A multi-faceted offensive player at Tennessee, Stanley Morgan was taken by the New England Patriots in the First Round of the 1977 Draft and was a prime offensive threat for the Pats for over a decade.

Originally used more as a returner as a rookie, the “Stanley Steamer” emerged as one of the top deep threats in football by his third season.  Quick as lightning, Morgan led the NFL three years in a row in Yards per Reception (1979-81), and was the league-leader in Touchdown Receptions with 12 in 1979.  Excellent in short and long routes, Morgan consistently displayed excellent yardage after first being touched.  Although he helped the Patriots reach the Super Bowl against the untouchable 1985’ Chicago Bears team, Morgan did not have a lot of great players around him to relieve the load, which hampered his overall touches.  Following the Super Bowl loss, Morgan had his third Pro Bowl and fourth Pro Bowl, and remained with the Patriots until 1989.  He retired after a final season as an Indianapolis Colt, leaving with 10,716 yards and 72 TDs.

As of this writing, no player with over 500 Receptions has a higher Yards per Reception than Stanley Morgan.

A two-time WCC Player of the Year from Santa Clara, Kenny Sears was drafted fifth overall in 1955 by the New York Knicks.  Sears, who had previously made history as the first basketball player to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated was a two-time All-Star with New York.

Sears was a more than competent Forward and finished eighth in MVP voting in 1957 and 1959.   He was also a competent shooter who twice led the NBA in Field Goal Percentage in back-to-back years (1958-59 and 1959-60) and became New York’s top scorer but his career was derailed when his jaw was broken in a fight with George Lee of the Detroit Pistons.  He missed several games that year and subsequently broke his contract to play for the San Francisco Saints of the short-lived American Basketball League.  Sears returned to the Knick after a year but was not the same player.  The Knicks traded him to the San Francisco Warriors where he played two unremarkable years before retiring.

Basketball lost a great one today.

Hall of Fame forward, Chet Walker, passed away at the age of 84.

A two-time All-American and two-time NIT Champion at Bradley, Walker was a second-round pick of the Syracuse Nationals in 1962, which became the Philadelphia 76ers the following season.  With the Sixers, Walker went to three All-Star Games and helped them win the 1967 NBA Championship.

Walker was traded to the Chicago Bulls before the 1969/70 Season where he became the first true star of the organization.  “Chet the Jet” would add four more All-Star Games as a Bull, and lead them to their first post-season appearance. 

Walker entered the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, and twelve years later was named to the inaugural Bulls Ring of Honor. 

We here at Notiinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the fans, friends, and family of Chet Walker.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB. Once that is done, we will look at how each team honors its past players, coaches, and executives. As such, it is important to us that the Detroit Tigers will be retiring the number 10 of Jim Leyland.

This has been an incredible year for Leyland, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this July.  He also has been announced as an impending member of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame. 

Leyland was Detroit’s Manager from 2006 to 2013, where he had a record of 700-597 and managed the Tigers to American League Pennants in 2006 & 2013.

His number joins Lou Whitaker (#1), Charlie Gehringer (#2), Alan Trammell (#3), Hank Greenberg (#5), Al Kaline (#6), Sparky Anderson (#11), Hal Newhouser (#16), Willie Horton (#23), Jackie Robinson (#42) and Jack Morris (#47).

The ceremony will take place on August 3.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Jim Leyland for this impending honor.