Committee Chairman

The Pro Football HOF intends to expand

Nov 13, 2014

Those of you who are have followed us here at Notinhalloffame.com know about our admiration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. When people travel to Canton, Ohio, chances are it is this Hall that they are going to see. Recognizing this, the Pro Football Hall has announced that its board of trustees has approved a major expansion project that should it come to fruition would make Canton the “Disneyworld of Football”.

The crux of the plan would be the creation of a “Hall of Fame Village” complete with restaurants, retail shops and a residential portion for former athletes. A conference center is also planned, as is a Center for Performance and Safety

A four to five star hotel will also be added, with them noting that when the Hall of Fame Game is played, the participants stay in Cleveland as opposed to Canton.

Apparently, this generated from the need to refurbish Fawcett Stadium, where the 22,000 seat facility hosts the Hall of Fame game and other High School games in the area. As opposed to rebuilding, the plan moved to regenerating and creating a full Hall of Fame experience and village.

Finances still have to be raised to see all of this through, but based on the growth of American Football in the last quarter-century, and even with the recent issues the sport has had, would you bet against this? Neither would we.

Diego Maradona to the Goal HOF

Nov 13, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

This week Goal.com announce that from an online vote, that the greatest player in the history of France, Zinedine Zidane and the best player ever from Brazil (and arguably the world) Pele, has been selected to be a part of their first Hall of Fame class. It should therefore be no shock that the most famous (and infamous player) from Soccer mad Argentina, has also been chosen.

Diego Maradona was raised in a Buenos Aries ghetto and like virtually all South American youngsters he gravitated toward soccer. Maradona would make his Senior cub debut with Argentinos Juniors, a few days before his 16th birthday. Scoring over 100 Goals over his five seasons there, Maradona would be transferred to Boca Juniors, his favorite club team and one of the elite programs in the Argentine League. He was only there for a season and a half, but it was with Boca that he secured his first league championship.

After the 1982 World Cup in which Diego starred for Argentina, he would be transferred to FC Barcelona in the Spain, where his winning ways continued. He would lead them to wins in the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup, though Europe was seeing what a hot head Maradona would be and the superstar ran afoul of FC Barcelona management.

Maradona would be transferred to Napoli in the Italian league where he would be viewed as the club’s savior, which essentially is what he would become. Not considered to a top player in Italy, Napoli would ascend to the top of the table and in 1987 would win their first ever Serie A title. They would win again in 1990, and in Naples, Diego Maradona was a God, which considering the year before he was involved with “The Hand of God” was a great label for him.

In 1986, Diego Maradona took Argentina to the World Cup and led the to victory. Maradona was the dominant force in the tournament, scoring five goals and assisting on five more. The most famous goal was the one he netted against England (whom the Argentines were at war with over the Falkland Islands) which replay clearly showed it was deflected off of his hand, hence the “Hand of God” goal. Four minutes later, he would put in another, in a brilliant play that was one of the most beautiful looking scores in the world stage.

On the pitch, there was brilliance on it, but turmoil off of it. Maradona developed a serious cocaine habit and was suspended for fifteen months. He was involved in a scandal over an illegitimate son, and for a few years was considered a disgrace.

Still as time healed his perception, and today Maradona is remembered for what he accomplished as opposed to what he threw away late in his career. We congratulate Diego Maradona for this latest accomplishment.

Pele named to the Goal Hall of Fame

Nov 12, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Yesterday Goal.com announced that Zinedine Zidane was the first man chosen to their website’s Hall of Fame. Each day this week, the largest Soccer site in the world will be announcing a member of their Class of 2014, all of which were voted on the public. It should be a surprise to absolutely nobody that the Pele was announced as another member to the Hall.

The accomplishments of Pele are staggering. He is the only player in FIFA World Cup history to have won the championship three times (Brazil 1958, 1962 and 1970). He is the leading scorer all time for Brazil netting 77 Goals, and had 619 Goals for his Brazillian club team, Santos, the team he took to two Copa Libertadores championships (1962 & 1963). He was named the Player of the Century by multiple publications. Pele would also carry the North American Soccer League on his back, and though the league failed, Pele was a star in the United States at a time when the county had limited interest in the sport.

Calling Pele a star does not seem like enough. He wasn’t just the best Soccer player in the world, he was an international celebrity, and dare we say an icon. Pele’s athletic skills were matched only by his good nature, as there is nobody (and we say nobody) who was a better ambassador for their sport than he was.

We congratulate Pele for adding to his long list of accolades and are thankful that the online voters of Goal.com chose the Brazilian legend. It wouldn’t be a Hall of Fame without him!

RIP: Orlando Thomas

Nov 11, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

It is with much sadness that we learned that Orlando Thomas passed away after a battle with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Thomas played all seven of his National Football League seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, where he played Safety.

Thomas, who was drafted in the Second Round from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette had a very impressive rookie season where he led the National Football League in Interceptions. That was arguably his best season, but he would complete his career with 22 Interceptions and a 457 tackles.

We would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Orlando Thomas at this time.