Class of 2020 Centennial Hall of Fame Finalists

[JuggernautJ]

Nice to see Wayne Walker get some mention.
He was a sportscaster for the local CBS affiliate for many years and so is well known in the S.F. Bay Area.

I believe I nominated him for the HoVG a while back but (iirc) he did not make the list of finalists.
So, what do you think? Does Walker have a valid case for the HoVG?

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... lkWa01.htm

[bachslunch]

Really enjoying this LB discussion re the 60s All-Decade Team. John, really like your choices for this team, and very much agree with them.

Despite his light honors profile (3/3/60s), I’ve heard nothing but good things about Dave Robinson in film study. Had they picked a team that wasn’t so heavy on MLBs, chances are he’d still be on it but so would Howley and Baughan, and rightly so.

I just don’t get Larry Morris’s appearance on this team, though — no honors at all. Was he some kind of world-beater in film study, kind like Bob Skoronski (0/1/none)? I have my doubts. Interestingly enough, he’s not the only strange Bear selection on these teams: Joe Fortunato (3/5/50s) is on the 50s team when all his honors came in the following decade, and Jim Covert (2/2/80s) is on the 80s team instead of Mike Kenn or Jackie Slater. I’ve often wondered if there wasn’t a hard core Bears homer on those committees who pushed his favorites through Frankie Frisch style.

[Andy Piascik]

Bill Forester deserves a mention at OLB for the 1960s team. He only played four seasons in the decade but he earned a lot of honors in those four seasons. He's another good example, like Jim Ray Smith and Jimmy Patton, of a guy whose career is divided between two decades and thus missed out on all-decade honors that so many of the HOF voters consider so important.

[bachslunch]

Bill Forester deserves a mention at OLB for the 1960s team. He only played four seasons in the decade but he earned a lot of honors in those four seasons. He's another good example, like Jim Ray Smith and Jimmy Patton, of a guy whose career is divided between two decades and thus missed out on all-decade honors that so many of the HOF voters consider so important.

And Abe Woodson makes four on the 50s-60s tweener list.

I’ve always thought Bill Forester (4/4/none) has at least as good a HoF case as guys like Joe Fortunato, Larry Grantham, and Mike Stratton. Has anybody seen film on him? Just curious.

[JohnTurney]

I just don’t get Larry Morris’s appearance on this team, though — no honors at all. Was he some kind of world-beater in film study.

No. My bet or guess is this: he got one vote from a homer voter like John Anderson did in 1980s All-Decade tally.

TJ likes him and he had a lot of sacks for that era---but so did Walker and Hazeltine...so anyone who saw him was a seeing a typical
weak side LBer of that era. Good, very good, but nothing to separate him or elevate him over Howley or Baughan or anyone

Maybe he got more than one vote, but it had to be few and it was enough to get him on the team

Morris was very noticeable in the 1963 Title game, that was his "juice"

[Gary Najman]

As far as HOF and total career, I agree Howley > Robinson...and Howley > Hanburger

Dave Robinson, though, was worthy of ALl-Pro in 1973 and didn't get any mentions. Wilcox and others were entrenched and Robinson changed teams but Robinson graded higher
in 1973 than Hanburger.

Although I’m a life long Cowboy fan, I think that Hanburger is a worthy Hall of Famer, and in fact, thanks for searching about him in the Web (stats back then weren’t avaliable in the Web, so I searched why he wasn’t eshrined back then in the Hall of Fame) it was the reason why I stepped into this fórum in 2007.

John, how do you think Hanburger rates?

[JohnTurney]

[quote="Teo"

John, hoy do you thank Hanburger?[/quote]

He was good---again, a lot of those guys were similar, the defenses were similar, all were 4-3 all except Dallas played with their OLBer on a single side, rather than flopping, so Hanburger was always on right side, doing what RLBers do, he was an effective blitzer, getting more sacks than most of the guys, but Walker and Hazeltime and Morris all in same range. I have hard time separating those guys. Howley a bit different because he played both SAM and WILL (SARA and WANDA in Dallas verbiage) and likely ran a bit faster than most of those guys in 1960s... a big better in coverage it seemed but could rush, too.

So, I have no problem with Hanburger being in, but for whatever it's worth, my opinion is Howley > Hanburger.

[sluggermatt15]

Bill Forester deserves a mention at OLB for the 1960s team. He only played four seasons in the decade but he earned a lot of honors in those four seasons. He's another good example, like Jim Ray Smith and Jimmy Patton, of a guy whose career is divided between two decades and thus missed out on all-decade honors that so many of the HOF voters consider so important.

And Abe Woodson makes four on the 50s-60s tweener list.

I’ve always thought Bill Forester (4/4/none) has at least as good a HoF case as guys like Joe Fortunato, Larry Grantham, and Mike Stratton. Has anybody seen film on him? Just curious.

Mike Stratton is one we need to get into the HOVG. Surprisingly he is not in yet.

[rewing84]

whats the over/under on super seniors getting in?

[bachslunch]

Re Mike Stratton and the HotVG: Grantham and Fortunato were only very recently inducted into that Hall. My guess is that Stratton will make it in during the next few years.

There are several players who seem qualified but haven’t made it in yet. Stratton is one of several such folks.