Dan Marino & Steve Young into the HOF

[Broncodroid]

Source: www.miamidolphins.com

Damn...I was celebrating my 25th B'day when I heard the news and I was a little surprised we hadn't got this info on here. As most know, I am a Miami Dolphins fan and this is a highlight of 2004/05 NFL season seeing our great QB inducted into Canton.

I have posted an article from Andy Cohen of the Miami Dolphins website, I am not sure if any you read his stuff, though he is a NFL journo I have alot of time for article wise. Yeah, he can be a little Fins biased, though he does have a good writing style.

Cheers

Dan Marino and Steve Young made it a great day for quarterbacks when both were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Marino, the most prolific passer in NFL history, and Young, whose accuracy and speed made him one of football's most versatile QBs, were joined by Bennie Friedman, an early-era quarterback, and Fritz Pollard.

Each received at least 80 percent of the votes from the panel of sports writers and broadcasters.

Friedman and Pollard were chosen by the senior committee.

Induction ceremonies will be Aug. 7 in Canton, Ohio.

When Marino left the Miami Dolphins after the 1999 season, he had NFL bests of 4,967 completions, 8,358 passes, 61,361 yards and 420 touchdowns. His record of 48 TD passes in a season was recently broken by Peyton Manning.

Although he never won a Super Bowl, Marino was the 1984 league MVP, made three All-Pro teams and nine Pro Bowls. When he retired, he owned 21 NFL marks, including most seasons with 3,000 yards or more passing (13); most yards passing in one season (5,084 in '84, the only year he won a conference championship); and most games with 300 yards or more passing (63).

Young won the 1995 Super Bowl with San Francisco and was the league's most valuable player in 1992 and '94. A clever runner with a strong arm and great field vision, Young made seven Pro Bowls and was a three-time All-Pro. He held the highest passer rating in league history (96.8) when he retired in '99. He also set the highest single-season rating of 112.8, which Manning also broke this season.

Pollard not only was the first black head coach in the NFL, in 1921, but a superb player, too. A running back, he led the Akron Pros to the fledgling league's 1920 championship with an undefeated record.

He later organized the Chicago Brown Bombers, an independent team of black players that barnstormed the country from 1927-33.

Friedman played for four teams from 1927-34 and was one of the early NFL's great quarterbacks. A contemporary of Red Grange, he also was a strong draw at the box office. Giants owner Tim Mara purchased the Detroit Wolverines, for whom Friedman played in 1928, not only to get him in New York's lineup but to fill the stands.

Michael Irvin and Harry Carson, the other two finalists, did not get the required votes for induction.

 

[Broncodroid]

Article from Andy Cohen for the Miami Dolphins:

Was There Any Doubt?
February 5, 2005

Was there really ever any doubt? Did you really think that it would take any more than an instant for the selection committee to come to a unified conclusion that Dan Marino was deserving a first-year nomination into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

This one was about as easy as one of Marino's soft spirals landing gently into Mark Clayton’s hands. The Pro Football Hall of Fame has been waiting for Dan Marino since the first time he gripped a football back in Pittsburgh. With that release. With that intensity. With that desire to be the best. It was only a matter of time.

What we all knew would happen became a certainty on Saturday. Danny Boy, the beloved quarterback who gave us so many thrills over his 17 seasons with the Dolphins, is heading to Canton and he's bringing his truckload of passing records with him.

Marino joins Don Shula, Nick Buoniconti, Larry Csonka, Larry Little, Bob Griese, Paul Warfield, Jim Langer and Dwight Stephenson as Dolphins in the Hall. Once again, perennial All-Pro guard Bob Kuechenberg failed to gain entrance and must wait for another year, another vote.

The only negative on Marino’s career résumé was that he never won a Super Bowl, something he candidly admits still bothers him to this day. But enough already! It wasn’t Marino’s fault that he never had a defense that was quite good enough or a running back who made it to the Pro Bowl.

For most of those 17 years, Marino carried this franchise on his broad shoulders, giving us so many wonderful memories, so many dramatic comebacks and so many records that still stand to this day. He was the perfect role model, a neatly packaged combination of class and intensity.

Let them argue for years to come about Marino vs. Montana or Marino vs. Elway or, more recently, Marino vs. Manning. Those who know the game, really know the game, will tell you that nobody threw a better pass, nobody could put it right where it had to be, better than Marino. There may have been some equals, but nobody better.

From my standpoint, I’ll remember the LOOK more than anything else.

The Look on Don Shula’s face when he first realized what he now had on his team that summer of 1983. The picture is forever in my mind of Shula standing there, arms folded on a hot August day at Biscayne College, watching one Marino pass after another zip through the air. The look on Shula’s face was priceless, like a kid on Christmas morning.

But there is another LOOK that many more people are aware of. It’s that look on Marino’s face when his intensity level reached its greatest heights. Sometimes his teammates would see that look in the huddle. Other times his receivers would see it as they let a perfectly thrown pass slip through their hands.

We all got to see it as he broke the huddle, that piercing stare with those powerful eyes. It was a stare that seemed to say, “Nothing is going to stop me.” And, you know something, there were games when nothing could stop him. Not an all-out blitz. Not an All-Pro cornerback. Not the pressure of a fourth-quarter comeback. When Marino had that LOOK, it was a foregone conclusion that something good was going to happen to the Miami Dolphins.

I know I’ve missed covering that LOOK over the past five seasons. I’ve missed that excitement that only Marino could generate. When you went to one of his games, there was always a feeling that you could see something that day that you had never seen before. That’s one of the things that made Dan Marino so special.

At a press conference about a week ago, somebody asked Marino if he knew the first time he gripped a ball that he possessed an unusual gift.

At first, he tried to downplay it. Then, after that failed, he simply looked straight ahead and responded, “Yeah, I always knew I could throw the ball. That’s one thing I always knew I could do.”

What he didn’t know was that he could do it better than anyone else, that his illustrious career would eventually take him to the doorsteps of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Which is where we are today. It is now official. Dan Marino has been selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He will be officially inducted on Sunday, Aug. 7. Think there will be a few Dolphins fans in the crowd that day in Canton, Ohio? You betcha. The place will be bleeding aqua and orange.

If you’re a true Dolphins fan, you’re probably feeling awfully proud right now because for those 17 years Marino played on your stage.

It was quite a run, wasn’t it? And it’s ending in the most fitting of all places, with Marino residing alongside all the greats who have played this game.

He certainly belongs. Nobody can dispute that.

 

[sunny]

A deserving HOF entry for Marino and no surprise in his first year of eligiblity. Young is not as clear cut a hall of famer but it is not surprising to see him in either. Pollard is a historic figure in the pantheon of the game, and good to see a real old timer ackonowledged from time to time, in this case Friedman. Congrats HOF class of 2005.

 

[BuffaloRules]

Congrats to them both - I thought they might have made Young wait a year, but good on him I spose.... Dan was certainly always going to go in first up....

Is anyone else depressed that the season is over again??

7 months to the NFL starts again... I hate the Feb/ Early March time of the off season the most, as there isn't any league to follow to ease the pain...

 

[sunny]

Not as depressed as I used to be at this time because I've found other interests, but February probably is the most deadshit month of the sporting year, no doubt.

 

[canberra_raiders2k2]

Im always deprest when the nfl ends...i like it just as much as rugby league if not more..

 

[camsmith]

yep.. im with you. depressing. but i dont mind too much.... AFL/NRL v8's F1s golf etc.. keep me going (and the NFL draft!!)

 

[sunny]

Well, if need an nfl fix you can always come here and talk about the latest news and stuff...this is the best australian nfl board around by far, much better than some other shitty ones i've seen.

 

[camsmith]

you seen www.thebear.com.au ???thats pretty good, maybe not in just the NFL, but local gridiron aswell.

 

[sunny]

cam, thebear was the primary shitty shitty site i was referring to. I've seen you post there, but this is way better...a lot of thebear is just uninformed rubbish and mindless abuse.

 

[camsmith]

sunny, lol thebear used to be pretty good, but i do know what you mean, recently a few people have gone a bit over the top, so i guess this sites good for discussing NFL. But like i said, everything to do with local gridiron is in there. For those of us who are involved in that.

 

[Mal Meninga]

Congratulations to Steve Young, one of the greatest QB's to ever grace the field, i'm proud that he represented my team with absolute class, brought home a championship and has forever made the 49ers a golden franchise that is the yardstick for the NFL.

Thank you Steve.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I think it was a great choice that Fritz Pollard finally got into the HOF too. I think they are all good entries and all are deserving.

 

[Sun_Down]

About time Marino got into the HOF

 

[Mal Meninga]

About time? It was his first year of eligibility!

 

[Sun_Down]

About time? It was his first year of eligibility!

Really, I didnt know that...Well thats alright then