Drew Pearson
- Thread starter Weatherdemon
- Start date
Hallelujah!!!! It's about dam time!!!!
Congratulations Drew!!!!!
Congratulations Drew!!!!!
With the election of Drew Pearson (Cowboys) TU now has four former players in the NFL Hall. The other three are Jim Finks (Steelers), Bob St. Clair (49ers) and Steve Largent (Seahawks). TU's 4 is equal to the combined total of OU and OSU. OU = Leeroy Selmon (Tampa Bay) and Tommy McDonald (Eagles). OSU = Thurman Thomas (Bills) and Barry Sanders (Lions).
While Coach Finks played for TU and the Steelers, he was inducted into the Hall as a general manager. Mostly for his leadership of the Vikings, Bears and Saints, but also because he was denied being named Commissioner of the NFL in favor of Paul Tagliabue. If you knew or even just met Mr. Finks, you knew greatness.
St Clair played a single season for TU for the Gator Bowl team when the University of San Francisco dropped football. He promptly went back and signed with the 49ers where he stayed his entire career.
By that standard, OU can claim Troy Aikman.
They can also claim Broncos owner Pat Bowlen who played on the OU scout team before giving up football for a business degree and a career in wildcatting.
Finally, OU can also claim GM Ron Wolf who helped build the Raiders for Al Davis in the 60’s and 70’s before being named GM of the Packers in 1991 and winning two Super Bowls. He attended OU but didn’t play there or play football at all.
OU only claims the two you cite to their credit. Both were regular ballot inductees. So were the two OSU inductees and Largent. Pearson was a senior status inductee.
For hairsplitters, we need Jerry to get elected on a regular ballot before we can really give OU and OSU the business they deserve.
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Note I stated 4 players. Jim Finks played in the NFL unlike Pat Bowlen and Ron Wolf. I know he is in the Hall for his executive abilities. Also, Bob St. Clair finished his career at TU. Troy Aikman finished with UCLA. I like the fact that TU can claim (with some argument) superiority in something over OU and OSU. Even if we take away Finks TU has three players.
There’s an argument for that one.
I have my eye on Zaven Collins for the next one.
I have my eye on Zaven Collins for the next one.
I love Jerry Rhome's TU accomplishments. He is in the College Football Hall of Fame for what he did at TU. He was never a starting Quarterback in the NFL. He did have a long Assistant Coaching Career in the NFL. I do not know of many Assistant Coaches in the NFL Hall. I think that possibly the next TU player in the NFL Hall of Fame will be Zavan if he plays at that level like he did last year for about 10 years.
It is amazing to me that OU with all of it's All-Americans and Championships only has two players in the NFL Hall.
It is amazing to me that OU with all of it's All-Americans and Championships only has two players in the NFL Hall.
If somebody told me Coach Rhome coached, consulted or scouted from obscurity, 20 members of the NFL Hall of Fame, I’d almost think that is a low number.
It’s amazing to me how many players come out of OU, go to the pros, and comment how poor the pro facilities are and there isn’t the same commitment to winning. You hear that off and on going back 40 years. Personally, I think a lot of it boils down to practicing at OU for four or five years was bone crushing. Guys are beat up before they even get to the pros. The Seattle doc said Bosworth had the shoulders of a seventy year old man at his first pre-camp physical.
That would certainly help his case. I follow the NFL Hall. I have not heard his name mentioned. Dick LeBeau is an assistant coach in the Hall. He was in the Hall for his playing (59 interceptions) but a case could be made also for his assistant coaching.
This year's Hall of Fame Class included Bill Nunn. Nunn was a sportswriter for the Pittsburgh Courier, a nationally known Black Newspaper. In the 1960s Nunn put together a Black College All American Team. His family were friends of the Chief, Art Rooney, the founder of the Steelers. Since Nunn was traveling to watch the Black Colleges like Grambling, West Virginia State, etc. play he also acted as a part-time and later a full time scout for the Steelers. He found players like Mel Blount, L.C. Greenwood, John Stallworth etc. The Steelers drafted those players and promptly won the first four of the six Super Bowls that the team has.
I thought Nunn's induction was a "thinking out of the box" event and deserved. I believe that the Steelers probably had a lot of NFL "political pull" to get Nunn in the Hall. Before Bill Nunn and Art Rooney Jr. the Steelers scouting staff in the 1940s and 1950s was led by Ray Bryne, an East Liberty (Pittsburgh neighborhood) funeral director. Mr. Bryne's mode of operation usually involved working out of the annual Smith and Streets College Football Magazine.
I thought Nunn's induction was a "thinking out of the box" event and deserved. I believe that the Steelers probably had a lot of NFL "political pull" to get Nunn in the Hall. Before Bill Nunn and Art Rooney Jr. the Steelers scouting staff in the 1940s and 1950s was led by Ray Bryne, an East Liberty (Pittsburgh neighborhood) funeral director. Mr. Bryne's mode of operation usually involved working out of the annual Smith and Streets College Football Magazine.
Yes. When I was born my family lived in Shadyside. We moved to the North Hills (McCandless) when I was 3. I graduated from North Allegheny High School and Pitt. I came to TU for law school and stayed. I have lived in Tulsa for 50 years. I like to say that the Steelers are in my blood. My family has been tied to the Rooney family since the 1920s.One of my great uncles was a close business and football associate with Art Rooney. That uncle was the first P.A. Announcer for the Steelers at Forbes Field. One of my cousins is married to one of Art Rooney's nephews.. Even though we (Rooneys, my family etc) are Irish, we are related through the Italian part of our family.
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Pablo definitely has some good stories. Even though I'm not a Steelers fan, I still like reading what he has to say.
Lil Eric Coley, Thank you. I am 76% Irish according to Ancestry DNA Testing. Irish have the Gift of the Blarney (gab). We can also take a short story and turn it into a Novel.
I would not object if the Steelers draft Zavan Collins. The Steelers have had some great linebackers. Marv Matuszak, another great TU defender started his NFL career with the Steelers. Matuszak was a lineman with TU and a linebacker in the NFL. Marv Matuszak's number 64 is one of only 9 retired by the University of Tulsa.
Twilley and Matuszak had good NFL careers but not Hall of Fame careers. Both of them have their jersey numbers retired by TU. Howard Twilley is in the college Hall of Fame. Matuszak might be included in that Hall someday.
