The Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project: 1977 Final VOTE

1977 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 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. We then 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 32nd official class. 

Below are the final results of this project based on 34 votes.

Remember that we have reverted back to the top five candidates entering the Hall in the Modern Era

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1977:

This is for the “Senior Era”, 

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1977.

This is for the “Coaches/Contributors”, 

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1977.

About the 1977 Inductees:

Bart Starr G, GNB 1956-71: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1977 on his 1st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.

When you think of the Green Bay Packers and their great history, this is automatically the one of first names that comes to mind.

How can it not be?  Starr is the only Quarterback in the game's history to win five championships and was at his best when the pressure was at its tightest. His 9-1 Playoff Record and 104.8 Quarterback Rating tell you that. While Favre would obliterate his statistics, Starr put up great numbers for Quarterbacks of his era, retiring with the highest completion record in the NFL, and is the first superstar pivot in franchise history.

Oh, and is not “Bart Starr” the greatest name for a Quarterback ever?

Throw that name on any Quarterback today, and they will probably see their Quarterback rating rise by five percent just through osmosis.

Gale Sayers, HB-RB, CHI 1965-71: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1977 on his 1st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.

There have been many football players who have been referred to as special, but the term is not hyperbolic when it is allocated to Gale Sayers.

A phenom at Kansas, Sayers was undoubtedly the top rookie in Football (1965) when he accumulated a league-leading 2,272 All-Purpose Yards, and set then-rookie records in Touchdowns (22).  Sayers easily captured First Team All-Pro honors, and over the next two seasons, he was again the league-leader in APY, also capturing the Rushing Title and Yards From Scrimmage Title in 1966.  Sayers likely could have done it again in 1968, but a brutal right knee injury in the ninth game of the year took him out for the rest of the campaign.

Despite the injury's severity, Sayers returned in 1969 and won his second Rushing Title (1,032 Yards) with a fifth straight First Team All-Pro.  This was Sayers’ last hurrah, as another devastating knee injury held him to two Games in 1970, and he again was reduced to another two Games in 1971.  Sayers retired after, and though his run was short, it was impactful.

Forrest Gregg, T-G-DT, GNB 1956 & 1958-1970 & DAL 1971.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1977 on his 1st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.

How good must Forrest Gregg have been when Vince Lombardi called you the finest player he ever coached?

Forrest Gregg, the anchor of the Packers’ Offensive Line that expertly protected Bart Starr, was one of the game’s true iron men.  Making nine Pro Bowls and six First Team All-Pros, Gregg started 188 consecutive games (187 with Green Bay), a record at the time.  He is a five-time Champion with the Green Bay Packers and added one more with the Dallas Cowboys in his final year in the NFL.

Willie Wood, DB, GNB 1960-71.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1977 on his 1st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989.

Willie Wood spent his entire career with the Green Bay Packers, and just to get there was a feat in itself.  Despite playing at high-profile USC, Wood went undrafted, likely due to being an African-American Quarterback at a time when they were not sought after in the NFL.  Wood wrote a letter to Packers’ Head Coach, Vince Lombardi to get a tryout, which worked out well for both parties, as Wood made the team.

With the Packers already having Bart Starr as their QB, Wood moved to Safety, which he also played in college.  Wood became a starter as a sophomore and led the NFL in Interceptions with 12 the following year.  Becoming one of the top Defensive Backs in the 1960s, Wood helped the Packers win five titles, and individually was twice a First Team All-Pro and a five-time Pro Bowl Selection.  Wood netted 48 Interceptions over his career and was also a competent returner, even leading the league in Yards per Punt Return (13.3) in 1964, and finished in the top ten in Punt Return Yards six times.

Ron Mix, T-G, LAC/SDG 1960-69 & OAK 1971.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1977 on his 1st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.

Ron Mix had a spectacular career at USC, and to nobody's surprise, he was a First Round Pick in the NFL.  The problem was that the Baltimore Colts on the East Coast chose him, and the native of Los Angeles wanted to stay close to home.  In the AFL, the Boston Patriots took him in the first-ever draft of that league, but a trade to the Chargers allowed him to stay close to home.

It worked out for Mix and the Chargers, as the case can be made that he was the greatest Offensive Lineman in the history of the American Football League.  Mix was a First Team All-Pro in his first nine seasons and an AFL All-Star in eight of them.  Usually playing at Right Tackle, Mix was so good not only at blocking and protecting his QB, but he was brilliant in that he only ever got called on two holding penalties.

Mix was the first white player to join the black players in the 1965 AFL All-Star Game in New Orleans, protesting the city's civil rights and segregation issues.

After his only subpar year in a Bolts uniform (1969), Mix retired, but he returned for one year with the Oakland Raiders.

Lamar Hunt, Owner, KC 1960-2006.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1977 on his 2nd Coaches/Contributor Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972.

Lamar Hunt was the brain trust behind the formation of the American Football League, which formed in 1960 and became a rival and near-equal to the National Football League.

Hunt was the owner of the Dallas Texans, which became the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were one of the most successful teams in the AFL, winning the championship in 1962. He would later champion the merger between the two leagues and oversee Kansas City's win of Super Bowl IV.

The importance of Lamar Hunt in professional football can not be understated.