The Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project: 1984 Final VOTE

1984 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 select 25 names as their semi-finalists and 5 names for 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 39th official class. 

Below are the final results of this project based on 31 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 1984:

This is for the “Senior Era”, 

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1984.

This is for the “Coaches/Contributors”, 

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1984.

About the 1984 Inductees:

Willie Brown, DB, DEN 1963-66 & OAK 1967-78: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1984 on his 1st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1984.

Sometimes the scouts and coaches get it wrong.

Willie Brown went undrafted in 1963 after a promising career at Grambling, but this was at a time when HBCUs were not appropriately scouted.  Brown was signed by the Houston Oilers of the AFL, but was cut in training camp.  He persevered, signed with Denver, and was a starting Cornerback by mid-season.  The following year, he was a star.

Brown was with the Broncos for four years before he was traded to Oakland, a much better team, which afforded him a higher profile for his skills.  From 1967 (his first year in Oakland) to 1973, he was either an AFL All-Star/Pro Bowl Selection and was chosen for four First Team All-Pros.  Brown helped lead Oakland to an AFL Title in 1967 and a win in Super Bowl XI, and would record 54 career Interceptions.  After his career ended, Brown remained with the Raiders as a Defensive Backs Coach and would win two more Super Bowls in that capacity. 

Fran Tarkenton, QB, MIN 1961-66 & 1972-78 & NYG 1967-71: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1984 on his 1st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

Fran Tarkenton won the starting job at Quarterback during his rookie year in Minnesota (1961), and he immediately dazzled fans with his then-unique scrambling style.  Tarkenton went to two Pro Bowls as a Viking in the 60s before he was shockingly dealt to the New York Giants before the 1967 Season.

The Giants did not have many pieces they built around Tarkenton, but New York was respectable, and Tarkenton added four more Pro Bowls to his resume.  New York sent him back to Minnesota in 1972, and in his second run with the Vikings, Tarkenton enjoyed the best part of his career.

Tarkenton led Minnesota to three NFC Championships, and in 1975, he was a First Team All-Pro and swept the MVPs.  He won his first Passing Title in 1978, which would be his last year in Pro Football.

Tarkenton left the game as the game’s leader in Passing Yards (47,003) and Touchdown Passes (342), and while they have since been shattered, Tarkenton’s impact on the game is still felt today.

Mel Renfro, DB-RB, DAL 1964-77.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1984 on his 2nd Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996. 

Mel Renfro was a football and track star at the University of Oregon. Renfro was a college Running Back, but Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys had other ideas for his speed.

Renfro was converted into a Safety, and like many rookie safeties, he was also used as a returner.  He would lead the NFL in Returns and Return Yards and had seven picks.  Renfro was also named to the Pro Bowl, marking the beginning of a ten-year streak of selections to that postseason honor.  Renfro would lead the NFL in Interceptions with 10 in 1969 and had 52 in a career spent entirely with the Cowboys.  Renfro was also a vital part of Dallas' wins in Super Bowl VI and XII.

This was an outstanding career for someone who was not a Defensive Back in college.

Fred Biletnikoff, WR, OAK, 1965-78.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1984 on his 1st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

Fred Biletnikoff was Florida State’s first-ever consensus All-American, and the man whose name is on the college award for the nation’s top Wide Receiver.  Professionally, he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1965, and he became just as successful at the highest level of football.

The Detroit Lions drafted Biletnikoff in the NFL, and the Oakland Raiders in the AFL, much like he did when he chose Florida State, he opted for a lesser-established entity.  What Biletnikoff lacked in pure speed, he made up for with precision route running and glue-like hands.  He became the primary go-to target for Raiders Quarterbacks, and would help lead Oakland to an AFL Title in 1967.

As the Raiders moved to the NFL, Biletnikoff helped make the team one of the powers of that side of the league.  A four-time Pro Bowl (and two-time AFL All-Star), Biletnikoff was the MVP in Oakland’s Super Bowl XI win.  At the time of his retirement, Biletnikoff was the all-time leader in postseason receptions (70), Receiving Yards (1,167), and Receiving Touchdowns (10).

Billy Shaw, G, BUF 1961-69.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1984 on his 10th Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999.

Holding the distinction of being the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who never played in the NFL, Billy Shaw was an elite Offensive Lineman who spent his entire career with the Buffalo Bills and was named to five consecutive First Team All-AFL Teams and the All-Time AFL roster.  It is very plausible to state that the Buffalo Bills would not have won their two AFL Championships without him.

Buffalo selected Shaw for their Wall of Fame in 1988.

Bob Brown, T, PHI 1964-68, RAM 1969-70 & OAK 1971-73.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1984 on his 6th Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.

In his 10-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, and Oakland Raiders, Brown was selected to six Pro Bowls and named First-team All-Pro five times (and All-NFL seven times in his ten seasons). A four-time Second-team All-Pro selection, his consistent excellence earned him a spot on the NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1960s. He was renowned as a fierce, hyper-aggressive blocker whose singular goal was to "beat up on people for 60 minutes" and physically crush the will of his opponents. This mentality led Raiders coach John Madden to call him "the most aggressive lineman that ever played."

John Madden, Coach, OAK 1969-78.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1984 on his 4th Coach/Contributor Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

John Madden's Hall of Fame case rests on his remarkable success and unique impact with the Oakland Raiders in a relatively short period.  Taking over at age 32, he remains the youngest coach in NFL history to reach 100 career wins, accumulating a phenomenal 103-32-7 regular-season record for a career winning percentage of .759—the highest among all coaches with a minimum of 100 games. This decade of dominance culminated in a decisive Super Bowl XI victory over the Minnesota Vikings, which remains his ultimate coaching achievement.

Despite his short coaching tenure (10 seasons), Madden’s consistent excellence and ability to manage a team filled with strong personalities make his resume undeniably Hall of Fame worthy. He led the Raiders to seven AFC Championship Games and missed the playoffs only once, establishing a culture of aggressive, hard-hitting football that embodied the team's identity. His coaching legacy is defined by a decade of consistent winning, a Super Bowl title, and the unprecedented feat of being the youngest coach to achieve a century of victories.