Pat Tillman, an American hero for having walked away from $millions in NFL salary only to be killed by friendly fire as a U.S. Army Ranger in Afghanistan, was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame last week. Some people fostering conspiracy theories wonder whether Tillman was indeed a Hall of Fame caliber player.
Know one thing: Tillman was not elected by application of a special rule or by a provision dreamed up by an overly patriotic steering committee. By virtue of his selection as a 1997 All-American as an Arizona State Sun Devils linebacker, Tillman was officially eligible to be placed on the ballot.
As a board member of the Valley of the Sun Chapter (Phoenix area) of the National Football Foundation (NFF), I, Bob Boyles, hereby contribute to this blog somewhat reluctantly in that I'll reveal confidences by opening the door to our group's Hall of Fame ballot conversation. I do this to dispel any conspiracy theories and to promote the Foundation, which exists as an organization to promote the game of (amateur) football and the valuable lessons it teaches young men. The NFF also oversees the College Hall of Fame and its selection process. And its members get to vote!
Perhaps the most appealing feature of membership in the NFF is that the national membership participates in the Hall of Fame process. Each member is able to cast his or her votes, and each of the nation's 122 chapters has the right to petition its regional selection committee to get players onto each year's ballot. The latter part of the process allows individual chapters to promote past All-America players and successful coaches from the schools in their region. In our chapter's case, that means the Pacific-10 conference's Arizona State and Northern Arizona of the FCS (Div. 1-AA). So, chapters have clout in helping their local players.
Should you discredit our chapter for pushing Tillman into the Hall of Fame? Interestingly, when this year's candidates were discussed in a board meeting last winter, Tillman's name, on the ballot for the first time in 2009, never came up. Our group, led by Hall of Fame inductee and former ASU coach Frank Kush (in photo), specifically chose to promote the candidacy of Sun Devils Bob Breunig and Curley Culp.
Partly because of the efforts of Kush, who serves on the regional committee that offers names to the national Hall of Fame ballot group, Breunig, an All-America linebacker coached by Kush in the mid-1970s, made his debut on the ballot this year. Bad timing continues to keep nose guard Culp off the ballot; Culp richly deserves Hall of Fame consideration according to his old coach.
Hall of Fame eligibility rules require a player must have been tapped as a first-team All-American by at least one of the (usually five) panels that make up the consensus process. For example, Notre Dame's famously immortal quarterback Joe Montana theoretically will never gain entrance to the Hall, unless he buys a ticket like us mortals. Currently, the consensus panels are Associated Press (since 1945), Football Writers Association of America (since 1944), the Walter Camp Foundation (1972-74 and 1983-present), and the Sporting News (1934-63 and 1993-present). Various other All-America selectors have been acknowledged as consensus in the past, such as Newsweek, NEA and UPI. The idea of using only national sources has prevented (fictitious) Freddie Goldsmith of (fictitious) East Cupcake State University from sneaking in as a consensus All-America because his drycleaner Uncle Ed chose him on the (fictitious) Ed's Friendly Cleaners 1934 All-America Team.
What about the seemingly arbitrary gaps of participation for the Walter Camp and Sporting News? It wasn't that they stopped making All-America picks--indeed Curley Culp was a Sporting News first teamer in 1967--so what forced their choices to the sidelines?
The truth is that discussion within the chapter that had the most to gain by Pat Tillman's induction into the College Hall of Fame focused on other matters. Petitioning the national ballot committee on behalf of Culp and other greats left in the All-America voting gaps was discussed. Our chapter also welcomed about a half dozen new members, buddies of Breunig's who all voted for him without ultimate success.
That's how it worked out. Our chapter is delighted by Pat Tillman's Hall of Fame election. Many of us voted for him. Where else can a member of a non-profit organization make his or her vote heard? Certainly not in Cooperstown or Canton.
--Bob Boyles
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