Drew Pearson should have been named to Pro Football Hall of Fame

Former Dallas Cowboy great Drew Pearson was snubbed by the Pro Football HOF. The wideout belongs in Canton.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame opened its doors to a massive class Tuesday. The building in Canton is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the NFL and  announced of 13 more members of Centennial Slate for the Class of 2020 to go along with former Steelers coach Bill Cowher and former Cowboys and Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson. The names can be found here.

“This was the most thorough vetting of candidates in the Hall’s history and it needed to be. Our charge was to scour 100 years of professional football and find the most deserving candidates who have slipped through the cracks,”  veteran Hall of Fame Selector Rick Gosselin said on the PFHOF site. “All 38 finalists for the Centennial Slate were Hall of Fame worthy but we could only choose 15. I am proud to be a part of this process that honors these men who shaped the NFL in its first century.”

One person who would disagree — vehemently — and has slipped through the cracks, again, is former Cowboys wideout Drew Pearson. He was crushed.

“This hurts. They broke my heart. They broke my heart.” Pearson said. “And they did it like this. They strung it out like this.”

A player in the class who can be compared to Pearson is a player he faced numerous times as a rival, Harold Carmichael of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Carmichael was a four-time Pro Bowler, who led the NFL in receiving and yardage in 1973. He was on the 1970s All-Decade team and finished his career with 590 catches for 8,985 yards and 79 touchdowns. Carmichael also played in seven playoff games with 29 grabs and six TDs. He played 14 seasons, finishing his career as a Cowboy.

Pearson, meanwhile, played 11 seasons, all with Dallas. He had 489 catches for 7,822 yards with 48 TDs. Pearson was also on the All-Decade team for the ’70s, was a three-time Pro Bowler and was part of the Super Bowl XII champs, scoring a TD in the game. Pearson played in 22 playoff games with 68 catches for 1,131 yards and eight TDs.

Carmichael played on Eagles teams that were subpar for much of the early part of his NFL career while Pearson delivered on the biggest stages, over and over.

Pearson caught the Hail Mary reception from Roger Staubach that sealed the victory over the Vikings in a 1975 playoff game, one of the most famous plays in NFL history. He also caught the game-sealing touchdown in 1973 playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams and the game-winning touchdown pass from reserve quarterback Clint Longley in the 1974 Thanksgiving game against the Washington Redskins. All three of those plays were named among the Top 75 plays in NFL history by NFL Films in 1994. Pearson figured prominently in a fourth play on that list, throwing the final block to clear Tony Dorsett’s path to the end zone on his 99-yard touchdown run in 1983. In addition in the 1980 playoff game at Atlanta, Pearson’s clutch receptions helped win that game in a comeback by the Cowboys.

That’s impressive. And it is easy to understand how disappointed he was not to be named to Canton. While Carmichael played longer — and is deserving — Pearson’s body of work is every bit as Hall of Fame worthy. His years and stats may have been lesser but the historic plays he was part of have to count for something.

You can’t please everyone when it comes to the any Hall of Fame. Snubbing Drew Pearson feels like one the voters fumbled. Badly.