Tag: Hall of Fame

In 2020, 37-year-old RB Frank Gore could make pro football history

The list of successful 37-year-old running backs is virtually nonexistent. Frank Gore is looking to change that.

Since Frank Gore was selected by the 49ers in the third round of the 2005 NFL draft, he’s been one of the most consistent and beloved players in the league. The consistency is obvious — from 2005 through 2016, he missed the 1,000-yard mark in just three seaasons (2005, 2010, 2016), and over that stretch, no other running back has more rushing attempts (2,965), or rushing yards (13,065), and only Adrian Peterson and LaDainian Tomlinson have more rushing touchdowns than Gore’s 74.

Gore has plied his trade for the 49ers, the Colts, the Dolphins, and the Bills through his 15-year career, and now, he’ll be running the ball the Jets, who signed him to a one-year contract on Tuesday, per Gore’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Gore will turn 37 on May 14, which puts him in rarefied air for his position. We all know that running backs are fungible as other positions aren’t, and that running backs tend to get used up by the sheer physical demands of what they do.

But if Gore is able to match or exceed the 599 yards on 166 carries he put up for the Bills last season, he’ll make even more history than he already has. Hall-of-Famer Marcus Allen, in his final NFL season, ran for 505 yards and 11 touchdowns on 124 carries at age 37. After that, you have to hit the Wayback Machine for the next most prolific back at the age Gore will be when the 2020 season begins: John Henry Johnson for the AFL’s Houston Oilers in 1966, with his 226 yards and three touchdowns on 70 carries. No other running back in professional football history has managed even 100 yards in a season at age 37 or older. Only Allen and John Riggins gained more rushing yards at age 36 than Gore did, so there’s that.

Most of the most prolific runners 37 years of age or older, in fact, are quarterbacks. Doug Flutie (1999), Steve Young (1998), and Ryan Fitzpatrick (2019) rank second, third, and fourth on the single-season Old Guys rushing list regardless of position, and after John Henry Johnson pops up, it’s John Elway (1997), Roger Staubach (1979), and Flutie three more times (2000, 2001, and 2003). Heck… Earl Morrall, who would never be recognized as the most athletic quarterback at any point in his career, ran for more yards in 1972 at age 38 for the perfect Dolphins (67) than the next running back after Gore and Johnson on the list — 37-year-old Tony Richardson of the Jets in 2008 (65).

So, when we say that it is exceedingly rare for a running back of any stripe to have the potential to be productive at Frank Gore’s level at his age, there is a historical component which says that this just doesn’t happen. If Gore is able to beat Father Time this time around, it will be uniquely historic — and another component to when should eventually be his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Because being the best old running back ever? It’s a pretty remarkable feat.

Don Shula – Was Notre Dame his one-time dream job?

I had no idea Don Shula once dreamed of playing and coaching at Notre Dame. I found that out today after the coaching legend passed away.

Don Shula passed away Monday morning at the age of 90.  He leaves as accomplished of football coach as the NFL has ever seen with a record 328 career regular season wins and a two Super Bowl titles to his name.

Shula attended John Carroll University where he played football before getting drafted in 1951 and playing seven seasons in the NFL. From there he went to the college ranks to get a start in coaching.

Shula headed the defensive backs at the University of Virginia in 1958 before doing the same at Kentucky in 1959.  From there he leaped to the NFL where he coached the Lions defensive backs for a year before running their defense in 1961 and ’62.

He would then become the youngest coach in the history of the NFL at the time when he got the head coach job of the Baltimore Colts in 1963 at 33 years old.

All Shula would do was lead the Colts to a 71-23-4 record in seven seasons, winning the NFL Championship in 1968 before suffering a stunning upset to Joe Namath and the New York Jets in Super Bowl III.

Shula was out of a job after the Colts went 8-5-1 but he quickly landed in Miami in 1970 where he’d stay until his retirement in 1995.  His 328 career wins are the most all-time and he led the Dolphins to a pair of Super Bowl championships while getting there and falling three other times.

In reading about Don Shula today though I was left wondering an all-time sports “what if?”

This from a lengthy Gene Wojciehowski piece in 2007 on ESPN.com:

A Notre Dame alumnus, presumably speaking on behalf of the university, once approached Shula in the late ’60s, early ’70s about coaching the Fighting Irish. It had always been Shula’s life ambition to play and someday coach at Notre Dame.

“But after I got into the NFL, I didn’t want to go back into college coaching,” he says.

I had no idea about this ever being a thing before reading and researching about Shula a bit today.  The timing is certainly interesting if you know anything about Notre Dame or Don Shula.

It wouldn’t have made sense for it to be late sixties considering Ara Parseghian nearly took Notre Dame to a title in 1964 before ultimately winning one in ’66 which put Ara on anything but a hot seat.  After Parseghian left in 1974 then was Shula the first choice to replace Ara instead of Dan Devine?

It would be next to impossible to ever bring a more hyped up coach than Shula would have been in 1974.  All he’d done in the three years previous was win the last two Super Bowls and appear in another.  I also get why Shula couldn’t go to the college ranks after the start he’d had in his NFL run – it’d have been like if Bill Belichick left the New England Patriots for Notre Dame in 2005.

Yeah, not happening.

I think it’s safe to say things worked out more than alright for Shula afterwards, even if he never did win another Super Bowl.  He’d appear in two more while heading the Dolphins and ultimately retire with more wins than anyone that ever coached the game.

And I know some people look back at the Dan Devine era as a disappointment but replacing a legend like Parseghian is a nearly impossible task.  Devine only lasted six seasons at Notre Dame but went 53-16-1 in that time, winning a national championship in 1977.

RIP to a football legend.

Kevin Love: Just reflecting on the 2020 …

Kevin Love: Just reflecting on the 2020 HOF class and missing the game. Tim Duncan — Best Power Forward Ever. Being in the Western Conference my first 6 years, we had a lot of battles. He gave me my welcome to the NBA moment 4 games into my rookie season. Having that experience and watching Tony Parker drop 55 on us was a lot for a fat white boy from suburban Oregon who turned 20 y/o only 2 months prior. As I’m writing this I’m just realizing it’s his birthday…so, HBD to the 15x All Star, 5 time Champion, 15x All NBA, 15x All Defensive, 2x MVP, 3x Finals MVP, 97-98 Rookie of the Year. I wouldn’t have the success I’ve had in our league without learning from #21. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Tomjanovich on his coaching style: ‘Encouragement builds confidence’

In an interview with Matt Bullard (his former player), ‘Rudy T’ explains the unique coaching style that helped make him a Hall of Famer.

Former Houston Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich was seen by many as a “players’ coach” during his tenure, and he expands on that philosophy in a new interview with his former player, Matt Bullard.

“Rudy T,” as he’s best known, was recently announced as an inductee in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020. In his 11-plus seasons as the team’s head coach from 1992 through 2003, Tomjanovich led Houston to a 503-397 (.559) regular-season record and a 51-39 (.567) mark in the NBA playoffs, headlined by two championships in 1994 and 1995. He is by far the winningest coach in franchise history.

In his chat Wednesday with Bullard and play-by-play broadcaster Craig Ackerman, who normally work together on Houston’s game telecasts, Tomjanovich reflected on his personal Hall of Fame news while also offering some new perspective on his unique coaching philosophy.

Here’s how one exchange from the interview went:

Bullard: One of the biggest things that I took away from your coaching is that when you feel like a coach is on your side, you want to play harder for that coach and not let him down. When you have a coach yelling at you constantly, then you just tune him out.

Tomjanovich: Absolutely. Encouragement builds confidence. Over the years, I tried to verbalize what my philosophy was becoming. I would say it’s 80% positive, 20% correction. When we’re doing a tape and the coach gets excited — ‘Look at this, this is what I’m talking about’ — they get an idea of what I think good Rockets basketball is.

https://www.facebook.com/17729777319/videos/534072790803197

The complete interview, which covers a wide range of topics related to Rudy T’s current life and his storied NBA career, can be viewed below.

Tomjanovich and the rest of the Hall of Fame’s new class will be enshrined on Aug. 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Former NBA players in the class include Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and the late Kobe Bryant.

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https://www.facebook.com/17729777319/videos/940873606367079

Cassius Winston to be inducted into Catholic High School League Hall of Fame

Former Michigan State and U of D Jesuit point guard Cassius Winston is set to be inducted into the CSHL Hall of Fame.

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The Catholic High School League (CSHL) is the largest Catholic sports league in the United States and is comprised of 27 private high schools located in southeast Michigan. The CSHL announced on Wednesday that they would be inducting former University of Detroit Jesuit point guard, and former Michigan State Spartan, Cassius Winston into the CSHL Hall of Fame.

Winston graduated from U of D Jesuit back in 2016, the same year he was named Mr. Basketball of Michigan. Winston came out of his career at U of D Jesuit as a 4-star prospect, ranked as the No. 31 prospect in the country in both the ESPN and 247sports prospect rankings.

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Shaq on Kobe Bryant and the reminder …

Shaq on Kobe Bryant and the reminder that nothing is guaranteed: “The reminder is.. that it makes me get into wish mode… Cuz listen, we respected each other. We’re friends. We’re not call everyday friends, but I wish that I had talk to him more, I wish I could’ve said ‘hey, how you doing’, I wish I could’ve said ‘hey, you know the Hall of Fame thing is coming up. You know you gonna be on that list’”

Notre Dame: Brian Kelly Gives Muffet McGraw Highest of Praise

You figure it’s just a matter of time until a Muffet McGraw statue is chilling outside Purcell Pavillion.

Shocking news came down Wednesday afternoon as the announcement of Muffet McGraw’s retirement came down.  The legendary basketball coach exits as not just the most accomplished women’s basketball coach in Notre Dame history but as accomplished as almost anyone to ever blow a whistle on campus.

Head football coach Brian Kelly had the following to say about the retirement of McGraw on Wednesday:

Pretty tough to make any argument against that.  She may not have been as instrumental in building the university or athletic program quite like Father Ted or Knute Rockne, but she exits just as accomplished, if not more-so than any of the other names Kelly lists.

You figure it’s just a matter of time until a Muffet McGraw statue is chilling outside Purcell Pavillion.

Praise for Muffet McGraw Coming from Everywhere

Legendary basketball coach Muffet McGraw retired from coaching Wednesday after a historic run heading the women’s program.  33 years, two national championships and 848 wins later she turned Notre Dame from a women’s basketball afterthought to a blue-blood of the sport.  

Upon announcing her retirement Wednesday, some of the biggest names in sports and at Notre Dame offered well wishes to the hall of fame coach.

Legendary basketball coach Muffet McGraw retired from coaching Wednesday after a historic run heading the women’s program.  33 years, two national championships and 848 wins later she turned Notre Dame from a women’s basketball afterthought to a blue-blood of the sport.

Upon announcing her retirement Wednesday, some of the biggest names in sports and at Notre Dame offered well wishes to the hall of fame coach.

Notre Dame legend and current member of the Dallas Wings, Arike Ogunbowale:

Legendary former Notre Dame basketball coach, Digger Phelps:

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to which she was elected to in 2017:

Current Notre Dame men’s basketball coach, Mike Brey:

More…

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On this day: Bob Cousy inducted into Hall of Fame; Tracy Jackson born

On this day in 1971, Boston Celtics legendary point guard Bob Cousy was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

On this day in 1971, renowned Boston Celtics point guard Bob Cousy was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts along with longtime rival Bob Pettit of the then-St- Louis Hawks.

Initially drafted out of Holy Cross by the Tri-City Blackhawks in 1950, Cousy refused to play for the team, and would end up being picked up by the Celtics instead.

The New Yorker would play for Boston for 13 seasons, nearly his entire career (Cousy would play seven games for the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969-70 season in a brief comeback bid), winning eight titles and being elected to 13 NBA All-Star Games over his Celtics tenure, among many other honors.

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Mike Curtis, inaugural Seattle Seahawk, passes away at age 77

Former Baltimore Colts linebacker Mike Curtis, who was a member of Seattle’s first NFL team in 1976, passed away on Monday at age 77.

Longtime NFL linebacker Mike Curtis, who played for the Seattle Seahawks in 1976, passed away on Monday morning. He was 77 years old.

Curtis spent the vast majority of his career with the Baltimore Colts, getting selected 14th overall in the 1965 NFL draft out of Duke University.

He went on to play 11 seasons with the Colts, serving as their middle linebacker and making four Pro Bowls while being named an All-Pro twice.

Perhaps his most famous moment was in 1971 when he laid out a fan on the field during a Dolphins game. He also recorded an interception in the closing minutes of Super Bowl V, which set Baltimore up to kick the game-winning field goal.

Curtis joined Seattle’s team in expansion in 1976, starting 14 games for them and recording a pair of interceptions. He then spent two more years in Washington before hanging up his cleats at age 35.

Curtis never made the Hall of Fame, although he could still find his way into Canton posthumously after a stellar NFL career.

We wish his family the best after his passing.

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