1965 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 20th official class;

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

Remember that the group took a vote in “1963”, 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 “1966”.

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1965:

This is for the “Senior Era”,

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1965, though no candidate made the 50% threshold.

About the 1965 Inductees:

Lou Creekmur T-G-DG-DT, DET 1950-59: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1965 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

Lou Creekmur was a special breed in a game that features the toughest of the tough. 

A rock on Detroit’s offensive line throughout the 1950s, Creekmur anchored the line that brought the Lions to four NFL Championships and won three.  Equally incredible on both the pass and rush offense, Creekmur’s dominating presence at Left Tackle ensured success on that side of the ball.

Individually, Creekmur was a six-time First Team All-Pro and an eight-time Pro Bowl Selection and never missed a game until his final season, a testament to his durability. 

Jack Butler DB, PIT 1951-59: Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1965 on his 1^st Ballot.  Inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Playing at St. Bonaventure, Jack Butler did not receive any attention from NFL scouts, which is reflected in his not being a Pick in the Draft. Butler found employment with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1951, which worked well for both parties. 

Butler won the starting job on the right side at Defensive Back as a rookie, and he had a sweet five-pick year in his first year on the job.  The former Bonnie played his entire career with the Steelers as a starter, which ended after he retired in 1959.  Butler was considered at his best in the last half of his career, where he was named to four Pro Bowls and three First Team All-Pros, and he led the NFL in Interceptions with 10 in 1957.  He would have 52 Interceptions in total with four Touchdown Returns. 

Lou Rymkus, T-DT, WAS 1943, CLE 1946-51.  Inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project in 1965 on his 9^th Ballot.  Was never inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Paul Brown called Lou Rymkus the best pass protector he had ever seen, which is high praise considering how many people he had seen do that task.

Brown did not see much of Rymkus as a rookie, as he played for the Washington Redskins after being drafted there in 1943 after an outstanding career at Notre Dame.  Rymkus enlisted in the military during World War II, and upon his return to football, he elected to join the Cleveland Browns of the AAFC.  He would quickly establish himself as an upper-echelon Tackle on both sides of the ball.  With Cleveland, he would be named to a version of the All-Pro team each of the team's four years in the AAFC and was a significant factor in the Browns winning all four of their league championships.  Rymkus and the Browns would prove that the AAFC was for real, as when the NFL absorbed the team, they would win the NFL Championship, making it five in a row for the Tackle.

He would later be a Coach, winning the AFL title twice with the Houston Oilers (1960 & 1961) as their Head Coach and a Super Bowl as the Baltimore Colts Offensive Line Coach.

The problem with running a Hall of Fame-related website is that many of the big ones we cover all have announcements within months of each other.  The backbone of what we do is list-related, resulting in a long push to revise what we already have, specifically now with our Football and Basketball Lists.

At present, we have a minor update as we have completed the next twenty-five of the 2024 Football List, which will expand to 400, and you can comment on and vote on:

The new 301 to 325:

301. Warrick Dunn
302. Levon Kirkland
303. Roddy White
304. Lou Rymkus
305. Kyle Williams
306. Willie Galimore
307. Keith Lincoln
308. Jerry Norton
309. Bobby Walston
310. Sherrill Headrick
311. Wayne Walker
312. Ryan Kalil*
313. Julian Peterson
314. Casey Hampton
315. Vic Sears
316. Swede Youngstrom
317. Ron McDole
318. Daryl Johnston
319. Nnamdi Asomugha
320. Bob Talamini
321. Sam Madison
322. Wesley Walls
323. Gaynell Tinsley
324. Jack Ferrante
325. Bubba Baker 

*Denotes First Year of Eligibility.

Rankings are impacted annually based on your comments and votes.

Thank you all for your patience. We will soon unveil more changes to the football, basketball and hockey lists.

Paul Brown called Lou Rymkus the best pass protector that he ever saw, which is high praise considering how many people he saw do that task.