It's unfortunate for Moose that the HOF doesn't separate the the running back qualifications into what they want to see from Halfbacks and, and a different criteria for Fullbacks.
If the ingredients for inductions focused more on how much the two positions are unique is how they play, what they're expected to accomplish, and the value they bring to a team, then Moose is in the top 5 who ever played the game. Sadly, both are lumped into "running backs", and that eliminates a lot of great fullbacks from consideration.
Tight Ends are the closest thing to this problem. Tight Ends are also not represented well in the HOF. They're looked upon as "recievers" too much, and in no way can compete with Wide Recievers, who catch a lot of balls, but don't participate in the game anywhere near the responsibilities of Tight Ends. Not even close.
The Tight Ends in the HOF are as follows:
Dave Casper
John Mackey
Mike Ditka
Ozzie Newsome
Charlie Sanders
Jackie Smith
Kellen Winslow
Thats it. Look at the names, and you'll see that unless you're a featured "reciever" as a tight end, you don't get in the HOF. Not saying that actually catching the ball isn't a function of the Tight Ends, but they do a heck of lot more than catch balls as the position requires of them.
It's not even worth the time to list the Wide Recievers in the HOF. It's so large, I'd bore you with the listing, but it's a 3-1 ratio.
The current list of Fullbacks in the HOF are:
Jim Brown
Larry Csonka
Marion Motley
Joe Perry
Jim Taylor
(And,from the "pre-modern" era: Charlie Hinkle - 30's, Enrie Nevers - 20's, Bronko Nagurski - 30's)
Again, the list of Halfbacks is too large to list. But even from THIS list of Fullbacks, Brown, Csonka, Taylor, Hinkle, Nevers and Nagurski were REALLY the featured ball-carriers and work-horse backs for their teams. Most, the VAST MAJORITY of Fullbacks, they're not the "featured back" or ball carrier in the backfield. Their responsibilities are a lot closer to pulling-guards than ball carriers.
So, like I said, if the Hall of Fame's requirements for Full Backs to "get in" were a true examination of the ACTUAL JOB of a Full Back, then Moose is a lock. Unfortunately, this is not the case, as Moose will be judged by his abilities and numbers as a "running back", and that's a shame.............
