Clyde Simmons was a beast of a defensive lineman for Western Carolina and joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 1986 when he was a ninth-round pick in 1988. 

Simmons was a vaunted pass-rusher in the National Football League, who took down the Quarterback 121.5 times over a 15-year career, which included a league-leading 19 in 1992.  A First Team All-Pro and Pro Bowler in both 1991 and 1992, Simmons also had three straight years with the Eagles where he exceeded 100 Tackles (1989-91). 

Simmons also played for Arizona, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, and Chicago.

Gary Johnson received the nickname of “Big Hands” innocently enough.  In eighth grade, Johnson grabbed a basketball in gym class, and the P.E. teacher yelled the following:

“Get your big hands off my basketball!”

Those meat hooks would be put to good use on the gridiron, first at Grambling, where he was a three-time Little All-American, and then for the San Diego Chargers, who drafted Johnson eighth overall in 1975.

An All-Rookie Selection, Johnson had his first double-digit sack year in 1977 (13.5).  As the Chargers offense improved by a decade’s end under Don Coryell and Quarterback Dan Fouts, the defensive corps also shaped up, making the Bolts serious AFC contenders. 

From 1979 to 1982, Johnson was named to the Pro Bowl, with First Team All-Pros coming his way in 1980 and 1981.  Johnson led the NFL in Sacks in 1980 with 17.5, but the Chargers were unable to get over the hump, and he was able to join the mighty San Francisco 49ers and help them win Super Bowl XIX, where Johnson got three Sacks in that postseason.

1962 SEMI-FINAL RESULTS:

Thank you for all of your participation in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project. If you are unaware of what that is, we acted like the PFHOF had its first class in January 1946.

We have completed the years up to 1961.

For “1962,” a Preliminary Vote with over 100 players whose playing career ended by 1956. We are also following the structure in that players have 20 years of eligibility, and if they do not make it into the Hall, they are relegated to the Senior Pool.

Each voter was asked to select 25 names from the preliminary list, and the top 25 vote-getters were named Semi-Finalists.

A week later, the voters were asked to pick 15 names from the 25 Semi-Finalists, and next week, they will pick five from the remaining 15. We will continue this process weekly until we catch up to the current year.

30 Votes took place, with the top five advancing.

This is for the “Modern Era”

Bold indicates they advanced to the Finals:

This is for the “Senior Era”

*Bold indicates they advanced to the Finals:

We will post the Finalists of the Class of the 1962 Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project next Saturday.

Thank you to all who contributed. If you want to be part of this project, please let us know!

Russ Washington played both Offensive Tackle and Defensive Tackle at the University of Missouri, and the man who stood at 6’ 5” and nearly 300 pounds made the mouths water of NFL scouts.  the San Diego Chargers selected him fourth overall in 1968, where he was used as a Defensive Tackle over his first two seasons.  He did well, but the Chargers saw more value in him on the O-Line, and that is where he moved in 1970 and was their starting Right Tackle for 13 years.

Washington’s size was a better fit on offense, especially on pass protection.  When the team moved to a more pass-heavy offense under Don Coryell, Washington was in his element and it showed with five trips to the Pro Bowl in the second half of his career.  Rarely hurt, Washington played 200 Games for the Chargers and would enter their franchise Hall of Fame in 1985.