Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks to vide Beddetto and Zach Segers for joining us earlier.
You can to stay part of that. You go to Broncos,
Country Night, dot Com, Slash Podcast, rebbigats podcast, Apple iTunes, Spotify,
totally free It also my Heart radio app. I didn't
say redesigned, just to see if you're paid attention, just
like Lady Flubb that Yeah, No, I was just seeing
if you were paid attention. They totally new it redesigned.
(00:20):
iHeartRadio app nailed it, almost nailed it. Well, you can
get to take it forgot the podcasts as well. With that,
we'll go right out to the KWA Common Spirit Health
Hotline and bring on Rich de Ruser's the chief communications
officer of the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame. Rich,
How you doing this evening?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I'm doing well. Aren't those live reads fun? Sometimes?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh? If they're a mouthful man? And I'm not one
of those people. It's used to doing it like I'm
over the last few years, I've just gotten into the
driver's chair. It used to be the analyst on the
show and out of the driver's chair, and I do
not envy the people that have to do all the
live reads.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's definitely an.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Art that's yeah, and one, if not mastered. I'm still
on stick figures with this stuff. So Rich, first of all,
well let's let's let's explain to the audience what it
is that you actually do for the Pro Football Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I'm not sure, you know what. One of the good
things about my job is that it's very it varies widely.
I am involved in the selection process.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I think that that might be something.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
That we get into a little bit. I'm responding. You know,
I'm responsible for some of the internal and external communications
at the Hall. So some of the messaging that the
Hall puts out, you know, related to the new class,
related to the Hall of Famers and what they've got
going on, new exhibits at the Hall, you know, whatever
that might be that the halls from voting. Right now,
(01:42):
We've got a new exhibit that launched a few weeks
ago and is going to run throughout twenty twenty five
where we talk about character and how character is exhibited
both on and off the field. And one of the
centerpieces around that new exhibit is the Walter Payton NFL
End of the Year Award. And just saw you know
(02:03):
this year's winner announced last night, so his name will
go up on the wall, and and so we celebrate
the different ways that uh, so many athletes are doing
so much both on end off the field.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, we appreciate you taking some time out tonight to uh,
you know, to talk about some things. I think a
lot of people were sort of surprised it was what
felt like a smaller Hall of Fame class. Jared Allen
Sterling sharp. I think everybody's probably seeing the video of
him and his brother getting there to talk about Eric Allen,
Antonio Gates got the news that uh that they're going
to be enshrined. However, uh, Eli Manning, Luke Keeley, and
(02:36):
and probably most surprising to me, Adam Vita Terry not
making the cut there. Uh what can you tell us
about the the process that may be surprising to those
from the outside looking in.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I think if if the listeners, if I can give
the listeners one takeaway tonight, I think I think one
of the popular misconceptions is that the small class size
reflects a belief that there aren't worthy people of the
Pro Football Hall of Fame, when the exact.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Opposite is true.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
The way the voting is set up. There are so
many people worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
that it's tough to get consensus on who should be
in any particular class. So our bylaws stipulate that somebody
needs eighty percent of the vote to get in. But
when you have a pool of seven people in the
(03:35):
last pool you're voting for, and you can cast a
vote for five of those seven, you can see how
the votes can get spread out, and if you don't
get eighty percent, you don't get in. And that's what
happened this year. We have four individuals excuse me, who
reached to that eighty percent threshold, but everybody else who
is eligible just spread those votes out, so we had
(03:57):
people who are close to making it, I couldn't quite
get over the top of the number they needed. So
four is the smallest number that we've had for twenty years.
But it's not an uncommon number in the history of
the Hall of Fame. It's actually the nineteenth time. Roughly
thirty percent of the Hall of Fame's classes have been
(04:18):
either three or four members. So while it's been a while,
it's certainly not unprecedented, and I think we recent history,
certainly some of those numbers have been much much larger,
but over the course of the entires Hall history, a
class of four is actually fairly common.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, and I think there's something to the exclusivity of it.
You know, it should be an achievement, it should be
something to aspire to and shouldn't you know. I don't
want to just just usher every name in there. And
maybe that's you know me, you know, yucket it up
on a microphone. But at the end of the day,
I want the Hall of Fame to be the best
of the best, the top one percent of the one percent.
I want those names to be, you know, the legends.
But at the same time, when you do that, there
(04:56):
are things that they get missed. And there are when
you have smaller classes like that, and football changes the
way that it's played, some guys get left behind. One
of my old time you know that. I feel like
it's like the biggest snub out there right now is
the fact that Henry Ellert is not in the Hall
of Fame. Ellard, who had retired third but third all
time and yeah, third all time and receiving yards and
(05:17):
now because of the way the game has changed and
when he retired, it's sort of the opportunity. It felt
like just sort of passed him by because you had
this offensive explosion at the receiving position. He's still fifteenth
all time right now, but it seems like that that
a lot of that passed him by.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, Henry Ellard, you know, I'll throw another one out
there that folks might remember, Harold Jackson kind of, you know,
you know, similar, similar types of players, and you're you're
right the receiving just defining. I'm gonna throw another one
at you here in just a second, but you're right
on the receivers right now. You know, finalists this year
were Steve Smith, Tory Holt, reg you Wayne. I mean
(05:58):
you look at their numbers there. They're worthy. There's no
question that they're worthy. And you know, kind of right behind.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Them, you've got guys like Akwan Golden and hinz Ward, who.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Is a little bit different than the ones we mentioned previously,
doesn't have quite the receiving numbers of the other ones,
but I think he is, you know, widely considered, you know,
if not the best, one of the best blocking wide
receivers ever and played in a system that was a
run first oriented offense for most or at least much
(06:28):
of his career. So you know, if he had been
in a different system, would he have put up the
bigger numbers and be in by now? You know, That's
that's the great debate. But I think they're going to
see the same things with running backs. Running back longevity diminishing.
So what do you do with somebody like a Fred
Taylor who's been in the finalist a couple of years now,
and Frank Gore's coming up, and then you know, and
(06:52):
Adrian Peterson. I think Will probably may may jump ahead
of you know, both of those two names when he's eligible,
but kind of behind them. You know, who are you
looking at? You know, you know, Derrick Henry probably is
is a likely type of person, you know, with a
number of rushing titles he has and you know, the
big numbers that he's put up. But you know, you're
(07:14):
you're seeing running backs careers that just are you know, seven, eight,
maybe ten years. But if they get to ten years,
you know, typically if they get to ten years, two
or three of them are you know, production is down,
so you're you're really looking at the best of you know, five, six,
seven years. So as positions of ball that does get
difficult to compare. And the quarterbacks another one with just
(07:36):
big numbers right now with a Philip Rivers, the ben
Roth Plisberger and Eli Manning and and so you've got
to drill down on those numbers and you know.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
What did they do in big games and things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Talking with Rich Rogers from the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
the chief communications officer at the NFL. Excuse me, the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. Important distinction there. That's not
just the NFL, right.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It is, thank you, Yes, you are correct, and certainly
the you know, certainly the NFL is the predominant league now, uh,
the only league that plays in the fall, really and
and the you know, the spring leagues are I think,
you know, being being fair, I think everybody understands and
concedes that that any other league other than.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
The NFL is inferior right now.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
But there have been other leagues in the history, the AFL,
all America Football Conference, the World Football League, the original USFL,
the second USFL.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
All of those are represented to some degree in the Hall.
But you know, so our name technically is as you mentioned,
the Pro Football Hall of Team with obviously much of
the memorabilia and much of the history around the National
Football League.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Well, what would it take for at least me to
what I think is an interesting question, What would it
take for in the modern one of these one of
these alternate leagues, and whether it be a spring league
like the the you know, the current version of the UFL,
with the with them or with you know, the our
buddy Ryan Michael, who's who's getting work in the European
Football League? And what would it take for one of
those players to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I think they'd have to jump to the NFL and
show that their productivity and their stardom translated to what
is I think universally considered the premier league, you know
for this sport. You know, you did see guys that
played some years in the USFL make the move to
(09:29):
the NFL. And you know a few, you know, a
Jim Kelly, a Reggie White, a Sam Mills. You know,
those guys were not likely to make the Pro Football
Hall of You know, it's hard to say because the
USFL wasn't around long enough for guys to put together
big statistics, but I think by and large it was
(09:52):
considered a good league with a you know, with a
handful of excellent players, most of whom then made the
transition the NFL. So I think I think that's always
going to be tough, because the question is going to
be you know, listen, we just talked about guys like
you know, Henry Ellard, Harold Jackson from back in the day,
and then guys like right now that didn't make it yet,
(10:13):
you know, a Tory Holtz, a Reggie Wayne. So I
think there'd be a lot of raised eyebrows that somebody went,
you know, into one of the spring leagues and had
a fifteen hundred yard receiving season and like, well, you know,
what would that person do if they're playing against NFL
caliber defensive backs, et cetera like that. So I think
I think you're always going to see, at least until
(10:34):
one of those leagues is really established and really has
a ten or.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Fifteen year history.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I think it's I think we're at a point now
where anybody coming into the Hall of Fame is either
exclusively or nearly exclusively a former NFL player.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Hey, Rich Grant Smith here, thanks so much for the
time tonight. You mentioned the memorabilia in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame and for anyone who has never been
there and as a football fan, it is a must go.
But what is your favorite piece of memorabilia there.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
There's a heavy woolen overcoat that Ernie Nevers wore with
the Duluth Eskimos and it is in a case, and
just a couple of feet away on the other side
of the of the same showcase is a very large
trunk with the you know, painted delude his Ernie Nevers's
(11:26):
travel and equipment trunk that they took on the trains
when they were going around the league playing their games.
Those two pieces together are my two favorite. They're gray
with blue and they've got the old Duluth Eskimo's e
blue logo on them. And you know, I'm I've yet
to see anything quite like those.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
That's so cool, that's fascinating. Obviously, you guys had the
Kendall Hinting memorabilia from the Hinting game that he was,
you know, for the Broncos. Yeah, a lot of the
people get fans can get to go and go see that.
I want to get back to, you know, people getting
into the criteria and stuff. One of the aspects I
think that is long time frustrated Denver Broncos fans. Specifically,
he's the lack of inclusion of Mike Shanahan in the
(12:05):
Pro Football Hall of Fame. And uh, you know this
year you had HomeGrid who you know, didn't get it
from the contributed category. Bill Belichick's going to be coming
up soon, and that worries people that, uh, that that
Mike's going to continue to get pushed out when he's
such an you know, an influencer on especially the modern
state of offense in the NFL, as as many people
running a variant of what he did or what his
(12:25):
son does. What what would you say to people that
are perhaps frustrated that that Mike Shanahan has not yet
been inducted into the into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Don't give up hope, because he's very very close. Uh,
you know, he was right, you know he And it's
a you know, we talked about the wide receivers. It's
almost like what's your you know, what's your favorite flavor
of ice cream? And I think it's you know, what's
your what's your favorite wide receiver? Among the selectors, you know,
they have to make that decision. And it's the same
way with the coaches, because if you look at Holmgren,
(12:58):
Shanahan un often is kind of in that same discussion.
Right now, Dan Reeves another one is in that discussion. So, uh,
you know, Marty Schottenheimer has been in that discussion. Marty
has more wins than anybody else whose name we've mentioned
right now, but his you know, his postseasons are are
riddled with, you know, some major disappointments. And then you know,
(13:18):
kind of on the flip side, uh, you know, might
be a might be a coach Kaughlin who has a
couple of super Bowl victories, as does coach Shanahan, and
and and home in one one and went to another.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
And you know, so then you know.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
What becomes the basis of of how you tip the
scale to one person or the other. Is it super
Bowl victories? Is it overall winning percentage?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Uh? Maybe a coach who's winning percentage isn't quite as high,
but he inherited, you know, a train wreck and you
know built, you know, built a winner out of that.
You know, so you give him a little bit of
a pass on some of you know, some of his
year in, year out records. I think that was what
some people decided about coach for Meal. Uh when he
got in a couple of years years ago, Hey, we're
(14:03):
gonna we're going to give him a bit of a
path on an overall winning percentage because he got to
Philly terrible, got him to a Super Bowl, got to
Saint Louis Terrible, got him to win a Super Bowl
and turned it over to Mike Martz for another one. Uh,
got to Kansas City, Terrible, produced a winner that there,
and and so that was you know, he kind of
(14:24):
had a three year plan everywhere he went. I think
that you know, voters said, listen, his his body of
work made him the guy that year. And I kind
of think that's where the same that I think the
same people who use that argument in coach for meals
favor are some of the same people banging the drum
for coach Shanahan. Uh, you know went to places that
(14:45):
uh sometimes needed you know, some uplifting and was able
to do it. And then like you said, you know
the coaching tree, uh, the offensive philosophy that I think
those are both things that work in his favorite He's
very close. And now I think that Coaches Committee needs
to make a really really hard decisions you know, coach
Holmgren was the person who came out of the selection
(15:06):
committee this year. Do they go back to that and say,
you know, hey, he was close and can we push
him over the goal line, or do we look at
the different candidate who maybe the full body of selectors
will receive, you know, with enough approval that that person
can get to the finish line and get their bust
(15:28):
in Kanton, Ohio. So it's going to be really interesting
for me to kind of see how that discussion goes
over the course of this next year as we start
talking about the class of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Well, Rich, I really appreciate you taking the time tonight.
I could probably do this for another two hours. You know,
we'll have to have you back on again soon. We're
just up against it now. But I really appreciate you
taking the time tonight, and we really appreciate you jumping
on the show and giving us a little bit of
insight and look forward to having you on again soon.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
You bring me on anytime if you want. We'll talk
some more Broncos football. And you talked about favorite items.
Don't forget the how about the brown and yellow sox?
So we got we got some of those, all right.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Well, hey, Richard Rogers, the uh from the Pro Football
Hall of Fame, Chief Communications Officer of the Pro Football
Hall of Fame. We appreciate the time this.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Evening, and right, thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yep, take care Broncos country. Now I got hit a break,
we come back. It's the NFL six Pack.
Thanks to vide Beddetto and Zach Segers for joining us earlier.
You can to stay part of that. You go to Broncos,
Country Night, dot Com, Slash Podcast, rebbigats podcast, Apple iTunes, Spotify,
totally free It also my Heart radio app. I didn't
say redesigned, just to see if you're paid attention, just
like Lady Flubb that Yeah, No, I was just seeing
if you were paid attention. They totally new it redesigned.
(00:20):
iHeartRadio app nailed it, almost nailed it. Well, you can
get to take it forgot the podcasts as well. With that,
we'll go right out to the KWA Common Spirit Health
Hotline and bring on Rich de Ruser's the chief communications
officer of the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame. Rich,
How you doing this evening?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I'm doing well. Aren't those live reads fun? Sometimes?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh? If they're a mouthful man? And I'm not one
of those people. It's used to doing it like I'm
over the last few years, I've just gotten into the
driver's chair. It used to be the analyst on the
show and out of the driver's chair, and I do
not envy the people that have to do all the
live reads.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It's definitely an.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Art that's yeah, and one, if not mastered. I'm still
on stick figures with this stuff. So Rich, first of all,
well let's let's let's explain to the audience what it
is that you actually do for the Pro Football Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I'm not sure, you know what. One of the good
things about my job is that it's very it varies widely.
I am involved in the selection process.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I think that that might be something.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
That we get into a little bit. I'm responding. You know,
I'm responsible for some of the internal and external communications
at the Hall. So some of the messaging that the
Hall puts out, you know, related to the new class,
related to the Hall of Famers and what they've got
going on, new exhibits at the Hall, you know, whatever
that might be that the halls from voting. Right now,
(01:42):
We've got a new exhibit that launched a few weeks
ago and is going to run throughout twenty twenty five
where we talk about character and how character is exhibited
both on and off the field. And one of the
centerpieces around that new exhibit is the Walter Payton NFL
End of the Year Award. And just saw you know
(02:03):
this year's winner announced last night, so his name will
go up on the wall, and and so we celebrate
the different ways that uh, so many athletes are doing
so much both on end off the field.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, we appreciate you taking some time out tonight to uh,
you know, to talk about some things. I think a
lot of people were sort of surprised it was what
felt like a smaller Hall of Fame class. Jared Allen
Sterling sharp. I think everybody's probably seeing the video of
him and his brother getting there to talk about Eric Allen,
Antonio Gates got the news that uh that they're going
to be enshrined. However, uh, Eli Manning, Luke Keeley, and
(02:36):
and probably most surprising to me, Adam Vita Terry not
making the cut there. Uh what can you tell us
about the the process that may be surprising to those
from the outside looking in.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I think if if the listeners, if I can give
the listeners one takeaway tonight, I think I think one
of the popular misconceptions is that the small class size
reflects a belief that there aren't worthy people of the
Pro Football Hall of Fame, when the exact.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Opposite is true.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
The way the voting is set up. There are so
many people worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
that it's tough to get consensus on who should be
in any particular class. So our bylaws stipulate that somebody
needs eighty percent of the vote to get in. But
when you have a pool of seven people in the
(03:35):
last pool you're voting for, and you can cast a
vote for five of those seven, you can see how
the votes can get spread out, and if you don't
get eighty percent, you don't get in. And that's what
happened this year. We have four individuals excuse me, who
reached to that eighty percent threshold, but everybody else who
is eligible just spread those votes out, so we had
(03:57):
people who are close to making it, I couldn't quite
get over the top of the number they needed. So
four is the smallest number that we've had for twenty years.
But it's not an uncommon number in the history of
the Hall of Fame. It's actually the nineteenth time. Roughly
thirty percent of the Hall of Fame's classes have been
(04:18):
either three or four members. So while it's been a while,
it's certainly not unprecedented, and I think we recent history,
certainly some of those numbers have been much much larger,
but over the course of the entires Hall history, a
class of four is actually fairly common.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, and I think there's something to the exclusivity of it.
You know, it should be an achievement, it should be
something to aspire to and shouldn't you know. I don't
want to just just usher every name in there. And
maybe that's you know me, you know, yucket it up
on a microphone. But at the end of the day,
I want the Hall of Fame to be the best
of the best, the top one percent of the one percent.
I want those names to be, you know, the legends.
But at the same time, when you do that, there
(04:56):
are things that they get missed. And there are when
you have smaller classes like that, and football changes the
way that it's played, some guys get left behind. One
of my old time you know that. I feel like
it's like the biggest snub out there right now is
the fact that Henry Ellert is not in the Hall
of Fame. Ellard, who had retired third but third all
time and yeah, third all time and receiving yards and
(05:17):
now because of the way the game has changed and
when he retired, it's sort of the opportunity. It felt
like just sort of passed him by because you had
this offensive explosion at the receiving position. He's still fifteenth
all time right now, but it seems like that that
a lot of that passed him by.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, Henry Ellard, you know, I'll throw another one out
there that folks might remember, Harold Jackson kind of, you know,
you know, similar, similar types of players, and you're you're
right the receiving just defining. I'm gonna throw another one
at you here in just a second, but you're right
on the receivers right now. You know, finalists this year
were Steve Smith, Tory Holt, reg you Wayne. I mean
(05:58):
you look at their numbers there. They're worthy. There's no
question that they're worthy. And you know, kind of right behind.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Them, you've got guys like Akwan Golden and hinz Ward, who.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Is a little bit different than the ones we mentioned previously,
doesn't have quite the receiving numbers of the other ones,
but I think he is, you know, widely considered, you know,
if not the best, one of the best blocking wide
receivers ever and played in a system that was a
run first oriented offense for most or at least much
(06:28):
of his career. So you know, if he had been
in a different system, would he have put up the
bigger numbers and be in by now? You know, That's
that's the great debate. But I think they're going to
see the same things with running backs. Running back longevity diminishing.
So what do you do with somebody like a Fred
Taylor who's been in the finalist a couple of years now,
and Frank Gore's coming up, and then you know, and
(06:52):
Adrian Peterson. I think Will probably may may jump ahead
of you know, both of those two names when he's eligible,
but kind of behind them. You know, who are you
looking at? You know, you know, Derrick Henry probably is
is a likely type of person, you know, with a
number of rushing titles he has and you know, the
big numbers that he's put up. But you know, you're
(07:14):
you're seeing running backs careers that just are you know, seven, eight,
maybe ten years. But if they get to ten years,
you know, typically if they get to ten years, two
or three of them are you know, production is down,
so you're you're really looking at the best of you know, five, six,
seven years. So as positions of ball that does get
difficult to compare. And the quarterbacks another one with just
(07:36):
big numbers right now with a Philip Rivers, the ben
Roth Plisberger and Eli Manning and and so you've got
to drill down on those numbers and you know.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
What did they do in big games and things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Talking with Rich Rogers from the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
the chief communications officer at the NFL. Excuse me, the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. Important distinction there. That's not
just the NFL, right.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It is, thank you, Yes, you are correct, and certainly
the you know, certainly the NFL is the predominant league now, uh,
the only league that plays in the fall, really and
and the you know, the spring leagues are I think,
you know, being being fair, I think everybody understands and
concedes that that any other league other than.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
The NFL is inferior right now.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
But there have been other leagues in the history, the AFL,
all America Football Conference, the World Football League, the original USFL,
the second USFL.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
All of those are represented to some degree in the Hall.
But you know, so our name technically is as you mentioned,
the Pro Football Hall of Team with obviously much of
the memorabilia and much of the history around the National
Football League.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Well, what would it take for at least me to
what I think is an interesting question, What would it
take for in the modern one of these one of
these alternate leagues, and whether it be a spring league
like the the you know, the current version of the UFL,
with the with them or with you know, the our
buddy Ryan Michael, who's who's getting work in the European
Football League? And what would it take for one of
those players to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I think they'd have to jump to the NFL and
show that their productivity and their stardom translated to what
is I think universally considered the premier league, you know
for this sport. You know, you did see guys that
played some years in the USFL make the move to
(09:29):
the NFL. And you know a few, you know, a
Jim Kelly, a Reggie White, a Sam Mills. You know,
those guys were not likely to make the Pro Football
Hall of You know, it's hard to say because the
USFL wasn't around long enough for guys to put together
big statistics, but I think by and large it was
(09:52):
considered a good league with a you know, with a
handful of excellent players, most of whom then made the
transition the NFL. So I think I think that's always
going to be tough, because the question is going to
be you know, listen, we just talked about guys like
you know, Henry Ellard, Harold Jackson from back in the day,
and then guys like right now that didn't make it yet,
(10:13):
you know, a Tory Holtz, a Reggie Wayne. So I
think there'd be a lot of raised eyebrows that somebody went,
you know, into one of the spring leagues and had
a fifteen hundred yard receiving season and like, well, you know,
what would that person do if they're playing against NFL
caliber defensive backs, et cetera like that. So I think
I think you're always going to see, at least until
(10:34):
one of those leagues is really established and really has
a ten or.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Fifteen year history.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I think it's I think we're at a point now
where anybody coming into the Hall of Fame is either
exclusively or nearly exclusively a former NFL player.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Hey, Rich Grant Smith here, thanks so much for the
time tonight. You mentioned the memorabilia in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame and for anyone who has never been
there and as a football fan, it is a must go.
But what is your favorite piece of memorabilia there.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
There's a heavy woolen overcoat that Ernie Nevers wore with
the Duluth Eskimos and it is in a case, and
just a couple of feet away on the other side
of the of the same showcase is a very large
trunk with the you know, painted delude his Ernie Nevers's
(11:26):
travel and equipment trunk that they took on the trains
when they were going around the league playing their games.
Those two pieces together are my two favorite. They're gray
with blue and they've got the old Duluth Eskimo's e
blue logo on them. And you know, I'm I've yet
to see anything quite like those.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
That's so cool, that's fascinating. Obviously, you guys had the
Kendall Hinting memorabilia from the Hinting game that he was,
you know, for the Broncos. Yeah, a lot of the
people get fans can get to go and go see that.
I want to get back to, you know, people getting
into the criteria and stuff. One of the aspects I
think that is long time frustrated Denver Broncos fans. Specifically,
he's the lack of inclusion of Mike Shanahan in the
(12:05):
Pro Football Hall of Fame. And uh, you know this
year you had HomeGrid who you know, didn't get it
from the contributed category. Bill Belichick's going to be coming
up soon, and that worries people that, uh, that that
Mike's going to continue to get pushed out when he's
such an you know, an influencer on especially the modern
state of offense in the NFL, as as many people
running a variant of what he did or what his
(12:25):
son does. What what would you say to people that
are perhaps frustrated that that Mike Shanahan has not yet
been inducted into the into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Don't give up hope, because he's very very close. Uh,
you know, he was right, you know he And it's
a you know, we talked about the wide receivers. It's
almost like what's your you know, what's your favorite flavor
of ice cream? And I think it's you know, what's
your what's your favorite wide receiver? Among the selectors, you know,
they have to make that decision. And it's the same
way with the coaches, because if you look at Holmgren,
(12:58):
Shanahan un often is kind of in that same discussion.
Right now, Dan Reeves another one is in that discussion. So, uh,
you know, Marty Schottenheimer has been in that discussion. Marty
has more wins than anybody else whose name we've mentioned
right now, but his you know, his postseasons are are
riddled with, you know, some major disappointments. And then you know,
(13:18):
kind of on the flip side, uh, you know, might
be a might be a coach Kaughlin who has a
couple of super Bowl victories, as does coach Shanahan, and
and and home in one one and went to another.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
And you know, so then you know.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
What becomes the basis of of how you tip the
scale to one person or the other. Is it super
Bowl victories? Is it overall winning percentage?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Uh? Maybe a coach who's winning percentage isn't quite as high,
but he inherited, you know, a train wreck and you
know built, you know, built a winner out of that.
You know, so you give him a little bit of
a pass on some of you know, some of his
year in, year out records. I think that was what
some people decided about coach for Meal. Uh when he
got in a couple of years years ago, Hey, we're
(14:03):
gonna we're going to give him a bit of a
path on an overall winning percentage because he got to
Philly terrible, got him to a Super Bowl, got to
Saint Louis Terrible, got him to win a Super Bowl
and turned it over to Mike Martz for another one. Uh,
got to Kansas City, Terrible, produced a winner that there,
and and so that was you know, he kind of
(14:24):
had a three year plan everywhere he went. I think
that you know, voters said, listen, his his body of
work made him the guy that year. And I kind
of think that's where the same that I think the
same people who use that argument in coach for meals
favor are some of the same people banging the drum
for coach Shanahan. Uh, you know went to places that
(14:45):
uh sometimes needed you know, some uplifting and was able
to do it. And then like you said, you know
the coaching tree, uh, the offensive philosophy that I think
those are both things that work in his favorite He's
very close. And now I think that Coaches Committee needs
to make a really really hard decisions you know, coach
Holmgren was the person who came out of the selection
(15:06):
committee this year. Do they go back to that and say,
you know, hey, he was close and can we push
him over the goal line, or do we look at
the different candidate who maybe the full body of selectors
will receive, you know, with enough approval that that person
can get to the finish line and get their bust
(15:28):
in Kanton, Ohio. So it's going to be really interesting
for me to kind of see how that discussion goes
over the course of this next year as we start
talking about the class of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Well, Rich, I really appreciate you taking the time tonight.
I could probably do this for another two hours. You know,
we'll have to have you back on again soon. We're
just up against it now. But I really appreciate you
taking the time tonight, and we really appreciate you jumping
on the show and giving us a little bit of
insight and look forward to having you on again soon.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
You bring me on anytime if you want. We'll talk
some more Broncos football. And you talked about favorite items.
Don't forget the how about the brown and yellow sox?
So we got we got some of those, all right.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Well, hey, Richard Rogers, the uh from the Pro Football
Hall of Fame, Chief Communications Officer of the Pro Football
Hall of Fame. We appreciate the time this.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Evening, and right, thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yep, take care Broncos country. Now I got hit a break,
we come back. It's the NFL six Pack.
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