One of the current projects that we are working on is updating our Football Futures, which are the former players who are not yet eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. One of the people we were going to input was former Dallas Cowboys’ Tight End, Jason Witten.  With today’s news, we are not going to do that anymore. 

Witten was on Monday Night Football last year and at the time of his retirement he had been chosen for 11 Pro Bowls and collected 1,152 Receptions with 12,448 Yards.  Witten was also a First Team All Pro twice.

He is 37 and is already the all-time leader in Cowboys franchise history in Receptions and Receiving Yards.  In the season he retired (2017) he was named to the Pro Bowl so there is reason to think that he can still produce.

Many (including us) consider Jason Witten to be a future Hall of Fame inductee.  The clock just got set back a little.å

Dwight Howard’s career has not been stellar the last few years and as of this writing he is out with an injury after playing only nine games this year.  The big man’s career is clearly on the downswing so talk about whether he is a Hall of Famer or not are not premature.  One person who definitely thinks that Howard should be chosen is his former coach in Orlando, Stan Van Gundy.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, SVG had this to say:

“Absolutely!  It’s not even close.  It would be a travesty and absolutely ridiculous if he didn’t get in.  He was a First Team All-NBA for five years and Defensive Player three years in a row.  Then compare him to guys like Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.  Come on, Dwight had a lot better career than a lot of centers who are in the Hall of Fame.

Dwight has had injury problems since 2012 when he hurt his back here in Orlando, and everybody is looking at him since then but are forgetting what he was up until them, which is the most dominant big men in the NBA for quite some time.  How many guys do you know who made the All-Star team for eight straight years and are not in the Hall of Fame?  We forget who this guy was.”

The comparison to Mourning and Mutombo are valid and both of them were Hall of Fame locks. Howard is also a five time rebounding champion an eight time All Star and his career is not over.  While he has suffered damage to his on court reputation after clashes with Kobe Bryant and James Harden and an inability to help Atlanta and Charlotte, Van Gundy’s claim that Howard was at one time the best Center in the National Basketball Association for an extended period of time is accurate.   

The story of Dwight Howard isn’t over yet, but it is a Hall of Fame one already.

They have not been very fast in their announcements but we final have a second inductee for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame Class.

Wayne Ferris, known professionally as The Honky Tonk Man has been announced for this year’s class. In previous shoot interviews, Ferris stated that he had been asked before to be inducted and if that is true this induction is certainly long overdue.  

Beginning his career in 1977, Ferris achieved success as one half of the Blonde Bombers with Larry Latham in Tennessee and the pair would have a still famous match, “The Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl” against Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee.  Ferris would wrestle throughout the South, Puerto Rico and Calgary before the World Wrestling Federation came calling in late 1986.

Now known as the Honky Tonk Man, the belief was that Ferris was going to be a big babyface but the Elvis impersonator failed to get over with the crowd and he turned heel following a “vote of confidence” where fans stated that they were not fans of his. Now paired with Jimmy Hart, Honky began a feud with Jake “The Snake” Roberts and would defeat him at Wrestlemania III.  A couple of months later he would shockingly defeat Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat for the Intercontinental Title and he would hold that for fourteen months and to this date is the longest reigning IC Champion in company history.  The Honky Tonk Man would defend his title primarily against former champion Randy “Macho Man” Savage and he would hold the belt until he lost at the inaugural Summer Slam to The Ultimate Warrior in less than a minute.

Honky would drop down the card feuding and he would later team up with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine to form Rhythm and Blues.  They would often challenge The Hart Foundation for the WWF World Tag Team Titles but would fall short of winning the belts.  He would leave the company in January of 1991.

After this incredible run in the WWF, The Honky Tonk Man would toil in the independents with a brief run in WCW in 1994.  He would sporadic returns to the WWF afterwards and was the inductor for Koko B. Ware when he was chosen for the Hall of Fame in 2009. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate The Honky Tonk Man for earning this honor.

It was announced today that Peter Tork, former member of the Monkees passed away today at the age of 77.

Tork auditioned for and got the role as one of the musicians for the Don Kischner network program, The Monkees in 1966.  While Tork and the other members of the group (Davy Jones, Micheael Nesmith and Mickey Dolenz) were musicians in their first two albums they did not write or play any of the music, which at the time made them a very polarizing band as in terms of pop songs of the era few had any better, however they were also not viewed as legitimate by others.

The group would eventually tour and prove their musical acumen and Tork was able to show off that ability with his ability to play multiple instruments and he would later write songs and produce.  Sadly for Tork and the rest of the Monkees when their show ended their fame soon followed and no member of the band would be able to shed their musical past, at least when they tried to perform anyway.  

The group (sans Nesmith) would reunite and their legacy of being a fun band reemerged and many of their hits are still well known today.  

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends, family and fans of Peter Tork.