George Curry, NNPA editor-in-chief and former Post-Dispatch reporter, was quite a quarterback at Knox College in Jackson, Tenn., back in the 1960s.
Along with politics, Curry knows the ins and outs of college and professional football.
He has taken on the cause of helping retired Denver Broncos running back Floyd Little win enough votes to enter the Pro Football hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
“Unless the committee does something differently this year, it will again pass over Floyd Little, one of the greatest running backs in the history of professional football. If this annual snub is not rectified, perhaps they should consider changing the name from the Pro Football Hall of Fame to the Pro Football Hall of Shame,” Curry writes.
When Little retired after the 1976 season, he was the seventh-leading NFL rusher with 6,323 yards and 43 touchdowns. He was an All-Pro selection five times. He joined Denver after making the All-American team three consecutive years at Syracuse and shattering many of the records set by NFL great Jim Brown and Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, Curry pints out.
In 1967 and 1968, Little led the NFL in combined yardage. In 1970, he led the AFC in rushing. In 1971, he led the NFL with 1,133 yards while playing on a last-place team. He was 5 feet 10 and 195 pounds – light by today’s standards – but was a threat running from scrimmage and excelled in pass receiving and returning punts.
Hall of Fame selection is done in two stages. Sports writers make the initial nominations. Each NFL city gets one vote except New York, which gets two votes because it has two teams. Anyone can nominate a player and the player is eligible for induction after being away from the game for five years. In the second stage, the committee makes final selections the day before the Super Bowl. A nominee must receive 80 percent of that vote. But Little hasn’t made it that far.
And it’s not because of the numbers. There are eight running backs in the Hall of Fame with fewer yards. Of almost 40 running backs inducted, Little has better stats than more than half of them.
If Little is passed over again, he’ll be in good company. Dallas won five Super Bowls, but has only five players in the Hall of Fame. Bob Hayes, Lee Roy Jordan, Rayfield Wright, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Drew Pearson and Harvey Martin have yet to be inducted. Receiver Michael Irvin will eventually be selected, but his first-ballot snub last year was the result of his brashness and off-field problems. Irvin, like Little, has better credentials than many receivers in the Hall of Fame, including Lynn Swann of the ‘70s Pittsburgh Steelers.
Like Little, all of the aformentioned Cowboys are black.
Is race a factor? We’ll see after this year’s voting.
