Question about H Walker making HOF

[Established1971]

I am watching the NFL Network recently and they are talking about the "Pro Football Hall of Fame." They mentioned some guy who played on the Bills as being the one and only guy in the Hall who technically never played a single NFL game. As many times as I had heard "pro football hof" it didn't occur to me that it was not the NFL Hall of Fame. Now I know this is not some combo hall like in basketball and for all intents and purposes it IS the NFL Hall of Fame. But if you think about it, when you eliminate the CFL which is another country, NCAA of course which isn't pro, Arena football which is basically a different game and sport, you are left with 5 leagues -
AAFC, AFL, WFL, USFL and XFL

The AAFC and AFL merged in to the NFL so numbers from those years do count in "NFL" players career numbers. The WFL and XFL were so quick and insignificant to render them moot. The USFL however sort of thrived a while and did not merge. Some players like Reggie White and Jim Kelly don't need their USFL numbers to get them in the NFL hall. But Herschel Walker is a different case. Combining his numbers leaves him with almost 14,000 yards rushing and he holds the single season "pro football" rushing record with 2,411 (2 extra games).

I wonder if there is a rule preventing him from exclusion or if it doesnt even occur to the voters or if so they just dont want to consider it.

 

[Waffle]

I am watching the NFL Network recently and they are talking about the "Pro Football Hall of Fame." They mentioned some guy who played on the Bills as being the one and only guy in the Hall who technically never played a single NFL game. As many times as I had heard "pro football hof" it didn't occur to me that it was not the NFL Hall of Fame. Now I know this is not some combo hall like in basketball and for all intents and purposes it IS the NFL Hall of Fame. But if you think about it, when you eliminate the CFL which is another country, NCAA of course which isn't pro, Arena football which is basically a different game and sport, you are left with 5 leagues -
AAFC, AFL, WFL, USFL and XFL

The AAFC and AFL merged in to the NFL so numbers from those years do count in "NFL" players career numbers. The WFL and XFL were so quick and insignificant to render them moot. The USFL however sort of thrived a while and did not merge. Some players like Reggie White and Jim Kelly don't need their USFL numbers to get them in the NFL hall. But Herschel Walker is a different case. Combining his numbers leaves him with almost 14,000 yards rushing and he holds the single season "pro football" rushing record with 2,411 (2 extra games).

I wonder if there is a rule preventing him from exclusion or if it doesnt even occur to the voters or if so they just dont want to consider it.

I really liked Herschel, but if we can't get Cliff Harris, Rayfield Wright, Bob Hayes, or Michael Irvin in (yet) the HOF, I don't EVER expect to see Walker inducted.

 

[Zaxor]

I really liked Herschel, but if we can't get Cliff Harris, Rayfield Wright, Bob Hayes, or Michael Irvin in (yet) the HOF, I don't EVER expect to see Walker inducted.

Sadly I agree...but isn't Herschel like close to #1 in total yards...

 

[Irving Cowboy]

I am watching the NFL Network recently and they are talking about the "Pro Football Hall of Fame." They mentioned some guy who played on the Bills as being the one and only guy in the Hall who technically never played a single NFL game. As many times as I had heard "pro football hof" it didn't occur to me that it was not the NFL Hall of Fame. Now I know this is not some combo hall like in basketball and for all intents and purposes it IS the NFL Hall of Fame. But if you think about it, when you eliminate the CFL which is another country, NCAA of course which isn't pro, Arena football which is basically a different game and sport, you are left with 5 leagues -
AAFC, AFL, WFL, USFL and XFL

The AAFC and AFL merged in to the NFL so numbers from those years do count in "NFL" players career numbers. The WFL and XFL were so quick and insignificant to render them moot. The USFL however sort of thrived a while and did not merge. Some players like Reggie White and Jim Kelly don't need their USFL numbers to get them in the NFL hall. But Herschel Walker is a different case. Combining his numbers leaves him with almost 14,000 yards rushing and he holds the single season "pro football" rushing record with 2,411 (2 extra games).

I wonder if there is a rule preventing him from exclusion or if it doesnt even occur to the voters or if so they just dont want to consider it.

I would be willing to bet that when a guy like Reggie White goes into the Hall that his USFL numbers won't even be published there, as the NFL sort of takes a "if we don't look at it, it never existed" attitude toward the upstart leagues... I think Herschel should go in because there was never an athlete that was as versitile as he was, at least not in the past 40 years. Don't even let someone try to put Dave Meggett in his class either, as he was never the running back that Walker was. His contributions to the league and the way multipurpose players are looked at will reverberate for years, even decades to come, especially with this salary cap we have now. JMHO