Committee Chairman

Brian Rafalski headlines U.S. Hockey HOF Class

Aug 07, 2014

The United States Hockey Hall of Fame has announced their latest crop of inductees for their Minnesota based institution, and former New Jersey Devil and Detroit Red Wing Defenceman, Brian Rafalski will headline it.

Born in Dearborn, Michigan, Rafalski was the defensive anchor for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was named a WCHA First Team All Star in his senior year. Going undrafted in the NHL, Rafalski turned to Europe and found his niche in the Finnish League, most notably playing for HIFK. In his final season there (1998/99) he won the Kultainen Kypara (Translated into Golden Helmet) which is the Finnish equivalent to the Lester B. Pearson Award as the players of the league decide the winner.

Rafalski would finally debut in the National Hockey League at the age of 26 with the New Jersey Devils, and quickly the NHL learned that they had missing out on a serviceable player for years. He would help them win the Stanley Cup that season and again was a member of the Devils Cup win in 2003. Rafalski would later hoist the Stanley Cup again as a member of the Detroit Red Wings in 2008. He would tally a career number of 515 NHL points and played once in the NHL All Star Game in 2004.

Internationally, Rafalski represented the United States in three Olympic tournaments (2002, 2006 and 2010) winning two Silver Medals and being named the best Defenceman of the 2010 Games.

Women’s Ice Hockey Olympian, Karyn Bye Dietz will also be inducted. She was the Alternate Captain on the United States Gold Medal team in Nagano and won the Silver Medal in Salt Lake City. Dietz was also a two time USA Woman’s Hockey Player of the Year (1995 & 1998) and entered the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2011.

A pair of Coaches joins the two players in this year’s class. Jeff Sauer began his Coaching career as an assistant at Colorado College (where he also played) and would ascend to the role of Head Coach in 1971, which was a post he would hold for eleven years. He would jump to Wisconsin and take them to two National Championships in 1983 and 1990. Sauer won two Paralympic Gold Medals as the Head Coach of the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team.

The final inductee is Lou Vairo who had various stints as the Head Coach for Team U.S.A.. Vairo has also been the Director of Special Projects for the National Team since 1992.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate this year’s class and encourage all of you to visit the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota.

The Fictitious Rock and Roll HOF is Here!

Aug 06, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

It is finally here. After months of searching the bowels of the last sixty years of Pop Culture we have come up with over 500 preliminary nominees for our new Fictitious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

As you have seen, we here at Notinhalloffame.com unveiled the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame, which is currently in the Semi-Finalist stage for the Class of 2014. We are following the same pattern in regards to voting (which we openly admit to being inspired by the Professional Football Hall of Fame process) though on like the Athletic Hall, there are no inaugural inductees. All of you will decide the Class of 2015, which will be the first group chosen for the Fictitious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The preliminary nominees will be available to vote on until January 15, 2015. You can choose 20 fictional rock acts, though you will only be permitted to vote once.

After January 15th, the top twenty-five vote getters will become our Semi-Finalists and the process will begin again, with all previous votes being eliminated. Once that occurs, you will be permitted to vote favorite five of the lot and on April 15th, 2015, the top ten will be announced. Those ten fictional music acts will become our Finalists.

Once the Finalists are announced, only the top three vote getters will become the Fictitious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2015, which will be announced on August 1, 2015, and will be the first group to enter.

Based on the feedback that we have received from all of you, we assume that “pretend” bands like the Blues Brothers and Spinal Tap should be a candidate for early induction but with the vast plethora of acts that qualify inducting that a surprise or two should emerge through the voting process.

To take a look at the biographies of all these musical acts, please click here.

To go right to the voting page, click here.

As always we encourage your votes and your comments and we welcome your participation to our website’s continued evolution.

Brett Favre to join the Packers HOF

Aug 04, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

We were wondering when this was finally going to happen. Although an official date has not been announced, the Green Bay Packers have announced that Brett Favre will enter their franchise’s Hall of Fame in the summer of 2015, and that his number will be officially retired.

On Favre’s website, where the announcement first took place he had the following to say:

“I’m pleased to announce that I will be returning to Green Bay, Wisconsin in 2015 for induction into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame and retirement of my jersey.

It was a tremendous honor to play 16 years for the Green Bay Packers. Now to have my name placed among others such as Starr, Hornung, Kramer, Taylor, Lambeau, Nitschke, Lombardi, Davis, White and Hutson is a special honor that I share will all my teammates and coached, and that would not have been possible but for the foresight of Ron Wolf, the greatest GM in the history of the NFL.

I’m truly looking forward to celebrating and sharing this special moment with all of the great fans of the Green Bay Packers.

Go Packers!”

Although Favre is the NFL All Time leader in Completions, Yards and Touchdowns, and accumulated most of that in Green Bay, his constant flip-flopping on retirement held the growth of the Packers back and once he did leave Green Bay to play for the New York Jets, it was not on the best of terms.

It had been reported in the past that Green Bay officials and Brett himself were worried that he would be booed at by the Packers fans at any ceremony honoring his accomplishments at Lambeau. Despite his less than clean departure from the Tundra, Brett Favre certainly deserves to receive this prestigious honor.

Favre is eligible for the Football Hall of Fame in 2016 and should be expected to enter on the first ballot. We would like to congratulate both Favre and the Green Bay Packers on this news.

Football HOF Weekend is here!!!

Aug 03, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

We have openly professed our admiration for the election structure of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and have even patterned are Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame (as well as our upcoming Fictitious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) after it. As such, Pro Football Hall of Fame Weekend is a big deal to us and we are going to sit back in revel in the pageantry of the gridiron.

Tonight, starting at 7 PM ET, the Class of 2014 will be giving their induction speeches and they will be on hand for the Hall of Fame Game, which kicks off the NFL exhibition season.

For many Michael Strahan is the headliner, even though he his entering on his second year. Strahan is a two time Super Bowl Champion with the New York Giants and holds the single season Sack record. He has become mainstream famous with his daytime hosting gig with Kelly Ripa and remains in the NFL spotlight as one of the panelists on Fox’s pre and post game show.

To us, the headliner is Derrick Brooks, who we had ranked at number one last year. Brooks was the star of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that propelled them to a Super Bowl win in 2002. Brooks would make eleven Pro Bowls and was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2002.

Many fans of the Buffalo Bills will likely be on hand as their former star Wide Receiver, Andre Reed got in after being a finalist the seven years previous. He completes the Bills trifecta of offence stars (Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas) from their four straight AFC Championships in Canton.

Like Brooks, Walter Jones enters the Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot. The former Offensive Lineman spent his entire career with the Seattle Seahawks and was named to nine Pro Bowls.

Aeneas Williams, who was an eight time Pro Bowler, entered Canton on his third ballot. The Cornerback spent the majority of his career with the Cardinals, would lead the NFL in Interceptions in 1994.

Two players chosen by the Senior Nominee Selection Committee, Claude Humphrey and Ray Guy join these five stars.

Humphrey had 122 (unofficial) Quarterback Sacks and anchored the Atlanta Falcons defense for years. Guy was a Finalist seven times and many credited his previous omission to Canton as further evidence that the game of Football had little to no respect for Special Teams players. Guy redefined the position of Punting and is still an iconic figure for kickers coming up today.

We would like to once again extend our congratulations to the Football Hall of Fame Class of 2014 and we will definitely be watching the proceedings this evening.