Jacksonville native Bob Hayes elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame

Started by copperfiend, January 31, 2009, 02:52:47 PM

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copperfiend

January 31, 2009, 02:52:47 PM
http://www.jacksonville.com/sports/football/2009-01-31/story/jacksonville_native_bob_hayes_elected_to_nfl_hall_of_fame

QuoteTwenty-nine years after he first became eligible, Jacksonville native Bob Hayes was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday.

Hayes was nominated for the second time in five years by the senior committee and he needed at least 36 of the 44 board members to vote in his favor.

The exact number of votes he got was not announced.

The case for Hayes was that he changed the game with his speed that forced defenses to change to zone defenses.

But he was rejected just five years ago, the first time he was a finalist. The fact he had only 371 catches and didn’t have a signature game in the championship games he played in were hurdles he had to overcome.

Hayes is the only man to win an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring.

He died in 2002.

ProjectMaximus

#1
January 31, 2009, 04:10:21 PM
it's about time. I did an assignment about him when I was in elementary school...i think I was supposed to pick a local hero or something, lol.

BridgeTroll

#2
January 31, 2009, 05:07:48 PM
Good for him... finally.
In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrating with, he answered, "I am only boring under my own seat." "Yes," said his companions, "but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you."

JeffreyS

#3
January 31, 2009, 05:20:53 PM
They should have done this before he died. He changed the game.
Lenny Smash

Ocklawaha

#4
January 31, 2009, 05:29:33 PM
Must be the year of Jubilo! Always suspected our hero was a bit too brown and a tad too Jacksonville to be included - that opinion hasn't changed either.

Perhaps the pressure of having a team in Jacksonville has forced the elite to notice our poo lil black chillin. GOD THESE SNOBS PISS ME OFF! Superbowl Party? Hell no, our season is over till next year.

OCKLAWAHA

copperfiend

#5
January 31, 2009, 10:18:00 PM
I had the chance to meet Bob Hayes a few months before he passed. He was a kind man who was well aware of the mistakes he made in life and how that probably was the reason he wasn't in the hall. And he wanted to make it badly. It is sad that he did not live to see himself in the hall. He changed the game as the first true speed receiver. He is still the all-time TD receiving leader in Cowboys history. That is amazing.

Charles Hunter

#6
January 31, 2009, 10:33:05 PM
Ock ... what the hell are you talking about?  There are lots of blacks in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Don't really think it had anything to do with his skin color.  In the past, some voters couldn't get over his post-retirement drug problems.  Now we have active players with drug problems.

Finally, this is a long overdue honor.

GatorShane

#7
February 01, 2009, 12:53:47 AM
This is long overdue. Perhaps a nice Jacksonville Sports Hall of Fame could be built somewhere in the Sports District.We have a pretty significant list of notable Jax atheletes to start a museum of this sort.
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