The Canadian Football League Hall of Fame has announced the members of their Class of 2019, which will consist of five former players and two builders.

Joe Cornish:  Cornish played nine years in the CFL with the Calgary Stampeders where he rushed for 6,844 Yards with 44 Touchdowns.  The native of New Westminster, B.C. was named the CFL’s Outstanding Canadian three years in a row (2012-14) and he is also a three-time Rushing Leader.  Cornish would also win two Grey Cups with the Stampeders.

Mervyn Fernandez:  From San Jose State, Fernandez played for the B.C. Lions from 1982 to 1986 where he helped the team win the Grey Cup in 1985 and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the CFL that year.  The Wide Receiver played for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1987 to 1992 and returned for one more season with the Lions in 1994.  The two time CFL All-Star would record 399 Receptions for 6,690 Yards and 57 Touchdowns.

Terry Greer:  Greer came to the CFL by way of Alabama State where he played for the Toronto Argonauts from 1980 to 1985 where he was a two-time CFL All-Star and helped the Argonauts win the 1983 Grey Cup.  That was a special year for Greer as he would become the first CFL Wide Receiver to have a 2,000 Yard season.  Before he left the CFL for the NFL he would tabulate 404 Receptions for 6,817 Yards and 47 Touchdowns.  He would later win two Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers making him one of the few people to have a Grey Cup and Super Bowl ring.

Jim Hopson:  Hopson enters as a builder through being the President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 2004 to 2015.  He was an Offensive Lineman for the team from 1973 to 1976.

Ernie Pitts:  Pitts played at both Defensive Back and Wide Receiver over his Canadian Football League tenure (1957-70).  He was a four-time Grey Cup Champion with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and he would have 337 Receptions for 1,126 Yards and 55 Touchdowns.  It is a posthumous induction as he was fatally shot in September of 1970.

Frank Smith:  Smith enters as a builder through coaching the University of British Columbia from 1974 to 1994.  He would win two National Championships ad was also a two-time Coach of the Year.

David Williams:  Williams was drafted in the 3^rdRound from the University of Illinois in the 1986 Draft and after bouncing around the NFL for three years with three different teams he signed with the B.C. Lions in 1988 where he won the Outstanding Player of the Year Award in his first year.  He would later win the Grey Cup in 1991 with the Toronto Argonauts and he also played with Edmonton, Ottawa and Winnipeg.  He retired with 439 Receptions for 7,197 Yards and 78 Touchdowns.

The Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on August 9 in Hamilton, Ontario.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the Canadian Football Hall of Fame Class of 2019.

This is the second day in a row where we have a Running Back retiring from the National Football League.  Following yesterday’s retirement of longtime Carolina Panther, Jonathan Stewart, Oakland Raiders Running Back, Marshawn Lynch will be retiring from the game for a second time.

Lynch was drafted 12^thoverall in 2007 by the Buffalo Bills where as a rookie he rushed for 1,115 Yards, and in his second season, he again hit 1,000 Yards (1,036) and earned a trip to the Pro Bowl.  He did not have a great 2009, and early in the 2010 season, he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks for two mid-round draft picks, which would prove to be beneficial for Seattle and Lynch and one that Bills fans still bemoan today.

With the Seahawks, he became a star, and his “Beast Mode” nickname became known through every NFL fanbase.  Lynch returned to the Pro Bowl in 2011 with a 1,204 Rushing Yard, 12 TD performance and in 2012 he was even better going for 1,590 Rushing Yards with 11 Touchdowns. Not only did he go to the Pro Bowl he was also a First Team All-Pro.  

Lynch would again have more than 1,000 Receiving Yards in the next two years, but this time he helped take Seattle to the Super Bowl those seasons.  The Seahawks would win Super Bowl XLVIII in a dismantling of the Denver Broncos but they would fail in Super Bowl XLIX against the New England Patriots. In that contest, Lynch had rushed for 102 Yards and a Touchdown but on Seattle’s final offensive play of the game they threw a pass instead of run (they were on New England’s 1-yard line) in a play that everyone thought should have gone to Lynch.

Injuries kept Lynch out of half of the 2015 season and he retired from the game but not all sports retirements stick.  After sitting out the 2016 season he returned to the game, this time signing with the Oakland Raiders where he would play the last two years.

Lynch played in 148 Games, rushing for 10,379 Yards and 84 Touchdowns and he would also record another 287 Receptions for 2,214 Yards and 9 Touchdowns. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to thank Marshawn Lynch for the incredible on the field memories, his always entertaining banter with reporters, skittles and of course, “Beast Mode”.   We wish Marshawn Lynch the best in post-playing career and are certain that whatever he does next it will be entertaining!

Thank you, Marshawn!

We have another retirement to look at as Jonathan Stewart has just announced his departure from playing professional football.  He signed a one-day contract with the Carolina Panthers allowing him to sign with the team that drafted him.

Stewart was drafted by Carolina 13^thoverall in 2008 out of Oregon and he had a good rookie season with 836 Yards with 10 Touchdowns.  He matched his TD total in 2009 and would have a career high 1,113 Yards in 2010.  While Stewart was often sharing the load, he was consistent for the Panthers and over his ten seasons there he would accumulate 7,318 Rushing Yards with another 1,295 Yards coming by way of the air.   Stewart was named to the Pro Bowl in 2015.  He finished his career playing for the New York Giants last season.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Jonathan Stewart the best in post-playing career.  

In a recent interview with TMZ, Lou Williams was asked if he was a Hall of Famer.  He had this to say:

"Yeah, I've seen guys in the Hall of Fame with less. I've put the work in," 

Is Williams a Hall of Famer?  At this stage he isn’t.  He is a two-time Sixth Man of the Year and has averaged over 20 Points per Game the last two seasons and has advanced numbers that are decent with a career PER of 18.5, with him exceeding the 20 mark the last three years.  At age 32, Williams is playing the best basketball of his career but without an All-Star appearance, an All-NBA selection or a championship he has a long road ahead of him.  College and International accomplishments count for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame but Williams does not have any of those to help.

According to Basketball Reference and their Hall of Fame meter, he has only a 0.0004 percent chance (which we find low) to gain induction but he has a lot of career left and we love to watch him play.  We will be watching!