Ken Gray was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1958 but was unable to make their roster.  The Chicago Cardinals took a shot on him, using him at Defensive End as a rookie, but the season after, he was moved to Right Guard, a position he would thrive in.

The Cardinals relocated to St. Louis in 1960, and while Gray was not a star in Chicago, he would become one under the Arches.  Gray went to his first Pro Bowl in 1961 and added five more (1963, 1964, 1968, 1967 & 1968) with three All-Pros along the way.  Arguably the Cardinals' best Offensive Linemen in the 1960s, he began the next decade with Houston, where he played one year before retiring.

Another Cardinal, another Defensive Back.

A Third Round Pick in 2001 from North Carolina State, Wilson would become the team's starting Strong Safety as a sophomore and held that spot for 11 years.  Wilson earned his first Pro Bowl in 2006 and would later boast a four-year streak from 2008 to 2011, which included a First Team All=Pro Selection in 2009.

Wilson was released after the 2012 Season, and he signed with New England, but never played there as he tore his Achilles in training camp.  He later signed with Chicago but did not make the squad.

Wilson thus retired having only played with the Cardinals, and is one of the few players who accumulated over 25 Sacks and 25 Interceptions.  He also recorded over 900 Tackles for the team.  In 2015, Wilson entered the Cardinals Ring of Honor.

As the passing game opened up, many Quarterbacks received their due as national stars.  Jim Hart was one of the new breed of pivots, though he did not generate the same buzz as some of his peers.

It wasn't that the Cardinals didn't have any good seasons while Hart played there, as in the mid-70s, they rifled off three consecutive ten-win seasons.  This period coincided with Hart's four straight Pro Bowl appearances.  Jim Hart became one of the most durable and respected Quarterbacks in the NFL, and due to that durability, he was able to accumulate a very impressive career in terms of statistics.

Unfortunately, as the leader of bad teams for the majority of his career, Hart was considered a good player, who wasn’t good enough to take his team to the next level.  This may explain why he never received any real look from football historians, though it should be acknowledged that UPI named Hart their MVP in 1974.

With the Cardinals, Hart amassed 34,639 Yards and an even 200 Touchdown Passes, and he was selected to join the Cardinals Ring of Honor in 2017.

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 Atlanta Hawks.

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 Basketball Association.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

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

Last year, Atlanta continued their middle-of-the-road performance, neither dazzling nor toiling in the basement.  There were no new entrants but there were three elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which was not affected by the last season:

1. Bob Pettit

2. Dominique Wilkins

3. Cliff Hagan

4. John Drew

5. Mookie Blaylock

You can find the entire list here.

Two-Time All-Star, Trae Young, advanced to #15 from #21.

Power Forward, John Collins, who is now with Utah, climbed one spot to #24.

Rebounding machine, Clint Capela, advanced from #41 to #30.

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