Every August, the NFL inducts another set of men into football’s pantheon, the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Today’s trivia question: which man was the youngest person to ever be inducted in the Hall?
Gale Sayers was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the age of 34, the youngest in the history of professional football. Jim Brown (Class of 1971) is the second youngest, having been inducted when he was just 35-years-old.
Very happy with myself on this one. My first thought was it was likely someone over the last 50 years rather than someone in the early parts of the NFL due to when the Hall of Fame began, and then thought it probably was someone who was great on a short career, and then Sayers was the first person to come to mind.
Does Gale Sayers make the HOF if his career had been from 1995-2001 (instead of 65-71)? Strangely, Terrell Davis’ career WAS from 95-01. Their careers were similar, except that Sayers came into the league as a college star.
I waver back on forth on Davis’ HOF worthiness. I think that Sayers was basically inducted based on “what could have been”, and not sure that’s right.
I think so, Richie. Sayers also added value as a return man, and he was obviously less a product of the system than Davis. That said, it’s a topic for another post.
On the other hand, is the notification of replies working yet?
No, I’m not getting any notification of replies. I still don’t see an option to choose it.
On many blogs, there is a checkbox where you can receive notifications of new replies, but I don’t see that here.
Another minor quibble (maybe it’s just me), but this website loads up just a tiny bit wider than my screen, so I get a slight left-right scroll on this page. Most websites seem to scale, so it’s not a problem. But the aspect seems to be locked on this page.
Gale Sayers I figure. His short career that was also magnificent in so many ways probably made him a first time inducteee. Given he was 28 or 29 when he retired, then the five year wait, he would have been 34-35 going in.
Seven years ago, Doug wrote this post analyzing wide receivers by team receiving yards. That post was overdue for an update for three reasons: (1) it was written seven years ago; (2) Doug only went back to 1978, while we now can go back to 1932; and (3) I think using Adjusted Catch Yards (which […]
As Jason Lisk has pointed out, quarterbacks drafted first overall tend to be much more successful than other quarterbacks, even those drafted just a few picks later. If a quarterback is an elite prospect — think John Elway or Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck (the Colts got three of those for one Jeff George) — […]
Charles Woodson is back in Silver and Black. Woodson was drafted by Oakland with the 4th pick in the 1998 Draft and had a very good eight-year run with the Raiders. But he saw experienced even more success with the Packers, and the two biggest highlights of his career — winning the AP Defensive Player […]
When you think of the fullback in today’s game, you probably think of a player like Vonta Leach, widely regarded as the best blocking back in the NFL. There are also the H-Back/receiving fullback types, like Marcel Reece or James Casey, and the rushing fullbacks like Le’Ron McClain, Jacob Hester, and Mike Tolbert. And it’s […]
Yesterday, I looked at the most pass-happy active head coaches and offensive coordinators in the NFL. If you’ve been a loyal reader of my previous posts on Game Scripts, you understand the methodology I’ve used today to grade each coaches. The quick summary is I’ve come up with the term “Game Scripts” to determine the […]
One reason I came up with the concept of Game Scripts was to identify the most pass-happy coaches. Remember, a team’s Game Script score is simply their average scoring differential over each second of every game. Last year, the Falcons were the most pass-happy team in the NFL after adjusting for Game Scripts; Atlanta had […]
Over at Footballguys.com, I analyzed how the fantasy value of quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends have changed since 1990. The NFL is a very different beast than it was 23 years ago, but you might be surprised to see what that means for fantasy football. To measure value, I examined the VBD curves […]
Two weeks ago, I looked at the longest streaks where a team failed to have a player rush for 100 yards. Richie asked me if I could run the numbers on the longest streaks without a 1,000-yard rusher. The longest active streak in the NFL belongs to the Detroit Lions, who have not boasted a […]
Green Bay didn’t use a first round pick on a running back, but the Packers did spend a second round pick on Alabama’s Eddie Lacy and a fourth round pick on UCLA’s Johnathan Franklin. How much weight should we put on draft status when one team drafts two running backs just a couple of rounds […]
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Gayle Sayers?
Needed the first clue
Very happy with myself on this one. My first thought was it was likely someone over the last 50 years rather than someone in the early parts of the NFL due to when the Hall of Fame began, and then thought it probably was someone who was great on a short career, and then Sayers was the first person to come to mind.
Does Gale Sayers make the HOF if his career had been from 1995-2001 (instead of 65-71)? Strangely, Terrell Davis’ career WAS from 95-01. Their careers were similar, except that Sayers came into the league as a college star.
I waver back on forth on Davis’ HOF worthiness. I think that Sayers was basically inducted based on “what could have been”, and not sure that’s right.
I think so, Richie. Sayers also added value as a return man, and he was obviously less a product of the system than Davis. That said, it’s a topic for another post.
On the other hand, is the notification of replies working yet?
No, I’m not getting any notification of replies. I still don’t see an option to choose it.
On many blogs, there is a checkbox where you can receive notifications of new replies, but I don’t see that here.
Another minor quibble (maybe it’s just me), but this website loads up just a tiny bit wider than my screen, so I get a slight left-right scroll on this page. Most websites seem to scale, so it’s not a problem. But the aspect seems to be locked on this page.
Gale Sayers I figure. His short career that was also magnificent in so many ways probably made him a first time inducteee. Given he was 28 or 29 when he retired, then the five year wait, he would have been 34-35 going in.