Legendary Dallas Cowboys Quarterback, Troy Aikman will finally have his number retired, but not in Texas. The Cowboys do not retire numbers, but his collegiate alma mater, UCLA does. It was announced today that his number 8 will become the ninth number retired by the UCLA Football program.
Aikman actually began his College career at the University of Oklahoma with Barry Switzer in 1985 and found himself as the starter as a rookie. Aikman would unfortunately suffer a broken ankle in an October game, causing him to miss the season and prompting the Sooners to utilize Jamelle Holieway, who was a great fit for Switzer’s type of offense. Oklahoma would win the National Championship that season.
Knowing that Holieway would remain the Oklahoma starter for some time to come, Switzer would help facilitate a transfer to UCLA and after sitting out 1986 as a redshirt he would take over the pivot role in 1987 for the Bruins.
In UCLA, Aikman would prove to be the top Quarterback in the Nation, taking the Bruins to a 20 and 4 record over his two seasons and throwing for 41 Touchdowns and 5,298 Yards, which were impressive numbers by any standards.
As a Junior, he would lead the Bruins to a win in the Aloha Bowl over Florida and would nab the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year. The following season, he would win the Cotton Bowl with a convincing win over the Arkansas Razorbacks. That year, his senior year, saw Aikman finish third in Heisman Trophy balloting and winning the Davey O’Brien Award as the Nation’s top Quarterback. The consensus All-American would enter the NFL Draft, and go first overall by the Dallas Cowboys, where he would take them to three Super Bowl Championships.
Aikman is a member of both the Pro Football and College Football Hall of Fame. We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Troy Aikman at this time for this honor.
Longtime Bass Player of Deep Purple, Roger Glover, was asked about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the radio show, Noize in the Attic. Glover responded that the band was “kind of ambivalent” about the prospect of entering the Cleveland based institution and that they were “up in the air” whether they would accept an induction or not. The British based Hard Rock band has been eligible for the Hall since 1993, but has only been nominated in the last two years.
It is easy to understand Glover, and his bandmates frustration. Glover continued to add that they “might just say, you know, forget it, too late. They’re at least twenty years too late as far as I’m concerned. They should have done it when Jon Lord was still alive when it would have had a bit more meaning”.
Lord passed away in 2012 and was a co-founder of the band. He was the band’s organist and is to this day considered one of the most talented organists of all time.
Glover would add an interesting comment that “one of the jurors was heard to say ‘Deep Purple, they’re just one hit wonders” likely referring to “Smoke on the Water, which was released in 1972, and is a staple still today of beginning guitarists.
Deep Purple may have only had two songs crack the top ten (Smoke on the Water and Hush) but since when did “hits” make a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee? Besides, it is not like they did not have true commercial success, as they are one of the few bands in history to sell over 100 million albums over their career.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com had Deep Purple ranked in the top five since our website’s inception in 2009 and have moved up to the number one slot based on your votes.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will celebrate the career of the Everly Brothers this October 25 at Cleveland’s Playhouse Square with a tribute concert celebrating them as this year’s “Music Masters Honorees”. There will be a week’s worth of tributes to the Everly’s leading up to the concert which will have Country Singer/songwriter, Rodney Crowell.
Crowell will have an incredible list of talent to work, all of which who have credited the Everly Brothers as major influences on their career. This lineup includes Vince Gill, Graham Nash, Peter Asher, Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris and Albert Lee.
Don Everly will be on hand to accept the Award. This will be his first public appearance since the death of his brother Phil last January. The Everly Brothers were part of the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. The influential duo was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
Historically speaking, the Everly’s Pop/Country harmonies remain amongst the most influential sound in Rock music history. We wish we could be on hand to be at the concert, but you can believe that it will be a great one. Bye Bye Love!
The San Diego Chargers has officially announced that former Defensive standout, Leslie O’Neal will be the 37th member inducted into their franchise’s Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place on their October 19th home game against their division rival, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chargers Hall of Fame inducted their first group in 1976.
O’Neal was the eighth overall pick of the 1986 Draft and the two-time All American from Oklahoma State made an immediate impact on the Chargers with 12.5 Quarterback Sacks and the capture of the Defensive Rookie of the Year of the Award. It was a bittersweet season fro O’ Neal, who did not finish out the season due to a knee injury, which was so severe, he missed the entire ’87 campaign and did not return to Mid-October of 1988.
The rehab proved successful as O’Neal returned to form and in 1989 made his first of what would be six Pro Bowls as a representative of the Chargers. Overall in the nine seasons he spent in San Diego, Leslie O’Neal recorded 105.5 Sacks and made three Second Team All Pro squads. His last game for the Chargers was in ’95, and he would continue playing in the NFL for more seasons where he totaled 132.5 Sacks for his career, currently placing him tenth overall all time.
We would like to congratulate both the San Diego Chargers and Leslie O’Neal at this time.