1953 Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project Class.

Here we are!  Again!!

If you have been following our Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project, you know that we have asked the rhetorical question…what if the PFHOF began in January of 1946?

After soliciting and obtaining a passionate group of football fans and historians, we sent out a ballot for a Preliminary Vote, which we asked each voter to give us 25 names as their semi-finalists, and 5 in the Senior Pool. Following that, we asked the group to vote for their 15 Finalists in the Modern Era, and 3 in the Senior Category. The final stage was to vote for their five Modern Era inductee, one Senior inductee and one Coaches/Contributor inductee.

This is the result of the eighth official class;

Below, are the final results of this project based on 30 votes, with a major change:  ALL FINALISTS MUST obtain 50% of the VOTE!

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1953:

This is for the “Senior Era”, which resulted in no entry. Three also voted for None of the Above.

This is for the Coaches/Contributor.  There was one vote for None of the Above.

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1952:

About the 1953 Inductees:

Ken Strong FB-TB-HB-WB-DB-K, SIS 1928-32, NYG 1933-35, 1939 & 1944-47: Inducted in 1953 on his 7^th Ballot.  Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

Listed mostly as a Halfback, Ken Strong could do everything as he excelled at every aspect of the game and could claim the title of the most complete player of his day.  Beginning his NFL career with the Staten Island Stapletons, Strong joined the New York Giants when the Staten Island folded in 1932.  Strong willed the Gants to the 1934 Championship, scoring 17 Points in their win over Chicago.  He missed some time in the NFL as he played for the New York Yanks of the short-lived AFL due to a salary dispute, but returned for another year in 1939.  Strong came back in 1944, where he was mostly used as a kicking specialist.  Overall, Strong was named an All-Pro four times.

Turk Edwards T, GNB 1930-40, BOS/WAS 1932-40: Inducted in 1953 on his 8^th Ballot. Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.

After becoming the first player in Washington State history to be named an All-American, Turk Edwards signed with the Boston Braves and joined them in their inaugural season in the National Football League.  Edwards was with the team as they changed their name to the Redskins and relocated to Washington, playing all nine of his pro years with the team.  A punishing two-way Tackle, Edwards was a three-time First Team All-Pro and a stud player who led the Redskins to their first league championship in 1937.  Following his retirement as a player in 1940, Edwards became an Assistant Coach for Washington winning a second NFL Championship in 1942.  Edwards later became their Head Coach in 1946 and held that role for three years.  

Tuffy Leemans FB-TB-QB-DB, NYG 1936-43: Inducted in 1953 on his 5^th Ballot.  Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978.

After a good college run at George Washington, the New York Giants drafted Tuffy Leemans in 1936, where he would have an eight-year career with the New York Giants.  Like many NFL players of the 30s and 40s, Leemans played multiple positions on both sides of the ball (FB, TB, DB, QB), and he was exceptional at all of them.  As a rookie, Leemans led the NFL in Rushing Yards (830), and he was second in that stat in 1938, the same season he led the Giants to an NFL Championship.  Leemans also helped New York reach the Championship Game in 1939 and 1941. Leemans, who was named to the 1930s All-Decade Team, was involved in more passing in the 1940s, finishing ninth in Passing Yards, each year from 1941 to 1943.  Defensively, he also recorded four Interceptions over his career.

Ralph Hay: Inducted in 1953 on the 4^th Coaches/Contributor Ballot. Was never inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In 1918, 27-year-old Ralph Hay bought the Canton Bulldogs, a member of a loose affiliation of teams that competed in the Ohio League. Canton was one of the better professional teams, but pro football, which was far behind college football in the national consciousness, needed a better organizational structure to move forward. This is where Hay came in.  Hay arranged a meeting with the Akron Pros, Cleveland Tigers, and Dayton Triangles managers to form the American Professional Football Conference. Four team does not a league make, and Hay, acting as the secretary, sent off letters to other football teams in the Midwest looking to form a league and request a meeting in Canton on September 17. Representatives from ten teams would be there, all in the automobile showroom of Hay's dealership. The American Professional Football Conference now had ten teams, and the league that would rename itself the National Football League two years later was born. Hay was asked by the owners to be the first president, but instead, he pushed (and got) Jim Thorpe as the first president, which he felt lent the new league credibility.

Canton won the league title in 1922, but Hay could not celebrate for long. The Bulldogs were not profitable, and Hay could not afford to keep the team. He sold the organization before the 1923 season, and Canton would win it all again, though Hay was no longer a part of it.  The Pro Football Hall of Fame would be awarded to Canton, and while Hay was not a part of that decision (he died 20 years before it opened), the vision that Hay had was bred in Canton, Ohio.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Florida Panthers.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Florida had an excellent post-season, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals after shocking the Boston Bruins in the opening round.  Last year resulted in three new entries, and several elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which had no changes:

1. Roberto Luongo

2. Alexsander Barkov

3. Jonathan Huberdeau

4. John Vanbiesbrouck

5. Aaron Ekblad

You can find the entire list here.

Notably, Barkov was unable to surpass Luongo for the #1 spot, and remains at #2.  In addition, Ekblad also was not able to move up from his #5 rank.

Goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, reached #19 from #23.

Forward, Carter Verhaeghe, is the first of two entries, coming in at #34.

Gustav Forling made it to #35 from #45.

The second of four new entries is Brandon Montour, who enters at #36.

Forward, Matthew Tkachuk, makes his first appearance at #42.

The last new entrant is Sam Bennett, who appears it at #49.

Completing the alterations is current San Jose Shark. Anthony Duclair, who was traded during last season, and fell behind newer entrants, but did enough to remain.  He is at #50.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Hall of Fame season continues with the announcement from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame of their nominees,

The Finalists will be announced at All-Star Weekend on February 16 and the Class will be unveiled on April 6 during the Final Four.

Here are the nominees from the varying categories:  *Indicates first time nominee.

North America Nominees:

2008 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team

Rick Barnes (Coach)

John Beilein (Coach)

Chauncey Billups (Player) (Ranked #4 on Notinhalloffame.com)

*Vince Carter (Player) (Ranked #1 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Tom Chambers (Player) (Ranked #19 on Notinhalloffame.com)

John Clougherty (Referee)

Michael Cooper (Player) (Ranked #25 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Joey Crawford (Referee)

Terry Cummings (Player) (Ranked #20 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Jack Curran (Coach)

*Bobby Dibler (Referee)

Don Donoher (Coach)

*Robert Foley (Coach)

*Mike Gminski (Player)

Lou Henson (Coach)

*Marques Houtman (Player)

Marques Johnson (Player) (Ranked #10 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Marv Kessler (Coach)

*Bill Laimbeer (Player) (Ranked #12 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Jim Larranaga (Coach)

*Mike Leonardo (Coach)

Maurice Lucas (Player) (Ranked #15 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Shawn Marion (Player) (Ranked #16 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Rollie Massimino (Coach)

*Bill Morse (Coach)

Dick Motta (Coach)

*Jack Nagle (Coach)

Jim Phelan (Coach)

Bo Ryan (Coach)

*Charles Smith (Coach)

Stan Spirou (Coach)

Reggie Theus (Player) (Ranked #77 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Jerry Welsh (Player)

Buck Williams (Player) (Ranked #6 on Notinhalloffame.com)

John Williamson (Player)

Women’s Nominees:

Leta Andrews (Coach)

*Simone Augustus (Player)

Jennifer Azzi (Player)

*Doug Buono (Coach)

*Cheryl Ford (Player)

Becky Martin (Coach)

Debbie Miller-Palmore (Player)

Marian Washington (Coach)

Dean Weese (Coach)

*Chris Weller (Coach)

*Andrew Yasinoff (Coach)

Contributor Nominees: 

Pete Babcock

Dick Baumgartner

Henry Bibby

Marty Blacke

Vic Bubas

Doug Collins

Wayne Duke

Bill Foster

*Mike Fratello

Bob Gibbons

Simon Gourdine

Tim Grgurich

Justin Kellogg

Johnny “Red” Kerr

Tom Konchalski

Bobby Lewis

Fred McCall

Jack McColoskey

Jon McGlocklin

Speedy Morris

Dennis Murphy

Curly Neal

Jack Powers

Will Robinson

Gene Shue

*Herb Simon

*Scott Tarter

Donnie Walsh

*Jerry West

*World Wheelers

International Nominees

*David Blatt (Coach, Israel)

Tal Brody (Contributor, Israel)

Jean-Kacques Concelcan (Player, Angola/Portugal)

Mirza Delibasic (Player, Yugoslavia/Bosnia)

*Jorge Garbajosa (Player, Spain)

*Andrew Gaze (Player, Australia)

*Panaglotis Gianniks (Player, Greece)

Guiseppe Giergia (Player, Yugoslavia/Bosnia)

Dusan Ivkovic (Player, Yugoslavia/Serbia)

*Andrei Kirilenko (Player, Russia) (Ranked #50 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Vladimir Kondrashin (Coach, The Soviet Union/Russia)

Marcus Leite (Player, Brazil)

*Ettore Messina (Coach, Italy)

*Juan Carlos Navarro (Player, Spain)

*Andres Nocioni (Player, Argentina)

*Fabricio Oberto (Player, Argentina)

*Jose Ortiz (Player, Puerto Rico)

Amaury Pasos (Player, Brazil)

*Modestas Palauskas (Player, Soviet Union/Russia)

Togo Soares (Coach, Brazil)

*Penny Taylor (Player, Australia)

*Michele Timms (Player, Australia)

*Amaya Valdemoro (Player, Spain)

Ranko Zeravica (Coach, Serbia)

Women’s Veteran Nominees:

1982 Cheyney State NCAA Final Four Team (Team)

Alline Banks Sprousse (Player)

Edmonton Commercial Grads (Team)

John Head (Coach)

Yolanda Laney (Player)

Nashville Business College (Team)

Lorneta Odom (Player)

Harley Redin (Player)

Valerie Walker (Player)

Dean Weese (Coach)

Veteran Nominees::

1936 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team

1972 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team

Dick Barnett (Player) (Ranked #58 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Tom Blackburn (Coach)

*Charles Brown (Player)

Freddie Brown (Player) (Ranked #60 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Jack Coleman (Player)

Leroy Edwards (Player)

Leo Ferris (Contributor)

Travis Grant (Player)

Jack Hartman (Coach)

Cam Henderson (Coach)

Robert Hopkins (Player)

Charles Kelnath (Player)

Greg Kelser (Player)

Kentucky Wesleyan (1966, 1967 & 1969) (Team)

Loyala of Chicago (Team)

*Dan Lynch (Coach)

Billy Markward (Contributor)

Jack McKinney (Contributor)

Bill Melchionni (Player)

Francis Meehan (Player)

Lucias Mitchell (Coach)

Joe Mullaney (Coach)

Willie Naulls (Player) (Ranked #33 on Notinhalloffame.com)

*Ben Newman (Contributor)

*Don Otten (Player)

*Louis Plert (Contributor)

Kevin Porter (Player)

Glenn Roberts (Player)

Lonnie Rosenbluth (Player)

Kenny Sailors (Player)

Fres Schaus (Contributor)

Sam Schulman (Contributor)

Paul Silas (Player) (Ranked #23 on Notinhalloffame.com)

Dick Van Arsdale (Player)

Tom Van Arsdale (Player)

*Cleo Vaughn (Player)

Lambert Will (Contributor)

Max Zaslofsky (Player) (Ranked #2 on Notinhalloffame.com)

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate all of those who made it to this stage.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Los Angeles Kings.

As for all of our top 50 players in hockey we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, the Kings made it into the playoffs, but were defeated in the first round by Edmonton.  Based on last season, there were changes into the top five, other elevations and one new entry.

As always, we present our top five:

1. Marcel Dionne

2. Drew Doughty

3. Anze Kopitar

4. Luc Robitaille

5. Wayne Gretzky

You can find the entire list here.

Doughty climbed to # 2 from $4 and Kopitar advances from #5 to #3, and he could become the franchise scoring leader in the future.  Both are primed to overtake Dionne in the next year or so.

Goalie, Jonathan Quick, who is now with the New York Rangers, went to #6 from #7.

Adrian Kempe shot to #38 from #48.

The lone new entry is Defenseman, Matt Roy, who debuts at #50.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.