After watching ESPN’s Outside the Lines Program about the death of Pat Tillman, Sunday Night Football Analyst and Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee, Cris Collinsworth took the Twitter stating his belief that Tillman should be inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame.
“If I live to be a million years old, I will never understand why Pat Tillman is not in the NFL Hall of Fame. Thanks ESPN. Great Reporting”
“I cannot name one person in NFL history that represents what I would like the NFL to be more than Pat Tillman. Shouldn’t that be enough HOF?”
Actually Cris, it isn’t.
We need to make it very clear that this is not a shot at Pat Tillman in any capacity. It takes great conviction to forego a million dollar contract (which was offered) to instead serve your country knowing full well that you would put your life in danger overseas. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in 2004, and the NFL and his former team, the Arizona Cardinals, have by multiple accounts honoured the career of Tillman appropriately.
The NFL has long been known for its support of the military, and the Arizona Cardinals (and his College of Arizona State) have retired his number. Traditionally, many professional sports franchises have retired the numbers of players who died tragically while they were a member of the team, and the Cardinals and Sun Devils gesture was a warm one, as he was not an active member of the roster.
Currently, the Pro Football Hall of Fame honors those who have made a significant impact on the field (or as a contributor) in the Professional ranks, and as we look up and down those who have been inducted, they have done just that.
With all due respect to Pat Tillman, his professional football career was not a Hall of Fame one. He played four seasons with Arizona where he played sixty games (starting thirty-nine of them) and while good enough to have received a multi million dollar offer from the team (prior to enlisting), he had not achieved an All Pro or Pro Bowl level on the NFL level.
Known columnist, Peter King opened up his opinion on whether Pat Tillman’s military sacrifice was enough to warrant a Hall of Fame Induction.
“Should all 26 NFL players who have died in service to our country, either in World War II, Vietnam or Afghanistan be enshrined in Canton? Is one player’s service worth more than others? Should every player who served in wartime be enshrined, or put a wing of the Hall of Fame?
What about others who played football and went on to great things? Byron “Whizzer” White, a running back in the NFL, went on to be a Supreme Court Justice. Jack Kemp quarterbacked the Bills, then became a nine-term Congressman and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Should they be in?
I think football players and coaches and executives should be in the Hall of Fame for what they accomplishment as football players and coaches and executives and not for anything else.”
There is an exhibit in the Hall that does acknowledge Tillman and others that served in various wars, so it is not as if his career and sacrifice is not represented in Canton, but is a bust of Tillman among the great players of the game needed? With all due respect, his play doesn’t warrant it, and that is what should occur.
We do think that many sporting Halls of Fame have forgotten that the key word is “fame”, and may depend a little too much on stats as opposed to moments, but again, Tillman became famous for walking away from the game, and the fact is he was a good NFL player, but not a great one. If the Hall looks to induct those who had heroic acts off the field, do we then kick out the ones who committed atrocities off of it (O.J. Simpson)? It should be noted that Tillman was never a preliminary nominee on the Hall of Fame ballot.
We are very curious to see if this sentiment builds momentum and also what your thoughts on this are.
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