Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project: 1961 FINAL VOTE

1961 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 that 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. Following that, we 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 sixteenth official class;

Below are the final results of this project based on 31 votes,

Remember that the group took a vote in “1961”, and we have reverted back to the top five candidates entering the Hall PROVIDING THEY MAKE 50% of the vote.  This will be put to a vote again in “1963”.

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1961:

This is for the “Senior Era”, *Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1961, though no one made the mandatory 50% threshold to advance.

About the 1961 Inductees:

Otto Graham QB-DB, CLE 1946-55: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1961 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.

Otto Graham was the first player that Cleveland Browns owner; Paul Brown, sought when he assembled his team in 1946 to begin play in the All-American Football Conference. Brown was right to convert the Northwestern Tailback to a pro Quarterback in the T-Formation. Graham and the Browns dominated the AAFC, and without question, Graham was the best player in the upstart league. The Browns won every single title in the four-year existence of the AAFC, and Graham was at the forefront of that success. The AAFC would merge with the NFL, and it was expected that those teams would not be successful in the first few years of the unification. They were wrong. The Browns won the 1950 NFL Championship, thus proving the merit of the AAFC; Graham won two more NFL Championships and was, overall, a five-time league leader in Passing Yards. In the ten years he played, there was never a year where he didn’t at least take the Browns to a Division Title.

Marion Motley FB-LB, CLE 1946-55: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1961 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

While there were African Americans in pro football before Marion Motley, they had been phased out, but after World War II, this was about to change.  Motley tried out for the Cleveland Browns of the new All-American Football Conference, and he made the team and would become oone f the best players in team history. Motley was an excellent rusher who won the AAFC Rushing Title in 1948, and the NFL Rushing Title in 1950, and he was a large part of the Cleveland juggernaut that won all four AAFC Championships and the 1950 NFL Championship.  He was also incredibly valuable as a blocker and helped open up Otto Graham’s passing game.  Motley had 5,827 Yards From Scrimmage, an excellent total for his era.

Pete Pihos E-DE, PHI 1947-55: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1961 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1970.

A three-time All-American at Indiana, Pete Pihos played his entire nine-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles, beginning as a two-way end, but eventually specializing in the offence.  Pihos was one of the top receivers in the late 1940s and early 1950s, aiding the Eagles in back-to-back NFL Championships (1948 & 1949), and securing five First Team All-Pro Selections.  In 1953, Pihos began a three-year streak leading the NFL in Receptions, with him also finishing first in Receiving Yards in the bookend seasons.  He would accumulate 5,619 Yards with 61 Touchdowns.

Charley Trippi HB-QB-DB, CRD 1947-55: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1961 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Charley Trippi was a coveted player coming out of the University of Georgia, and the New York Yankees of the upstart All-American Football Conference thought they had him locked up.  The Chicago Cardinals, who drafted him first overall, earned his services when Cardinals owner, Charles Bidwell signed him to what was a huge contract at the time, $100,000 over four years.  Trippi was the heart of what would become Chicago’s “Million Dollar Backfield” and as a rookie in 1947, he would lead the Cardinals to an NFL Championship.  Incredibly versatile, Trippi could play any offensive skill position and excelled at rushing, passing and punting.  He played until 1955, finishing his career with the Cardinals and amassing 4,827 Yards From Scrimmage.