The Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project: 1953 FINAL VOTE

1953 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 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 five Modern Era inductee, one Senior inductee and one Coaches/Contributor inductee.

This is the result of the eighth official class;

Below, are the final results of this project based on 30 votes, with a major change:  ALL FINALISTS MUST obtain 50% of the VOTE!

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1953:

This is for the “Senior Era”, which resulted in no entry. Three also voted for None of the Above.

This is for the Coaches/Contributor.  There was one vote for None of the Above.

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1952:

About the 1953 Inductees:

Ken Strong FB-TB-HB-WB-DB-K, SIS 1928-32, NYG 1933-35, 1939 & 1944-47: Inducted in 1953 on his 7^th Ballot.  Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

Listed mostly as a Halfback, Ken Strong could do everything as he excelled at every aspect of the game and could claim the title of the most complete player of his day.  Beginning his NFL career with the Staten Island Stapletons, Strong joined the New York Giants when the Staten Island folded in 1932.  Strong willed the Gants to the 1934 Championship, scoring 17 Points in their win over Chicago.  He missed some time in the NFL as he played for the New York Yanks of the short-lived AFL due to a salary dispute, but returned for another year in 1939.  Strong came back in 1944, where he was mostly used as a kicking specialist.  Overall, Strong was named an All-Pro four times.

Turk Edwards T, GNB 1930-40, BOS/WAS 1932-40: Inducted in 1953 on his 8^th Ballot. Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.

After becoming the first player in Washington State history to be named an All-American, Turk Edwards signed with the Boston Braves and joined them in their inaugural season in the National Football League.  Edwards was with the team as they changed their name to the Redskins and relocated to Washington, playing all nine of his pro years with the team.  A punishing two-way Tackle, Edwards was a three-time First Team All-Pro and a stud player who led the Redskins to their first league championship in 1937.  Following his retirement as a player in 1940, Edwards became an Assistant Coach for Washington winning a second NFL Championship in 1942.  Edwards later became their Head Coach in 1946 and held that role for three years.  

Tuffy Leemans FB-TB-QB-DB, NYG 1936-43: Inducted in 1953 on his 5^th Ballot.  Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978.

After a good college run at George Washington, the New York Giants drafted Tuffy Leemans in 1936, where he would have an eight-year career with the New York Giants.  Like many NFL players of the 30s and 40s, Leemans played multiple positions on both sides of the ball (FB, TB, DB, QB), and he was exceptional at all of them.  As a rookie, Leemans led the NFL in Rushing Yards (830), and he was second in that stat in 1938, the same season he led the Giants to an NFL Championship.  Leemans also helped New York reach the Championship Game in 1939 and 1941. Leemans, who was named to the 1930s All-Decade Team, was involved in more passing in the 1940s, finishing ninth in Passing Yards, each year from 1941 to 1943.  Defensively, he also recorded four Interceptions over his career.

Ralph Hay: Inducted in 1953 on the 4^th Coaches/Contributor Ballot. Was never inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In 1918, 27-year-old Ralph Hay bought the Canton Bulldogs, a member of a loose affiliation of teams that competed in the Ohio League. Canton was one of the better professional teams, but pro football, which was far behind college football in the national consciousness, needed a better organizational structure to move forward. This is where Hay came in.  Hay arranged a meeting with the Akron Pros, Cleveland Tigers, and Dayton Triangles managers to form the American Professional Football Conference. Four team does not a league make, and Hay, acting as the secretary, sent off letters to other football teams in the Midwest looking to form a league and request a meeting in Canton on September 17. Representatives from ten teams would be there, all in the automobile showroom of Hay's dealership. The American Professional Football Conference now had ten teams, and the league that would rename itself the National Football League two years later was born. Hay was asked by the owners to be the first president, but instead, he pushed (and got) Jim Thorpe as the first president, which he felt lent the new league credibility.

Canton won the league title in 1922, but Hay could not celebrate for long. The Bulldogs were not profitable, and Hay could not afford to keep the team. He sold the organization before the 1923 season, and Canton would win it all again, though Hay was no longer a part of it.  The Pro Football Hall of Fame would be awarded to Canton, and while Hay was not a part of that decision (he died 20 years before it opened), the vision that Hay had was bred in Canton, Ohio.