1962 Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project Class.

Here we are!  Again!!

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 1946?

After soliciting and obtaining a passionate group of football fans and historians, we sent out a ballot for a Preliminary Vote, in 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 five Modern Era inductee and one Senior inductee.

This is the result of the seventeenth official class;

Below are the final results of this project based on 32 votes,

Remember that the group took a vote in “1961”, and we have reverted back to the top five candidates entering the Hall PROVIDING THEY MAKE 50% of the vote.  This will be put to a vote again in “1963”.

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1962:

This is for the “Senior Era”,

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1962, though no one made the mandatory 50% threshold to advance.

About the 1962 Inductees:

Tom Fears E, RAM 1948-56: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1962 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1970.

Tom Fears was the first NFL player of note to be born in Mexico. The former UCLA standout played all nine of his NFL seasons with the Los Angeles Rams. Fears was initially pegged to be a Defensive Back, but he blossomed on the offense, where the end helped usher in more of a passing attack.

As a rookie, Fears would lead the NFL with 51 Receptions, and he was the league leader again in 1949 with 77, which would then be an NFL record.  That mark would last for only one season when it was broken by Fears himself when he had 81 Receptions for a league-leading 1,116 Yards.  He was named a First Team All-Pro that year.  Fears never had a season that productive again, but he proved to be a vital component of the Rams Championship season of 1951.  He had helped Los Angeles reach the title game the previous two seasons, but in this game, he had a 73 73-yard reception that broke the tie and led them to victory over the Cleveland Browns.

Dante Lavelli E, CLE 1946-56: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1962 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975.

Dante Lavelli played for Paul Brown at Ohio State, where the duo won the National Championship in 1942.  Lavelli entered the U.S. Military in World War II, and when the conflict ended, he rejoined Brown, who built the Cleveland Browns of the new All-American Football Conference.

Along with Mac Speedie, Lavelli was a star at End, leading the AAFC in receptions (40) and receiving yards (843) in the league's first year.  Lavelli was a consistent producer and excellent blocker, and he played a large part in why Cleveland won all four AAFC Titles.  Cleveland was one of the teams that joined the NFL when the AAFC merged with the senior league, and they continued to dominate, winning the NFL Championship in 1950, 1954, and 1955.  In the NFL era, Lavelli was a three-time Pro Bowler and was an instrumental cog in Paul Brown's machine.

Doak Walker HB-DB, DET 1950-55: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1962 on his 2^nd Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

What is it about the Detroit Lions and their star players retiring early?  Doak Walker did just that as after six seasons he called it a career, but really, and as he stated after he retired, what else had he left to prove?

Walker, who was such a star in college at SMU that the award for the best college running back is named after him, transferred that skill to the Detroit Lions, where he made an immediate impact.  Walker was a Pro Bowler five out of six of his years and was a four-time First Team All-Pro.  Walker was also used as the Lions Place Kicker and would lead the NFL in Points Scored twice (1950 & 1955), and also anchored Detroit to two NFL Championships (1952 & 1953).

Playing for Paul Brown at Ohio State during their 1942 national championship season, Dante Lavelli put his football career on hold to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II, participating in the Battle of the Bulge. Upon returning home, he reunited with Brown on the inaugural 1946 Cleveland Browns, quickly earning the moniker "Gluefingers" for his miraculous hands and clutch big-play ability along the boundary.

Lavelli was known for his physical toughness, sharp route running, and remarkably strong hands. Playing as the main boundary end across from Mac Speedie, he was great at running crisp comeback routes and deep posts through heavy traffic, reliably catching contested throws from Otto Graham. His determination in run-blocking on the edge was just as important, helping to seal off defensive ends and create open lanes for Marion Motley and Motts Tonelli.

Lavelli quickly became the top receiving threat in the AAFC during its first season in 1946. He led the league with 40 receptions, 843 yards, and eight touchdowns. In the very first AAFC Championship Game, he caught the winning touchdown pass, setting the stage for an exciting four-year run where Cleveland proudly took home all four AAFC titles from 1946 to 1949.

When the Browns stepped into the NFL in 1950, Lavelli quickly became a key player in their passing game. During the 1950 NFL Championship Game, he caught eleven passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns, helping Cleveland achieve an exciting 30–28 win over the Los Angeles Rams. His outstanding performance earned him three straight Pro Bowl nominations from 1951 to 1953 and First-Team All-Pro honors in 1953, after he made 45 receptions for 647 yards and six touchdowns. He finished his career on a high note, helping Cleveland win back-to-back NFL Championships in 1954 and 1955.

Lavelli retired his athletic footwear following the 1956 season, thereby concluding an eleven-year career entirely with Cleveland. Throughout seven championship-winning seasons, he established a reputation as one of the most exceptional large-game pass catchers in early professional football history. In 1975, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 2010, the franchise permanently acknowledged his contributions by inducting him into the inaugural class of the Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor.

Overall, Lavelli played in 123 regular-season games, recording 386 receptions for 6,488 yards and 62 touchdowns.