Here we are!

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 5 Modern Era inductees and 1 Senior inductee.

Below, are the final results of this project based on 28 votes:

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1946:

This is for the “Senior Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1946:

About the 1946 Inductees:

Jim Thorpe TB-E-FB, CAN 1920 & 1926, CLE 1921, OOR 1922-23, RI 1924-25, NYG 1925, CRD 1926: Inducted in 1946 on the 1^st Ballot (technically his 15^th year of eligibility). Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

Before the National Football League was even conceived, Thorpe was already one America’s most celebrated athletes. A two-time Gold Medalist (although his awards were stripped, and then posthumously returned) at the 1912 Olympic winning the Pentathlon and Decathlon, Thorpe would later play professional baseball, appearing in games for the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Braves. A superstar at Carlisle in every sport he tried, Thorpe first played professionally for the Pine Village Pros, and would sign with the Canton Bulldogs in 1915, where he would lead them to three league titles. The Bulldogs would become a charter member of the American Professional Football Association (renamed the National Football League in 1922), and Thorpe, while still playing, was named the institution’s inaugural President. He played for six different teams in the NFL, and was named to the 1920’s All-Decade Team.

Red Grange HB-BB-DB-TB, CHI 1925 & 1928-34, NYY 1927: Inducted in 1946 on the 1^st Ballot (technically his 12^th year of eligibility). Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

As hard as it is for most of us to imagine, in the early days of the National Football League, many college players (even the elite) did not go on to play pro football. Knowing that he needed a big-ticket player, Chicago Bears Player/Owner, George Halas, coerced the star at the University of Illinois, to join the Bears ten days after his last college game. Grange helped place the Bears on the map, and while he was there briefly in his first run (signing with the New York Yankees in 1927, for a year) he came back in 1929, playing for Chicago until 1934, where he was a defensive stud in his latter years. Grange was a mega-star in Chicago, and arguably he was the first mainstream football star.

George Halas E, CHI 1920-28: Inducted in 1946 on the 1^st Ballot (technically his 13^th year of eligibility). Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 as a Coach/Owner.

In 1963, Halas was inducted into the PFHOF, but as a contributor. We will have a similar section, but that won’t begin until 1950, so this induction for his work as a player. The 1919 Rose Bowl MVP as a member of the Illinois Fighting Illinois, would play first professionally for the Hammond All-Stars, before he began work for A.E. Staley Company, and was the Player Coach for the Decatur Staleys. Halas represented the Staleys in the meeting that formed the NFL in 1920, and they became a charter team in the league. Augustus Staley, the owner of the team, turned control over to the team to Halas in 1921, who relocated the team to Chicago, and the Bears as we know it came to fruition. On the gridiron, Halas was named an All-Decade player who excelled on both ends of the ball. The man who would become “Papa Bear” led Chicago to their first NFL Championship in 1921, and would overall guide the Bears to eight titles.

Curly Lambeau TB-FB-BB-E, GNB 1921-29: Inducted in 1946 on the 1^st Ballot (technically his 12^th year of eligibility). Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 as an Owner/Coach.

Like Halas, Lambeau enters the PFHOF Revisited Hall as a player, despite his Canton resume placing him as a coach. As a player, Lambeau was excellent throwing for 24 Touchdowns and rushed for another eight, and he played until 1929, while also coaching the team. In his last year as a player/coach (1929), Lambeau took Green Bay to their first NFL Championship. Lambeau focused strictly on coaching, and he would take Green Bay to five more Championships (1930, 1931, 1936, 1939 & 1944). He would be named to the 1920s All-Decade Team.

Fritz Pollard TB-BB-WB, AKR 1920-21 & 1925-26, MIL 1922, HAM 1923 & 1925, PRV 1925: Inducted in 1946 on the 1^st Ballot (technically his 17^th year of eligibility). Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

It took Pollard until 2005 to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he enters here in 1946, though we know that this is very much with modern eyes. We say that as in 1946, the NFL had no African-American players, and a voting body that might have existed back then might not have voted for Pollard. But this is the PFHOF Revisited! Pollard was a trailblazer in every sense of the word, having starred at Brown where he led them to a Rose Bowl in 1915. Following military service, Pollard joined the Akron Pros, a charter member of what would become the NFL, and was one of two black players in the league. Pollard led the Pros to the first league championship, and the following year, he was a co-coach, making him the first African-American to coach in the league. Throughout the early 1920s, accounts stated that he was among the fastest runners in the league, and he constantly outran his opponents. After the 1926 Season, the five black players in the NFL were no longer used in what could best be described as an unofficial ban. Pollard continued to play and coach in non-NFL leagues.

Pudge Heffelfinger: Inducted in 1946 on the 1^st Senior Ballot. Was never inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A valid criticism of the PFHOF is that it has taken little account to those who laid professional football’s groundwork. This is rectified here with the first Senior inductee, Pudge Heffelfinger, the first man to paid for playing football in 1892 by the Allegheny Athletic Association. A three-time All-American at Yale and inaugural member of the College Football Hall of Fame, is recognized as one of the premier football players of the early 1890s, and though somebody always has to be first, they aren’t always great. Heffelfinger was great!

After years of observing the Pro Football Hall of Fame process, and all Hall of Fames for that matter, one thing has always felt clear to me; Halls should begin 25 years after an institution begins. This alleviates any backlog that could happen, and often when discussions of the PFHOF occur, a common thread is how many great players have fallen through the cracks.

So… What if the PFHOF had their first class in January of 1946?

Invites went out to people who have displayed knowledge and passion of football’s history, and we followed the same pattern of the current PFHOF electoral process.

Last week, a Preliminary Vote with 130 players whose playing career ended by 1940. We are also following the structure in that players have 20 years of eligibility, and if they do not make it into the Hall, they are relegated to the Senior Pool.

Following the Preliminary vote, 25 Semi-Finalists were named, and the voters were now asked to submit 15 names as their Finalists

Next week, they will pick five from the remaining 15. We will continue this process weekly until we catch up to the current year.

27 people participated in the 1946 Preliminary Vote, and 28 participated in the Semi-Final ballot. This yielded the following result:

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they advanced to the Finals:

This is for the “Senior Era”

*Bold indicates they advanced to the Finals:

Next Saturday, we will be posting the results of the 1946 Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited.

Thank you to all who contributed, and if you want to be a part of this project, please let us know!