The Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project: 1972 Final VOTE

1972 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 27th official class; 

Below are the final results of this project based on 30 votes.

Remember that the group took a vote in “1970”, and we have reverted to the top five candidates entering the Hall, PROVIDING THEY MAKE 50% of the vote.  This will be put to a vote again in “1973”.

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1972:

This is for the “Senior Era”, 

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1972.

This is for the “Coaches/Contributors”, 

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1972.

About the 1972 Inductees:

Gino Marchetti DE-T-DT, DTX 1952, BAL 1953-64 & 1966: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1972 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972.

Easily the best defensive player in Colts history, Gino Marchetti might also have been the best pass rusher in the NFL for a decade.  Marchetti was also a great run defender and was regarded by many offensive players as the toughest player they ever faced.  The Pro Football Hall of Famer would be named a First Team All Pro seven times and many have stated that the Colts would never have won the 1958 and 1959 NFL Championship without him.

Bill George, LB-G-MG-DT, CHI 1952-65 & RAM 1966.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1972 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974.

There are many influential football players in the 1950s, especially as the game was evolving away from two-way players to specific roles.  Bill George played on both sides of the ball, but his calling as a Linebacker proved to be his calling card.

Playing all but his final year with the Chicago Bears, George would settle in as the team’s Middle Linebacker, essentially becoming the first player to truly master the position.  The former Demon Deacon started dropping back at the snap, and he controlled the middle of the field, and inadvertently created the 4-3 Defense. 

Recording 18 Interceptions over his career, George went to eight straight Pro Bowls (1954-61), was a seven-time First Team All-Pro, and won an NFL Championship late in his career with the Bears.

Ollie Matson, RB-FL, CRD 1952 & 1954-58, RAM 1959-62, DET 1963 & PHI 1064-66: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1972 on his 1st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972.

Over the 14 seasons he played in the NFL, Ollie Matson, a 4x400 Olympic Gold Medalist in Helsinki, only was on two winning teams, but don’t put that on the speedster, who was especially in the first half of his career carried his team.

Matson played the first half of his career with the Chicago Cardinals, where he was a Pro Bowl in all six of his seasons, was a five-time First Team All-Pro, and was a two-time league-leader in All-Purpose Yards.  The Rams traded nine players for him, but after his first year there (1959), injuries mounted, but the strength of his first six years earned him his gold jacket.

Tim Mara, Owner, NYG 1925-58.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1972 on his 3rd Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

NFL President, Joe Carr believed that New York City should have a franchise for the betterment of the league.  He was right of course, but he could not convince his friend and boxing promoter, Bill Gibson to be the money man for a team in New York.  Gibson did however introduce Carr to his friend, Tim Mara.  Mara jumped at the opportunity.

Mara would become the first owner of the New York Giants, and his presence brought stability to a fluctuating league and he became an influential force in the NFL.  Mara brought stability, standing up to rival leagues (AFL in 1926, and the AAFC from 1946 to 1949), and keeping the Giants strong in trying times (The Great Depression and World War II) played a large part in the league’s growth. 

Mara passed away 1959, and under his leadership, the Giants won four NFL Championships (1927, 1934, 1938 & 1956).