View From Bennett Avenue

I just finished Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer's biography of Pat Tillman. The book is well written and worthy of your time, although you have to get through the first half which, in establishing Tillman's character, bogs down a bit. The material from Tillman's war experiences is difficult to read beyond that we know the ending--and it is not a pretty one. As someone who is fond of both military history and football, and a proud American, I am drawn to lives like those of Tillman. But reading this book continues the almost never ending puncture of the fantasy of war while prolonging the feeling of disconnect I have with bureaucrats.

No Conspiracy in College Hall of Fame Vote

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

New Hall of Fame Class

With so many college football programs, the number of good players to choose from when selecting College Football Hall of Famers is always daunting. The 14 men chosen this year (Dennis Byrd, Ronnie Caveness, Ray Childress, Randy Cross, Sam Cunningham, Mark Herrmann, Clarkston Hines, Desmond Howard, Chet Moeller, Jerry Stovall, Pat Tillman, Alfred Williams and coaches Barry Alvarez and Gene Stallings) are another outstanding group, albeit without too many headliners. In fact the biggest name might be the only deceased member of the group, Pat Tillman, who certainly deserved enshrinement based on both his play on the field for Arizona State in the 1990s and his sacrifice off of it.

You see the College Hall, more than any other, gives a great deal of focus in picking enshrinees on what the player did off of the field. One has to have been great on it, earning All America status, but the criteria for selection also includes classwork and contributions to society, etc. So Pat Tillman, who not only died serving his country but was an honor student at Arizona State, is in, but Brian Bosworth is not, as he is considered a boor by voters and was caught cheating with steroids while at Oklahoma (although he was a good student). Chet Moeller, the fine safety at Navy in the early to mid '70s gets the nod, but Deion Sanders, one of the great defensive backs in college football history has to wait. Deion famously did not go to class his final year once his requirements for eligibility were over. The Hall is reserved for student-athletes, or at least those players who do not mock the idea of going to class.

But let's focus on the positive. Three members of the class, Dennis Byrd, Ronnie Caveness and Jerry Stovall, played before my time but certainly deserved their spots. I especially like Byrd's inclusion as the Wolfpack need some more members of the Hall. The rest of the group all bring back memories as I saw them play or coach. My friends and I actually created a game we called "Sam Cunningham" to honor his leaping ability. Two kids defended the back of a couch and a third had to try to get into the end zone--the front of the couch--by leaping between/through the others. Yes we broke some things, mostly egos. As a Notre Dame fan, Herrmann's career was probably the one I watched the most as he made the Boilermakers formidable in the late '70s. And coach Alvarez was smart enough to build a great system in Madison around what the state grew best: big offensive linemen and hard-nosed defenders.

In the coming days I will include some of the games in our encyclopedia that feature fine play or coaching by the new members. Congratulations to all.