players in the HOF, the Broncos didn't. Mecklenburg is probably a stretch, but the others I mentioned definitely deserve to be in. Mecklenburg was damn good, but he's the only one that I could see a legitimate case for not being in the Hall.
Look at the Cardinals and how many players they have in. They've sucked forever, save for one year.
wtnelson = Big Chief
Fort Collins , CO
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Sharpe and Smith will get in. Sharpe will go in with Little and Smith will go in sometime. He should go in as the best undrafted WR ever. Great post Will, as usual your wordsmith status was on full display for this one.
bcos4life: 3 oh! 3
Bronco Country, CO
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I don't know much about the Broncors, or NFL history for that matter, but you certainly have me convinced. I don't really understand the NFL HOF personally- why the hell isn't Cris Carter in it?! Am I the only one who doesn't see how one of the best WRs stat-wise ever isn't in? Or is it just me?
Oh well, anyway, another good read. Let us continue the tradition of trading!
0x NBA/NFL Champion
Saint Paul, MN
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Unfortunately, Smith and Wright were before my time, so I can't really speak intelligently about those guys. I can only go off of what I've read, seen, and heard.
Atwater, though, is so under-appreciated outside of Denver. The guy is on the all-decade team of the 1990's. If he's on an All-Decade team, he's a Hall of Famer. I'll never forget Atwater's hit on Christian Okoye.
Rod Smith is one that many people just don't realize how good he was. He wasn't outspoken, he was never in the spotlight, but he just produced. He went from undrafted to Pro Bowler. If you look at his numbers, most of them are better than those of Michael Irvin, and Smith never had the off-field problems that a guy like Irvin had.
Thanks for the feedback, Thug. As I said, all Broncos fans are a little jaded toward the Hall of Fame. It's nice to hear feedback from a Raider fan on the guys that are Broncos legends.
wtnelson = Big Chief
Fort Collins , CO
Total Comments (3644)
Nice blog wt. It's hard for me to say anything nice about the Broncos, but I will say the HOF snub is rather ridiculous. I don't agree with all of the players you named, but Atwater and Sharpe in my opinion should be there. Rod Smith was consistent, but a lot of WR's are and not all deserve to be there. The other guys, never saw them play.
LoveItHateIt
Portland, OR
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Now, would you write something non-Bronco related? You're blogs are great, but I can only take so much...
LoveItHateIt
Portland, OR
Total Comments (3163)
I apologize. I'm afraid the only Raider-themed blog I have is this one.
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/251776-top-10-reasons-why-the-oakland- raiders-suck
wtnelson = Big Chief
Fort Collins , CO
Total Comments (3644)
And while you're reading that, keep in mind, IT'S ONLY A JOKE. There were a few people that didn't quite get that when I posted that one.
wtnelson = Big Chief
Fort Collins , CO
Total Comments (3644)
Nice blog...as always wt. The part on Little was a good read, I didn't know much about him.
LeBeau absolutely deserves to be in the Hall and it's a damn shame it took this long to get him there.
LGP: Stanley Cup…
Six Burgh, PA
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Ha! Well, I'm glad I missed that one :-) But I did find it funny that two of the people created their account that day for the sole purpose of commenting on your blog. Now that's Raider dedication!
Seriously though, you write great blogs. I'll read them even if they are Bronco related. Blech.
LoveItHateIt
Portland, OR
Total Comments (3163)
Another good one, wt. I suspect that every franchise might be able to make a case for being ignored. The player you mentioned only in passing, LeBeau, played for the Lions with little or no recognition, for example.
Perhaps we should form a committee to promote the recognition of franchises and their players which are deserving of more recognition than they are getting?
Appleseed
Detroit, MI
Total Comments (947)
Honestly, Appleseed, it took an awful lot of fan dedication to get Little inducted. SB Nation is a blog site that has a blog for literally hundreds of teams, professional and college. Mile High Report is the Broncos blog. It's run by fans, and they've run a campaign ever since the site started to get Little into the Hall.
wtnelson = Big Chief
Fort Collins , CO
Total Comments (3644)
Nice piece here, wtnelson... I must say, when I first read it I was stoked to hear about LeBeau. I've been ranting for a long time about the injustice in his Hall ostracism, and it's really good to see him get his due. I can't say I know as much about Floyd Little, but from all accounts I can gather he seems like a person who has also been too long in pining for the recognition due to him. It's really nice to see these kindred spirits on a path toward Canton...
Bigalke
Springfield, OR
Total Comments (22305)
More excellent writing, WT. I remember Floyd Little, all-purpose back, very tough and you make a great case for him here. I'm glad he's up for induction and hope he makes it. I wish you had covered LeBeau a little more in depth; after reading a long profile in the Wa Post last year I became an instant fan.
As for your ranting :) about the injustice shown those other Broncos, I agree with Thug in Comment 1. But Sharpe is a lock - or should be - and I would give the nod to Atwater, too. He was one of the defensive linchpins on all those Super Bowl teams. However, I believe it was he who made the mistake of saying that the Broncos were going to destroy the 49ers in the '90 (?) SB. Upon hearing it, Montana just smiled and replied " Did he really say that......"? I think the Niners took that one 55-10. Just a tidbit :)
Seabird 56
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