Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

As Matt stated the other day, nominations for the Pro Football Researchers Association's Hall of Very Good are open from now until May 31st. PFRA members may nominate up to five individuals for our Hall.

There are two requirements for nomination:
1. The individual nominated must be retired from football for at least 25 years. That means they were last active in 1995. Please check your nominee to ensure they meet this requirement.

2. You must be a current member of the PFRA.

If you are not a current member now might be a great time to consider joining!
In addition to receiving the PFRA's publication The Coffin Corner, nominating and voting for members of the HoVG is one of the most important and fun things we do.
Members also gain access to the Members Only portion of the PFRA website, which is chock full of enjoyable and interesting information!

You can get more information and join the PFRA at this link: http://www.profootballresearchers.org/join.html

Members may send their nominations to Andy Piascik via his email (andypiascik@yahoo.com). Snail mail nominations may be sent to Andy at his address listed in The Coffin Corner.

C'mon guys. Let's get Tony Latone in this year.

*** edited his last name to the CORRECT spelling. Grrr. Dang blasted autocorrect on my phone.

ChrisBabcock wrote:C'mon guys. Let's get Tony Latone in this year.

We could do worse...

Walter Farquhar, the dean of Pottsville sportswriters, summed up Latone's career: "Because he was a
non-collegian and because pro ball was then young and primitively guided, the greater part of the football
world will always be ignorant of his true worth."
http://www.profootballresearchers.org/a ... 10-319.pdf

ChrisBabcock wrote:C'mon guys. Let's get Tony Latone in this year.

*** edited his last name to the CORRECT spelling. Grrr. Dang blasted autocorrect on my phone.

I may have said this before but it undoubtedly bears repeating.

When Johnny Blood and I were at the HOF's induction weekend in 1973, John Bankert (who was then assistant director of the Hall, I believe) held an informal late-night session at which George Halas, Ernie Nevers, and Blood were encouraged to talk about old-time players who should be inducted. The three were unanimous on Verne Lewellen, Lavvie Dilweg, and Tony Latone. 48 years later, only one of them is in the HOF.

What are the official boundaries for the Hall of Very Good? The web site says, "The Hall of Very Good seeks to honor outstanding players and coaches who are not in the Hall of Fame." Does that mean the HOVG committee will only consider a) players, b) coaches, and c) NFL players (since the PFHOF is NFL-centric)?

Does the committee weigh such things as time played or coached and success in other leagues? What other leagues are considered "good enough" to be credible? For example, if someone spent a lot of time playing and succeeding in the CFL during the 1950s and 1960s, then arguably they were playing in a league that was much more on par with the NFL then than it is nowadays. How about owners? General managers? The PFHOF does have some guys who are neither players or coaches.

Is the HOVG by definition a "recommendation engine" for the PFHOF? If so, that's fine, let's just make it clear.

Is the PFRA an NFL-centric research organization by definition or by tendency? If the PFRA is only NFL-centric by tendency, shouldn't the HOVG embrace more players, coaches, etc., outside the NFL?

Do the boundaries need to be spelled out a little more?

This would be a good discussion for the HOVG committee to have and to set down as guidelines.

RyanChristiansen wrote:What are the official boundaries for the Hall of Very Good? The web site says, "The Hall of Very Good seeks to honor outstanding players and coaches who are not in the Hall of Fame." Does that mean the HOVG committee will only consider a) players, b) coaches, and c) NFL players (since the PFHOF is NFL-centric)?

Does the committee weigh such things as time played or coached and success in other leagues? What other leagues are considered "good enough" to be credible? For example, if someone spent a lot of time playing and succeeding in the CFL during the 1950s and 1960s, then arguably they were playing in a league that was much more on par with the NFL then than it is nowadays. How about owners? General managers? The PFHOF does have some guys who are neither players or coaches.

Is the HOVG by definition a "recommendation engine" for the PFHOF? If so, that's fine, let's just make it clear.

Is the PFRA an NFL-centric research organization by definition or by tendency? If the PFRA is only NFL-centric by tendency, shouldn't the HOVG embrace more players, coaches, etc., outside the NFL?

Do the boundaries need to be spelled out a little more?

This would be a good discussion for the HOVG committee to have and to set down as guidelines.

Players, coaches, contributors, etc. Anyone who has been involved in professional football. It is NOT limited to the NFL. We consider all players from all professional leagues.

You as a member can nominate any former professional player, as long as they are currently not enshrined in the pro football hall of fame AND they must be out of professional football for at least 25 years.

I don't think the HOVG enshrines contributors though. I tried to nominate Ralph Hay once and I was told he wasn't eligible.

Lewellen, Dilweg and Latone have not made the HOF yet ... a travesty ... Latone needs to make HOVG ...

ChrisBabcock wrote:I don't think the HOVG enshrines contributors though. I tried to nominate Ralph Hay once and I was told he wasn't eligible.

I think I nominated a contributor once - hopefully Andy or someone can clarify.

Sorry for the "bounce" of an old topic but I thought I should mention tomorrow is the last day to email Andy with your
HoVG nominations!
(See OP above)