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August 14, 2003 2004 Pro Football Hall of Fame Senior Nominees Named
As the
Seniors Committee nominees, Brown and Hayes will join 13 Modern-Era
candidates on the list of finalists from which the Class of 2004 will be
selected. The Hall of Fame selection meeting will be held on January 31,
2004, the day before Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston, Texas. To be elected,
Brown and Hayes must each receive the same 80 percent voting support that is
required of all finalists. The Hall's 39-member Board of Selectors will
elect between three and six new members during next January's meeting. One
of several recent modifications to the Hall of Fame selection process, this
is the first year that the Seniors Committee has nominated two candidates to
be considered among the finalists for election. During
his 10 seasons with the Eagles, Rams, and Raiders, Brown was named All-NFL
seven times. An aggressive blocker, who used his size and strength to
neutralize pass rushers, Brown was also chosen for six Pro Bowls - three
with the Eagles, two with the Rams, and one final time with the Raiders. "I'm
about as subtle as a sixteen-pound sledgehammer," Brown once said of his
style of play and most of his opponents agreed. "Defensive ends used to come
away with their ribs aching from all the punishment he delivered," Hall of
Fame linebacker Ted Hendricks said. Brown
was not only a punishing pass blocker; he was an outstanding run blocker as
well. "I don't know of many other linemen that you had to make special
adjustments for - he was terrific," Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll offered.
Bob
Hayes, a world-class track star who won a pair of gold medals in the 1964
Olympic games, was a rarity. He possessed tremendous football skills and
instincts that helped him to develop into a terrific NFL wide receiver.
Hayes' speed, complimented by his football instincts, caused defenses to
commit to a kind of deep double coverage rarely seen in the NFL at that
time. It is often said that the bump and run defense was developed in an
attempt to slow down the former Florida A&M running back. "I know one thing,
and I played with him," commented Hall of Fame tight end Mike Ditka, "he
changed the game. He made defenses and defensive coordinators work hard to
figure out what you had to do to stop him." Four times Hayes was named first- or second-team All-NFL. Three times he led the Cowboys in receptions, including back-to-back titles in 1965-66 when he caught a total of 110 passes for 2,235 yards and 25 touchdowns. During his career he caught 371 passes for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns, averaging 20 yards per catch. |