A new "For Pete's Sake" blog appears most Thursdays.
Today is Hall of Famer
Ace Parker’s 100th birthday. He is the first member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to reach 100 and just the fourth former NFL player to celebrate this incredible milestone birthday. I would have to say it’s one of the unique aspects of my job to say that I’ve personally met two of the NFL’s four centenarians.
We’ve splashed lots of stories, photos, and some video about this great star of the 1930s and ’40s on our website. But, unfortunately, we aren’t able to add an interview of Ace on his special day. While he still lives in his home thanks to some terrific 24/7 care from two women who are like family to him, he’s not able to carry on much of a conversation.
Fortunately though I had a really great phone conversation yesterday with one of his long-time friends who serves as Ace’s health Power of Attorney. Buddy Lex, who himself was a fine athlete and is a fellow member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame along with Ace. He provided me with an update on Ace and also told some great stories about his friend. Buddy, who is 86, told me how Ace was his hero when he was growing up. Later the two would cross paths which led to a great friendship that continues today.
Lex educated me on how Parker’s nickname came about. Apparently, sometime around Parker’s sophomore year at Duke, a sports reporter by the name of Bill Cox wrote that whenever Duke needed five yards, or eight yards, or twelve yards, or whatever they needed; they had an “Ace in the hole” in Clarence Parker. From that day forward, it was “Ace” Parker. Buddy shared other stories like when Ace beat some golfer by the name of Sam Snead in a driving contest during high school; and how Parker hit a home run in his first at bat in the majors.
But, he mostly talked with pride about his great friend. It’s really quite recent that Ace isn’t able to get around very well but Lex reports that Parker still possesses a good grip. He also enjoys going for a car ride every day to get out. It wasn’t until but 10 months ago that Ace was still golfing a few holes with Buddy. Imagine that … we should all be so fortunate to still be hitting a golf ball at 99. Lex even shared how Ace could still putt rather well. And, occasionally he would connect on a nice fairway shot and would instantly turnaround and flash his big smile back at Buddy.
All of us at the Hall of Fame remember that smile fondly. Ace and his wife Thelma, who passed away just two years ago, were regulars every summer when they would return to Canton to participate in the annual Enshrinement Festival.
I imagine Buddy and other friends will see that great big smile this afternoon when they gather to celebrate Ace’s 100th birthday with some cake and balloons.
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A new "For Pete's Sake" blog appears each Thursday.
Well, it’s finally here. Happy Draft Day to all!
Tonight’s first round means that the season must be just around the corner. Before you know it, we’ll be tuned into NFL Network as they air the New Orleans Saints vs. Arizona Cardinals in our game played in classic Fawcett Stadium across the street from the Hall (Get your tickets). That night, many NFL hopefuls will begin their journey to land a spot on a roster.
But, first we get to enjoy the draft and the great event that it has become for fans. The other day I was doing an interview with a member of the media and they asked if I watch the draft as a fan. The fact is that, in my job, I really don’t. In fact, I probably get less caught up in the pre-draft coverage than most and rarely spend much time studying mock drafts.
I’ve been conditioned to look at football from a historical perspective. So, tomorrow I’ll look BACK at the first round and absorb all of the storylines. I’m always fascinated by the wheeling-and-dealing that takes place and how it potentially changes history.
For instance, had the Dallas Cowboys not worked a trade in 1977 to move up and grab the player they wanted, would Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett had a Hall of Fame career as a Seattle Seahawk? Back in the days of the AFL vs. NFL draft wars, how would football history have changed if Alabama quarterback Joe Namath signed with the St. Louis Cardinals who drafted him in the first round of the NFL draft in 1965 instead of the New York Jets of the rival AFL?
I could go on and on and I imagine much of the talk tomorrow will focus on trades that occur today and tonight as teams strategically plot their futures.
Last year, I shared some tidbits on draft day in my blog. Among them was an interesting nugget I uncovered that went back to the league’s first draft. The owners and league President Joe Carr gathered for the inaugural draft and apparently really enjoyed it. It went so well that they unilaterally agreed on the spot to add four more rounds. Imagine what would happen to the NFL Network and ESPN’s coverage if Roger Goodell shared with them on Saturday that we’re going to throw in a few more rounds of picks because everyone is having so much fun!
If you jump around our website you’d see lots of facts and interesting side notes from past drafts.
I’ve shared many of them with you also through my blog. I’ll end my annual draft day blog by stealing a note from NFL.com’s Gil Brandt who shared this little known fact with us the other day. There has only been one player who has been drafted three times! This intrigued me enough to dig through the files to find out more on this story.
University of Houston fullback/linebacker Donnie Caraway was drafted in three successive years in the 1950s. He was the 7th round pick of the Washington Redskins (83rd overall) in 1956; picked as a future choice in 1957 by the Chicago Bears in the 29th round (348th overall); and one final time in 1958 when he was drafted in the fourth round by the New York Giants (47th overall).
Interestingly, between being drafted by the Bears and Giants, he played one season in Canada with the Calgary Stampeders.
Eligibility rules of the day weren’t as clear as today for sure. Teams often grabbed a player only to find later they really weren’t eligible for the draft. Caraway never suited up in the NFL. Although signed in January 1958 by the Giants, he was among the final cuts the team made prior to the start of the ’58 regular season. He, however, was around the team enough to get a bio in that year’s media guide which also sheds details on how he could have been drafted three times!
I’m looking forward to some of the “oddball” side stories that will be created during the next three days.
Happy Draft Day(s) to all!
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A new "For Pete's Sake" blog appears each Thursday on Profootballhof.com.
For more than two weeks this month we encouraged fans to cast their vote in our jersey showdown. The reaction was outstanding as we received tens of thousands of votes for 16 interesting jerseys we pulled from our collection. The winner was the 1993 Buffalo Bills jersey.
I must admit that I was a bit surprised some of the NFL’s older jersey didn’t fare very well. I really thought football fans would be drawn to the jerseys from the 1920s that we featured from teams like the Canton Bulldogs and Duluth Eskimos. I was wrong. Way wrong! The 1922 version of the Bulldogs threads downed the 1965-66 Broncos but then was eliminated from the bracket by the Bills jersey. The 1926 Duluth jersey was pounded by the ’87 Seahawks.
The results of our bracket reaffirm something we already knew. Fans are devoted and passionate about their team. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised that some of the Bills fans who voted for
Jim Kelly’s jersey might actually think that the ’36 Giants or the ’51 Packers jerseys are actually a cooler looking jersey. But, how does a fan vote against their team no matter what the issue might be?
Thanks to the help of some team websites and Facebook pages, these fans came out in droves and had some fun with our bracket. We even received some less than flattering posts about our jersey selection.
To set the record straight, the jerseys were randomly picked from our collection and spanned each of the NFL’s decades and had 16 different teams featured. Nevertheless, Cowboys and Steelers fans asked why they weren’t included. Some others were miffed that the Chargers’ powder blue jersey from the ‘60s weren’t featured either. Again, the jerseys in the bracket were picked in a completely random fashion.
But, now we want to hear from you. Add a comment to this story and let us know which ONE jersey is the most obvious to have been excluded from the showdown!
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The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s website can be as addicting to a football fan as the new craze of Pinterest is to many individuals who are spending hours of their day browsing, pinning, and repining. For the record, we’ve launched our Pinterest page (@ProFootballHOF) so go ahead and start following us.
Back to the topic of our website. Each day if you stop by Profootballhof.com you will be treated to your fill of entertaining content (stories, polls, photos, videos, and more) about pro football and what makes it so great.
But, perhaps you’re not quite aware of just how in-depth our site is when it comes to the history of the NFL. No doubt, you could spend hours a day bouncing from page to page among our thousands and thousands of stories about the history of the game. Assuming that you’re a bit busy, I’ve decided to devote this week’s blog to some quick links to some interesting draft related stories found deep inside our site.
Every pick, every year. This is the easiest to read and most comprehensive listing of every draft from the NFL’s inaugural draft in 1936 through last April’s draft. 1936-2011>>>
Heisman Hall of Famers. Impress your friends with a little draft trivia like, “how many Heisman Trophy winners have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame?” Answer>>>
As luck would have it? Assuming Andrew Luck is the first overall pick by the Colts later this month is one thing, assuming he’ll make it to Canton someday is another thing. Only 13 Hall of Famers were first overall picks. See the list>>>
Four future Hall of Famers were picked in the NFL’s first draft. See 1936 NFL Draft>>>
One of my favorite quotes came from comedian W.C. Fields who advised, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, ty again. Then, quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it!” Which is the perfect segue to an interesting side note about the perils of the Redskins’ draft success in the 1940s.
Long before scouting became sophisticated, teams would often scour national magazines to evaluate draft picks. Sometimes, this resulted in mistakes. For example, Washington used the 9th pick of the 1946 NFL Draft on UCLA back Cal Rossi. What they didn’t realize, Rossi was only a junior and not eligible to be selected. Not to worry. The Redskins waited a year and then used their first pick in 1947 on Rossi again. But, what they didn’t know was that Rossi had no intention of playing pro football!
You’ll find these types of tidbits on each of the draft decade landing pages of our draft coverage.
1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s
As the draft has grown into more of an event over the years, our curatorial staff has collected items from the draft. Most notable are the cards that are delivered to the podium with each team’s pick. Here’s one from the Patriots’ sixth round in 2000.
I’m going to stop my blog now but that doesn’t mean you need to stop exploring Profootballhof.com. Enjoy!
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