Stars align for Hall class
Elway, Sanders highlight four new inductees
HOUSTON -- One passer, perhaps as pure a runner as the NFL has ever seen, and two punishers (one purple). All four of them were named here yesterday to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
John Elway, Barry Sanders, Bob Brown, and Carl Eller, the Class of 2004, all will be formally inducted this summer in the Canton, Ohio, shrine.
"It still takes time to sink in," said Elway, the winningest quarterback in NFL history who retired following his Super Bowl MVP performance five years ago in the Broncos' second straight championship. "You never want to picture yourself here until you're here. I'm really kind of speechless."
Now 43, Elway was a Stanford economics major prior to being selected No. 1 overall by the Baltimore Colts in the 1983 draft. Had the Colts not immediately flipped him to Denver for a couple of veterans and a first-round pick in '84, they might not be the Indianapolis Colts today.
The trim and youthful-looking Sanders, at 35 the youngest of the inductees, retired five years ago from the Lions after becoming the first ever to string together 10 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. The electrifying running back, who won the Heisman Trophy in his last season (1988) at Oklahoma State, finished with 15,269 career rushing yards, now third in NFL history.
At his best, the diminutive Sanders (5 feet 8 inches, 203 pounds), was both elusive and dynamic, pirouetting out of tackles, shifting direction as if he were a bit of video game make-believe. He finished with 109 touchdowns, all but 10 on the ground, and he left behind a graveyard full of frustrated, mesmerized, would-be tacklers.
"It seems like [it's] something that happens to someone else," said a humble Sanders, who was only 1,457 yards shy of tying Walter Payton for the career running record when he called it quits. "You think Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, names of that [like]. To be here, I truly feel in some ways a little out of place."
Big Bob Brown, drafted by both the NFL Eagles and AFL Broncos out of Nebraska, carved a niche as a brutalizing offensive tackle with Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Rams, and Oakland over a 10-year career that culminated with the Raiders in 1973.
The 6-4, 280-pound Brown once described himself as "about as subtle as a 16-pound sledgehammer," and took particular pride in his mission to "beat on people from the opening kickoff." Now 62, Brown was a six-time Pro Bowler, but made it to only one championship game, a 27-10 loss to the mighty Dolphins for the '73 AFC title.
The charismatic Eller, still looking menacingly powerful at 61, was part of Minnesota's celebrated "Purple People Eaters" defensive line in the '70s. A consummate pass rusher at left defensive end, Eller teamed with fellow marauders Jim Marshall, Alan Page (also in the Hall of Fame), and Gary Larsen as the Vikings' stalwart defenders.
Eller's Vikings made four trips to the Super Bowl in eight seasons, but in turn lost to Kansas City (IV), Miami (VIII), Pittsburgh (IX), and Oakland (XI). Like Brown, Eller was a six-time Pro Bowler.
"It's not to be awarded," said the 6-6 Eller, the sixth pick overall in the '64 draft by the Vikings after playing for the University of Minnesota. "It's to be recognized for what I did -- this certifies that I was a Hall of Fame player. I was a good pass rusher, but I could stop the run, too. I think I was one of the better all-around players."
A pair of Dallas standouts, offensive tackle Rayfield Wright and wide receiver "Bullet" Bob Hayes, also were finalists, but failed to garner the necessary 80 percent of votes out of the 39 ballots.
Nine others failed to tally enough votes: Harry Carson, Richard Dent, Cliff Harris, Lester Hayes, Bob Kuechenberg, Jim Marshall, Art Monk, George Young, and Gary Zimmerman.
Material from wire services was used in this report. 