Answer Bob About The Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame process always draws a lot of attention and questions. I think that happens because the process is so behind-closed-doors that people are curious and/or suspicious.

After the 2010 voting session this is an attempt to answer whatever questions and doubts about the whole process there might be out there.

So here it goes:

MeninRed says: Bob, what happened to this – January 17, 2010 – “Bob Gretz: Many of you had nice compliments on the site and those are truly appreciated. Others had some questions about the site and yours truly. I’ve saved those because coming up here later this week; I’m going to have another Answer Bob post dealing entirely with the web site.” It never happened.

Bob says: It’s coming up, probably next week. Prepare your questions, comments, rants, etc.

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ThunderChief says: It seems to me that the standards for admittance into the Hall have been lowered over the past 10 years in particular but that’s highly subjective. I’m not talking about the Jerry Rices or Emmitt Smiths, but guys like Ricky Jackson or Andre Tippett. Has anyone thought about having a minimum standard of performance required before being considered? Said standard would have to be customized per position which might be difficult if not impossible. However, such issues as time played, number of times named to the Pro Bowl, plus a line on exceptional stats well above the norm for that position. All might be a good place to start. What say you? …Read More!

A Look Back At Hall Of Fame Voting

As a member of the Board of Selectors for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I’m asked constantly over Super Bowl weekend about those that were voted in, and especially those that were not passed through for induction. In some corners we are hailed for our selections, in other quarters we are called idiots.

That’s the price that comes with trying to split hairs when it comes to the greatness of one player over another. By its definition, it should be hard to gain entrance to Canton. I know and accept that everyone is in a hurry, but there are a lot of very good players with very Hall worthy careers and the most players who can be inducted each year among the more recent players are five. Do the math and it’s not hard to see the problem.

I believe there are too many new Hall of Famers each year. When a minimum number of new inductees is required, there are going to be borderline candidates that walkthrough the doors. Each time that happens, more players come into the pool of consideration, creating more hopes and dreams. My idea is simply make the maximum class four players each year, seniors included in that number.

I say that having sat through the last 14 Hall of Fame voting sessions and knowing how hard it has been to sort through the bodies and identify players worthy of a Canton bust. There’s a big difference between men that should be considered for the Hall and those who own obvious Hall of Fame careers. Maybe we should all accept that the obvious guys are the Hall of Famers, and the others are a step below, or the Hall of the Very Good, not the Best.

But the rules are what they are and I’m more than willing to follow them as prescribed by the Hall.

So what happened this year that created the class of Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Russ Grimm, John Randle, Ricky Jackson, Dick LeBeau and Floyd Little? The rules of the voting session are all discussions are confidential. This year, the Hall asked all of us to keep our votes under wraps as well. I will honor their request, but I think all of the voting should be made public at each and every level of the balloting.

But I can give you the flavor of what happened in that room at the Fort Lauderdale-Broward County Convention Center over about six hours of discussion, deliberation and voting. …Read More!

Hall Of Fame Finalists Named

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the 15 finalists that will be considered for induction into the Hall with the Class of 2010.

The 15 players and coach are:

WR Tim Brown, WR Cris Carter, Coach Don Coryell, RB Roger Craig, C Dermonti Dawson, DE Richard Det, G Russ Grimm, DE Charles Haley, LB Rickey Jackson, DT Coretz Kennedy, DT John Randle, WR Andre Reed, WR Jerry Rice, TE Shannon Sharpe and RB Emmitt Smith.

Joining the group are senior nominees RB Floyd Little and DB Dick LeBeau.

Carter, Dawson, Dent, Grimm, Kennedy, Randle, Reed, and Sharpe have all been finalists in previous years.  Although they were eligible in previous years, this is the first time Coryell, Craig, Haley, Jackson, Little, and LeBeau have been finalists. …Read More!

Hall Of Fame List Pared To 25

First-ballot locks Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith lead the list of 25 men who are semi-finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010.

The Hall of Fame announced these names on Saturday. They were selected by the HOF Selection Committee from a preliminary ballot of 131 names.

No members of the Chiefs are part of this year’s semi-finalists.

There’s little doubt that first-time eligible Rice and Smith will be part of the Class of ’10. They are the leading receiver and leading rusher in NFL history.

Other first-time eligible players are former Raiders WR Tim Brown and former Cardinals CB Aeneas Williams.

The rest of the 25 have been semi-finalists before. Here’s the complete list: …Read More!

Former Chiefs On Preliminary Hall List

Albert Lewis, Rich Gannon, Leslie O’Neal and Nick Lowery are on the preliminary list of modern-era nominees for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame that was announced on Saturday.

It’s the first step in the voting process that will lead to the Hall of Fame Class of 2010.

Lewis (right) played cornerback with the Chiefs for 11 seasons (1983-93), appearing in 150 games and finishing his Chiefs career with 38 interceptions and 555 tackles. A third-round draft choice in 1983 out of Grambling, Lewis also blocked 10 punts in his time wearing the red and gold. He finished his career with the Raiders. …Read More!

A Final HOF Fling … Monday Cup O’Chiefs

From the Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery opening to the long-overdue induction of Derrick Thomas there was a Kansas City feel everywhere in the middle of Ohio.

But the boys are still in the northwoods, pulling together the team for the 2009 season, and after this screed, we will return to giving you the best camp coverage around. Check us out late Monday morning with a practice update

Until then, we’ve got some other tidbits, stories and notes from a whirlwind weekend in Canton. …Read More!

Another Great D.T. Party … Sunday Cup O’Chiefs

From Canton, Ohio

The party roared late into the night in a big white tent just about 100 yards away from the Pro Football l Hall of Fame.

The bust of Derrick Thomas was not yet in its permanent position in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That will happen sometime on Sunday, when his bronze likeness joins the rest of the 2009 Class of HOF inductees in the circular room where all the busts of Hall of Famers, all 253 of them, sit in their place of honor.

But Saturday night, after an emotional induction evening, there was nothing but smiles and laughter inside the party tent where the Hunt Family staged a post-ceremony party. Music played, some people danced, the lives of lost friends and teammates were reviewed.

And in the corner of this tent sat D.T.’s bust. And just like it would have been if he were there in person, that bust was never alone. There was a parade of people who stood with it and had their picture taken. Some rubbed his head and others just stood and stared at what was obviously the face of Derrick Thomas.

Whoever casts these busts for the Hall of Fame does a remarkable job every year in capturing how a person really looks, or in the case of Derrick, how he looked. This image was spot on, a spitting image.

To see that all one had to do was see Derrion Thomas walking around, shaking hands and getting hugs from family and friends. With a profile view there is no doubt that Derrion is D.T.’s son. Derrion told the crowd that he will head off to junior college this fall and then hopefully onto the University of Missouri where he hopes to play football.

The rest of his brothers and sisters were there, along with his niece. That’s right, Derrick Thomas is a grandfather. …Read More!

Emotional Night For D.T.’s Party

From Canton, Ohio

It was like all the strings of Derrick Thomas’ life were tied together Saturday night inside a high school football stadium that is in the shadows of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Far from his native Miami, his college home in Alabama and his adopted hometown of Kansas City, all the pieces of Thomas’ life converged in an evening of celebration and emotion as Thomas entered the Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2009.

He will now forever be a resident of Canton shrine that holds the greatest men to play the game of professional football.

“I know Derrick is smiling down now and is very happy that he’s now with some of the greatest players that ever played the game,” said his mother Edith Morgan. “He’d be so happy that this moment has come.”

While the Fawcett Stadium crowd of 12,695 was decidedly pro-Buffalo with the induction of Bills owner Ralph Wilson and the great pass rusher DE Bruce Smith, there was a big showing of Chiefs and D.T. fans wearing the red No. 58 throughout the stands and seats set up on the playing field. …Read More!

A Different D.T. Story

The good folks at the Arrowheadpride.com website asked me for a memory of Derrick Thomas to run on their site this weekend. Here’s what I sent them.

I saw every one of Derrick Thomas’ sacks, every one of his forced fumbles, every one of his safeties, recovered fumbles and touchdowns. D.T. was a remarkable defensive force in the game every time he stepped on the field. There have been very few defensive players who could change the course of a game. That was Derrick Thomas the player.

But there was so much more to Derrick than that and there are so many moments off the field were D.T. also left memories. One came in the 1992 off-season.

At the time, I was doing a morning radio show on KCFX with comedian/author/bon vivant David Naster. We booked an author for an in-studio appearance. Her name was Jean Hill and she had been the subject of a book JFK: The Last Dissenting Witness. She and the book’s author were scheduled to be in studio one morning.

Jean Hill had been in Dealey Plaza in Dallas on November 22, 1963. She was just 21 feet away from President John Kennedy when he was shot. Hill is visible in the Zapruder film as the woman wearing a red rain coat. That’s her wearing the red coat in this picture (right) taken from behind.

She said emphatically from the start that the shots at JFK came from the area that has become known as the “grassy knoll” not from the upper floors of the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building.

In the years after the assassination, Hill faded from public view. Many others in the Plaza that day died under unusual circumstances and her comments were in direct contradiction to the conclusions issued by the Warren Commission. She said she did not want the attention and feared for her life.

Eventually, she was convinced to tell her story. …Read More!

D.T. Goes Fifth

From Canton, Ohio

The 2009 class of inductees to the Pro Football Hall of Fame will officially enter the hallowed halls of Canton Saturday evening, starting at 6 p.m. CDT.  TV coverage is on ESPN and the NFL Network.

Chiefs LB Derrick Thomas will be the fifth of the six inductees who will be presented. Despite the best efforts of everyone to keep the ceremonies moving, expect about 30 minutes per inductee. That would put the portion of the ceremony for Thomas right around 8 o’clock.

He will be presented by former Chiefs president-GM Carl Peterson and his son Derrion will accept the honor for the Thomas family.

Here’s how the order of induction will go down:

1. Ralph Wilson Jr.
2. Randall McDaniel.
3. Bob Hayes.
4. Rod Woodson.
5. Derrick Thomas.
6. Bruce Smith.

The Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery

Cutting the ribbon on the Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery were from the left Hall executive director Steve Perry, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Dan Hunt, Norma Hunt, Clark Hunt, Lamar Hunt Jr., Sharron Munson and Jan Stenerud.

From Canton, Ohio

The education, the experience and the celebration of America’s biggest sporting event all comes together in the Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery that opened Saturday morning at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It’s named in honor of the man who created the American Football League, named the Super Bowl, came up with the Roman numbers for identification and named the Vince Lombardi Trophy that goes to the winner.

The Gallery is another reminder that the man who Chiefs fans know simply as Lamar was so much more over his life in professional football. A star studded crowd turned out to cut the ribbon on the newest addition to the Hall of Fame.

Among those welding scissors Saturday morning were Norma Hunt, Lamar Hunt’s four children, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Chiefs Hall of Fames Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier, Len Dawson, Jan Stenerud and Emmitt Thomas and other Hall of Fame members like Bart Starr and Troy Aikman.

“The American Football League, the Super Bowl, the name of the game, Lamar was an innovator and he never stopped innovating,” said Goodell. “I don’t think the NFL could express its gratefulness to Lamar Hunt in a better way than this Gallery.”

Norma Hunt is thought to be the only woman that’s seen all 43 Super Bowls played to date. …Read More!

Hall of Fame Weekend … The Nitschke Luncheon

From North Canton, Ohio

OK, I’m no Hank Young, but there was the picture of the day standing right in front of me in living color.

So I pulled out the phone and snapped a shot of two remaining members of the American Football League’s Foolish Club as they talked on Friday.

That’s Ralph Wilson on the left, owner of the Buffalo Bills. That’s Bud Adams on the right, owner of the Houston Oilers now Tennessee Titans. The man who should have been standing with them was the late Lamar Hunt.

Wilson and Adams were attending the one of the highlights of the Hall of Fame weekend in Canton. It’s the Friday lunch where all returning members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame gather and welcome this year’s induction class.

Only Hall of Fame members, the Hall’s board of selectors, Hall officials and those people presenting inductees are allowed to attend. It’s called the Nitschke Luncheon because the late Packers LB Ray Nitschke used to run the lunch and serve as a master of ceremonies. These days, those duties usually fall to the great pass rusher Deacon Jones and others. …Read More!

Countdown For DT & Canton

From River Falls, Wisconsin

It’s now a week until induction day for Derrick Thomas at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

There are some tidbits we can tell you about the ceremonies in Canton, Ohio next Saturday night

Thomas will be the fifth of the six inductees to be honored on stage at Fawcett Stadium. The entire order remains unknown, but DT’s moment will come near the end of the ceremonies.

He will be presented by former Chiefs president-general manager Carl Peterson. There will then be a video presentation on Derrick created by the NFL Network. Finally, his son Derrion will step forward and accept the Hall of Fame bust for the Thomas family.

Just about every coach Thomas had during his 11 seasons with the Chiefs will attend. …Read More!

Family Squabble Surrounds Hayes Induction

The day it happens is one of the best days in the life of a football player or coach, and in this year’s case, an owner.

When that call comes from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it provides a last act for a great career. Even if the honored is now gone, it provides a final moment in the sun for their accomplishments.

That was the case a week ago Saturday, when the class of 2009 for the Hall of Fame was introduced in Miami.

There should have been nothing but joy surrounding the selection of former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Bob Hayes (left) to the Hall. As a seniors nominee he was facing his last chance at induction. Hayes passed away in 2002. His last season of play was 1975, when he wrapped up his 11-year career with four games in the uniform of the San Francisco 49ers. His first 10 seasons were in Dallas.

Hayes was first eligible for the Hall in 1981. His wait turned out to be 28 years.

At the announcement that he was part of the Hall’s class of 2009, his sister stood and read a letter that she said Hayes wrote back in 1999. Lucille Hester’s presentation left few dry eyes in the room at the Tampa Convention Center.

But it left a lot of other people angry. Members of Hayes family say Hester is a fraud and not his sister. They say the letter she wrote is a fraud and contains a signature that does not match Hayes’ There has even been media analysis of the typeface used on the printed page that Hester read from in Tampa. The typeface was not available to the public until 2007.

It’s caused quite the uproar around Hayes’ induction, so much so that the former wide receiver’s final triumph has been ignored and the focus has been on Hester (below).

“As far as I’m concerned, she’s a phony,” said Ernest Hayes, Bob’s 71-year old brother. He spoke to the Dallas Morning News. “Nobody in his original family likes her, at all. The further she stays away from us, the better off she’ll be.”

Bob Hayes’ former business manager, Ted McIntosh, sent a letter on Sunday to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, where he expressed “dismay” that Hester represented Hayes in Tampa. He also sent e-mails to media outlets with the subject line: “ATTENTION!!! Lucille Hester is not Bob Hayes’ sister nor any relation to anyone in the family.” On a Dallas radio show, he called Hester “a perpetrator.” …Read More!

Hall of Fame Leftovers

It’s been interesting reading and hearing the reactions around the country on the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2009.

In places like Kansas City and Miami, there was great joy as Derrick Thomas joined the hallowed halls of Canton. In most of the rest of the country, mention of D.T. and his accomplishments was well down into the story, behind just about everybody but Minnesota guard Randall McDaniel.

Unfortunately, a lot of the coverage came down on who did not get into the Hall, specifically wide receiver Cris Carter and tight end Shannon Sharpe. That was expected. All I can tell you is this: with the increased passing numbers it’s going to take some time for the dust to settle on just what is good and what is great when it comes to receiving numbers.

I know right now Chiefs fans believe Tony Gonzalez should be a first-year ballot Hall of Famer five years after he retires from the league. Don’t be so sure. Gonzalez could make this point moot if he plays for several more seasons and pushes his numbers into the stratosphere. But if he plays only one more season, which is what he says, then he may have to wait as well.

I wrote for kcchiefs.com on Thomas’ honor and put together this list that might put some perspective on the situation when it comes to waiting for induction into the Hall.

Let’s remember this: once a player reaches Canton, it doesn’t matter how long he has to wait.

Other tidbits: …Read More!