We were blessed with some phenomenal and moving speeches by the new classes entering the Hall of Fame over the weekend. Including those of Raiders greats Charles Woodson and Tom Flores. Woodson and Flores each getting in on different ends of the spectrum, with Woodson getting in on the first ballot and Flores getting in via the senior committee after 22 years of eligibility.
Flores becomes the latest Raiders great to find himself waiting for the Senior committee to get in because the regular committee, for whatever reason, was unwilling to do so. Other Raiders who were forced to wait for the senior committee included Ray Guy and Ken Stabler.
There is at least one more, however. Sticking out like a sore thumb. And who, like Stabler before him, tragically passed away having not been recognized by the Hall of Fame and thus never getting to take the stage and don their gold jacket.
That man is Cliff Branch.
We’re two years almost to the day that Branch passed away. Five months later, Branch’s name appeared among the list of finalists for the Hall of Fame Centennial class. A team that would select 15 seniors, seemingly making for the best chance Branch had ever had of finally getting his due. Even if posthumously.
A few months later, Branch’s name was not among those who would receive induction. It was an utter travesty, to say the least. But you don’t need me to tell you that. I recently asked his former Hall of Fame teammate, Marcus Allen, about it.
“Levi, you’re touching nerves,” Allen replied. “And I don’t mind.”
“I think it’s almost criminal when you look at Cliff’s numbers and you look at others’ numbers that are in [the Hall of Fame]. He’s still number four all-time in postseason yards receiving. Played in a completely different era. If he played today and they were throwing it a hundred times a game, the numbers would just be ridiculous.
“Clearly a guy who changed the game. Changed coverages. Changed the way defense is played. Certainly opened up things for everybody else. Could have been the MVP when they beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl when he scored the touchdown.
“It was not only a regular season, it was postseason, it was everything. There’s some people that just change the game. Like Bob Hayes changed the game. Cliff was one of those guys. And without Cliff Branch there’s no Freddy, there’s no Marcus, there’s no Todd Christensen, you know what I mean? Without Cliff.”
Allen knows his stuff. Branch was the NFL’s all-time leader in postseason receiving yards when he retired. And Branch is indeed still, to this day, fourth all-time in postseason receiving yards. His 1289 yards are bested by only Jerry Rice (2245), Julian Edelman (1442), and Michael Irvin (1315). Rice and Irvin are both in the Hall and Edelman is not yet eligible (and also played in a very different era).
Branch was one of only a few players who played on all three of the Raiders’ Super Bowl teams. His Hall of Fame wide receiver teammate Fred Biletnikoff played on just one of them.
It seems every player with whom you can compare Cliff Branch in terms of accomplishments or numbers is a Hall of Famer already. So, what is the hold-up for Branch?
“I don’t know. I just wish we had a say-so that’s all,” Allen said. “At least with the Heisman trophy the former players get a vote. It’s completely out of our hands and I hear different things. They may like a person and they may dislike a person and those things are held against them. And it should never be that. It should be complete objectivity. It should just be ‘Is this guy good enough as a player, I don’t care what I think about him personally, but that’s what I hear. Because a writer didn’t like a particular person, and that’s not right. . .It’s crazy. It’s nerve-wracking.”
Honestly, it’s hard to fathom what football writers would have against Branch. He was one of the nicest and most positive people you could ever meet. It was heartbreaking to hear he had passed away. And that heartbreak is only worsened by the knowledge that he went so many years receiving the annual disappointment that he would be once again passed up for the Hall of Fame.
“Those are the things that bother me,” Allen said of Branch and Stabler not living to see induction. “Being on the phone with Cliff and the disappointment. Obviously, he never showed it, but I know deep down inside he was. When you care about people. When you line up next to people in the huddle and you see how incredible they are and they don’t get recognized for it, it upsets you.”
Branch has been eligible for going on 32 years now. The likes of Marcus Allen and others have long pounded the table but to no avail. Allen had also been vocal about Tom Flores getting in and Sunday night he sat on the stage and watched his former head coach get his due. So, there’s no way he should give up the fight for Branch either.
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