The Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project: 1967 Final VOTE

1967 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 give us 25 names as their semi-finalists and 5 in 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 22nd official class;

Below are the final results of this project based on 32 votes,

Remember that the group took a vote in “1966”, 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 “1969”.

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1967:

This is for the “Senior Era”,

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1967.

About the 1967 Inductees:

Emlen Tunnell DB, NYG 1948-58 & GNB 1958-61: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1967 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

After playing at Toledo, a stint with the Coast Guard, and another college football run with Iowa, Emlen Tunnell would make Giants' history as the first African-American they signed.  As it turned out, Tunnell would also become the best signing they had ever done.

Tunnell blossomed into a ball hawk, petrifying Quarterbacks and infuriating Receivers for over a decade.  From his rookie season to 1957, Tunnell never had a year where he had less than six Interceptions, and he peaked with a 10-INT year in 1949.  Tunnell was named to the Pro Bowl annually from 1950 to 1957, earning four of those years a First Team All-Pro spot.  He was also vital to a loaded Giants team that won the 1956 NFL Championship.

He would have 72 Interceptions over his Giants career, which remains a franchise record.  Overall, he had another seven with Green Bay and was the all-time leader in Interceptions at the time of his retirement.

Tunnell was also used as a returner, and he twice led the NFL in Punt Return Yards, and he brought back five punts for a Touchdown. He would accumulate 2,206 Punt Return Yards with the Giants (and another three with Green Bay), and he was the all-time leader in Punt Return Yards at his retirement. 

Tunnell’s contract was sold to the Green Bay Packers after the 1958 Season.  He played under the legendary Vince Lombardi for three seasons, earning another Pro Bowl and a second NFL Championship.

He entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, and Tunnell was named one of the NFL 100^th Anniversary Team.  The Giants also chose Tunnell for their Ring of Honor in 2010.

Art Donovan DT-T, BCL 1950, NYY 1951, DTX 1952 & BAL 1953-61: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1967 on his first Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Known for one generation for his radio show and David Letterman appearances, another generation knew him for his excellent defensive play and “Bulldog” like tendencies.  Donovan was a member of the first version of the Baltimore Colts, which folded in 1950, and then the New York Yanks, which folded the following year. 

Coincidentally, it happened again when he signed with the Dallas Texans in 1952, making him the only player in NFL history to play for three teams in three years that all went out of business (though the new Baltimore Colts bought all the Texans’ assets, which is how he came to Baltimore a second time).

That was when Donovan’s career took off as he rattled off five consecutive Pro Bowls and four straight First Team All-Pros.  Donovan was also a member of the back-to-back NFL Championships in the late ’50s.

Gene Brito, DE-E, WAS 1951-53 & 1955-58, RAM 1959-60.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1966 on his 2nd Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.

A late round draft pick by the Washington Redskins from Loyola Marymount in 1951, Gene Brito would play on both sides of the ball in his first two seasons.   The End was certainly solid in his role, but by 1953, Brito was focused on the Left Defensive End position and was chosen for his first Pro Bowl. 

Brito would have another four-year streak of Pro Bowls (1955-58) and likely would have netted another one in 1954 had he been in the league (he opted to play in the Canadian Football League with the Calgary Stampeders instead) and in 1955 the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club named him the NFL Player of the Year.   Brito was so beloved in Washington that he was one of the first players to host a local television show while still as an active athlete.

The defensive star would play his final two years with the Los Angeles Rams.

Hunk Anderson G-C, CHI 1922-25 & CLE 1923.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1967 on his 17^th Senior Ballot.  Was never Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It took a long time (from 1946 to 1967), but Hunk Anderson finally breaks through on his 17^th year on the Senior Ballot. 

A product of Knute Rockne at Notre Dame where he was part of two undefeated Fighting Irish squads (1919 & 1920), Anderson allegedly played under a summed name for the Canton Bulldogs in the first two years of the NFL’s existence.  He later played for George Halas and the Chicago Bears where he was a top Lineman for four years and later was named to the 1920s All-Decade Team.