The Unsung — Curt Flood.

Curtis Charles Flood Sr. (January 18, 1938 – January 20, 1997) 

Played for: Cincinnati Redlegs (1956–1957), St. Louis Cardinals (1958–1969), Washington Senators (1971)

Curt Flood Baseball Reference ([player]) statistics - CF [center fielder]

1759 games, slash-line of .293/.342/.389, 636 RBIs, 1861 hits, 100 OPS+, 41.9 WAR

3-time All-Star (1964, 1966, 1968)

World Series champion (1964, 1967)

7-time Gold Glove Award (1963–1969)

You have to understand that Curt Flood never got to play a baseball game after the age of 34. You have to understand that he deserved better. Born in Houston but raised in Oakland, Flood excelled enough at Oakland Technical High School to sign a pro contract in his senior year of school. The 5'9 youth (barely 18) made spot duties with the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1956 and 1957 (where he hit one home run in eight games while playing the infield) while mostly playing in the minor leagues. He traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in late 1957 for Marty Kutyna, Willard Schmidt and Ted Wieand (of the three, none played for Cincinnati past 1960). Flood was almost immediately tabbed to play center field for the Cardinals, which he would do for 1,682 games (with a few appearances elsewhere for pinch-play or otherwise). His first season with the Cardinals was what one could expect from a 20-year old. He played 121 games and batted .261 while having ten home runs and leading the league in one dubious category: 12 times caught stealing (never a great base stealer, Flood had 2 in 1958 and barely was more successful on stolen bases, where he was 88-for-161 for a career).

In his first three seasons with St. Louis, he batted a combined .250. But he started to blossom in 1961, where he batted .322 (after it was as low as .219 in late May) in 132 games and had his first season with more walks than strikeouts (35 to 33). He responded to a .296 season in 1962 with his first Gold Glove season in 1963, which saw him lead the NL in putouts and at-bats while batting .302 with a career-high 17 stolen bases and the first of back-to-back 200-hit seasons. The stars aligned well for Flood in 1964, who was sent out consistently to play for all 162 games (and thus ended up leading the league in at-bats/plate appearances) that saw him lead the league with 211 hits for another .300 season, a Gold Glove selection and a trip to the All-Star game as the Cardinals (bolstered by a midseason trade for Lou Brock) found their way into the World Series. The 1964 Series saw the Cardinals defeat the New York Yankees in seven. Flood batted 6-for-30 with three walks in seven games with 3 RBIs, two of which came in Game 1 that provided insurance for a late 9-5 victory, although Flood's hit in Game 4 eventually saw him score when Ken Boyer (a story for another time) subsequently hit a grand slam to give them an eventual 4-3 victory. Flood did not commit a single error in 1966. Flood hit .300 in 1965, 1967, and 1968 and was even a 4th place finisher in MVP voting in 1968. In the 1967 Series versus Boston, Flood batted 5-for-28 with three RBIs as St. Louis won the title in seven games. With his sixth season batting .300 for a full season, Flood became one of 29 players that played at least 50 percent of their games in CF to bat .300 six times. The 1968 series saw Flood have eight hits but was most noted for a triple in Game 7 that saw the ball go over his head (whether due to misjudging it or just plain over his head) as the Tigers scored three runs in the inning for the 4-1 win to get the game and the series. 

After the season, Flood had a bit of discontent with team owner Gussie Busch over what he perceived to be an insulting raise in regard to his salary. Comments made by Busch in March 1969 did not help either, as Busch and other owners had to compromise with the players union to curtail a boycott of spring training over TV percentage points. Busch made statements in the clubhouse to the players that basically said the players were "getting fat" on themselves and money. Flood batted .285 in 1969 and earned his last Gold Glove while having 173 hits. At this point in time, he was soon to turn 32 and had 1,854 hits in 1,746 games with seven straight Gold Gloves while finishing top-5 in fielding percentage for his position 11 times. The Cardinals saw that and decided to trade him away, where they meant to send him, Byron Browne, Joe Hoerner, and Tim McCarver to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for future-Hall of Famer Dick Allen, Jerry Johnson and Cookie Rojas. Flood (informed of the trade by midlevel management) did not want to play in Philadelphia (even with a potential salary of over $90,000) and before the end of the year was encouraged by MLBPA executive director Marvin Miller to pursue his legal options. In a December 1969 letter to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Flood labeled himself as one who was not a "piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes" and expressed his wish to be allowed the right to consider other team offers. Flood went full in on the lawsuit knowing that while he may not win the lawsuit, it would surely benefit players in the years to come.

The reserve clause in baseball was one where players could just be signed (or traded if disagreeable) in perpetuity. Flood v. Kuhn started out in federal district court in January 1970 and eventually made its way to the Supreme Court in 1972 (no active player testified on Flood's behalf). By this time, Flood, whose rights were traded to the Washington Senators, had played 13 games for the team and was out of shape. He batted .200 before departing in April, never to play again. Flood lost the case on June 19, 1972 when the Supreme Court narrowly ruled to basically keep the status quo that upheld previous precedent that called baseball "interstate commerce" under the Antitrust Act (unlike boxing or football). It is interesting that two of the people involved in Flood v. Kuhn are in the Baseball Hall of Fame: with Bowie Kuhn (2008, because commissioners somehow merit induction into the HOF) and Marvin Miller (2020, inducted years after his death) and yet Flood's biggest honor is the Cardinals Hall of Fame. In 1973, the MLBPA won the right to an "10/5" agreement that saw players with ten years of MLB experience+five years with current club the right to veto a trade. Catfish Hunter became a free agent in 1974 when the Oakland Athletics failed to make a payment on a life insurance annuity that led to breach of contract disputes. 1975 saw the Seitz decision that nuked the reserve clause when a couple of players (Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally) were in fact free agents because they did not sign any contract (which was upheld in 1976 that led to a subsequent agreement for free agency). Troubled by alcoholism for many years, Flood's career away from baseball saw him try operating a bar, broadcasting and funding for the youth baseball program in Oakland. In 1995, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and died in 1997. The following year saw Congress pass an act in his name that made player-ownership relationships under federal antitrust protection. Flood has been on a HOF ballot eighteen times (15 BBWAA in 1977-79, 1985-96, 3 Veteran votes in 2003, 2005, 2007) but never got 20 percent of the vote. As a player, Flood was an efficient part of three pennant winners and two world championships, and nobody knows where he would've placed had things not gone the way that they did. But his courage lives on to those who understand the history of baseball in our modern era and the perils that come in failing to learn from past events.

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Curt Flood to the Hall.

N O T E S

As always, a SABR article: Curt Flood – Society for American Baseball Research

Photo credit: Curt Flood 58-69 - Curt Flood - Wikipedia

The Unsung — Marc Tardif.

Joseph Gérard Marquis Tardif (born June 12, 1949)

Played for: Montreal Canadiens (1969–1973), Los Angeles Sharks (1973–74), Michigan Stags (1974), Quebec Nordiques (1974–1983)

Marc Tardif (Hockey Reference [Player] — Left wing (LW)

NHL stats:  194 goals, 207 assists, 401 points in 517 games (62 playoff games [13 G, 15A, 28 P]

WHA stats: 316 goals, 350 assists, 666 points in 446 games (44 playoff games [27 G, 32 A, 59 P])

Professional hockey total: 510 goals, 557 assists, 1,067 assists in 963 games 

(106 playoff games - 40 goals, 47 assists, 87 points)

Stanley Cup champion (1971, 1973)

Avco Cup champion (1977)

Gordie Howe Trophy [WHA Most Valuable Player] (1976, 1978)

WHA First All-Star Team (1976, 1977, 1978)

WHA Second All-Star Team (1975)

1982 NHL All-Star Game

Admittedly, his case rests on the Hockey Hall of Fame actually honoring its mission goal: honoring the best players of hockey, not just the NHL. But this blog is a haven for the World Hockey Association and all of the great things that it did for the sport of hockey. Marc Tardif was born to be a player for his native Quebec. He was born in Granby near Montreal to a large family that was "very poor" but he was fortunate enough to have the time to hone his abilities and skills for hockey in local rinks and was recruited to play for a private school at the age of 14. Eventually, he became a star with the Thetford Mines Canadiens and later the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he won the Memorial Cup in 1969 (which included players such as Rick Martin and Gilbert Perreault). In the final year of the Montreal Canadiens being allowed to pick two French Canadians prior to the start of the NHL amateur draft (yes, really), the Canadiens selected Tardif and Rejean Houle. Tardif played most of the 1969-70 season in the AHL before playing eighteen games at the end of the year for Montreal, where he recorded three goals and two assists. But he stayed on with the NHL for the 1970-71 season (which had ten Hall of Famers on the roster*) and made a clear impact, scoring 19 goals with 30 assists in 76 games (he was 6th in points for Montreal and he had a "plus/minus" of 25). Tardif would play in each and every Stanley Cup playoff game for 1971, where he scored three goals and recorded an assist while Montreal narrowly won the Stanley Cup. Tardif recorded back-to-back 50-point seasons (1971-72, 1972-73) and got to win a second Stanley Cup in the latter year while scoring six playoff goals in 14 games. However, he had gripes by 1973 with Scotty Bowman that had media outlets speculate that called him a "gifted athlete with much to offer and much to receive for it in return, but he is drowning that talent in a sea of apathy." 

What Tardif wanted in the summer of 1973 was a "a long-term, no-trade, no-cut contract". He found it with none other than the World Hockey Association (soon to be in its second season) with the Los Angeles Sharks that would pay him $150,000 a year and gave him a $100,000 signing bonus (in comparison, Montreal paid him $14,000 the previous season). Tardif took some time to get going, not recording a goal until the 10th game of the season, but when he got on, he got hot, recording 30 goals and 40 assists for a 70-point season as a highlight for a team that finished in the cellar. The Sharks moved to Michigan for the 1974-75 season but found themselves in the gutter (read: no fans) and traded Tardif away to the Quebec Nordiques in late 1974. After scoring 12 goals/5 assists in 23 games for Michigan, Tardif exploded for 38 goals in 53 games for the Nordiques for a grand total of 50 goals and 89 points in 76 games (in the seven-year history of the WHA, Tardif was the only player to have been traded and scored 50 goals in the same season). He scored 10 goals and recorded 11 assists in the playoff run that saw the Nordiques lose in the Avco Cup Final to the Houston Aeros. 

Quebec City, if you didn't know, has plenty of Francophone heritage and the Nordiques for most of their years as a team (the only major league team based in the city in the last 70 years) wore the fleurs-de-lis on their jersey. He signed a ten-year deal with the franchise that year and immediately became a beloved icon for the region. The next four seasons for Quebec would be dynamic for Tardif. In the 1975-76 season he became the third pro hockey player [Phil Esposito, Bobby Hull], to score 70+ goals (71) in a season, and his 77 assists meant that he recorded 148 points on his way to the WHA MVP selection; Tardif, alongside teammates Réal Cloutier, Christian Bordleau, Réjean Houle, and Serge Bernier, all recorded 100 point seasons for Quebec (in comparison, the NHL has never had a team with five 100-point scorers for one team). And then came the big hit. In the 1976 Avco Cup playoffs, with the Nordiques playing the Calgary Cowboys, Rick Jodzio gave Tardif a serious head injury when he crosschecked him into the boards and proceeded to hit him when on the ice. It resulted in him being knocked out not just for the playoffs but also triggered an entire furor in Canada, as Jodzio actually was charged in court for assault (the Nordiques were beaten in the playoffs but at least the scumbag Cowboys lost in the next round). Tardif had dizzy spells for a time and didn't skate for four months - he stated that he "was never really the same", i.e. he did not have as much stamina (along with having trouble with noisy places).

With a more careful Tardif (now wearing a helmet), he played 62 games in the 1976-77 season and scored 49 goals with 109 total points. In the run to the Avco World Trophy, Tardif recorded four goals and 10 assists, with Tardif scoring the go-ahead goal in Game 3 and Game 7 as the Nordiques won their first and only WHA title over the WHA dynasty-era Winnipeg Jets at home in Quebec. On April 4, 1978 in the 1977-78 season, Tardif recorded a historic assist on a goal that got him his 150th point of the season, the second pro player to do so; in total, Tardif had 65 goals and 89 assists for 154 total points, a new pro record for a couple of years that saw him named WHA MVP for the second time. In the 1978-79 WHA season (the last one before the merger*), he recorded 96 points on 41 goals and 55 assists.  The 1979-80 NHL season saw Tardif play in 58 games for a gutted team that saw him score 33 goals and 35 assists for 68 points. Injuries and disputes saw Tardif record 50-point seasons again and again until his last season. A contract dispute marred a final season in 1982-83 that saw him score just 21 goals in 76 games. Since I subscribe to the idea that the WHA and NHL, are, well, equals, Tardif's 500th professional goal came on December 18, 1982 (with his 11th goal of the season) against the Buffalo Sabres (as seen here) in the third period of a 5-4 loss at the Colisée de Québec. His last game was in April of 1983, right before he turned 34. In October of 1983, he announced his retirement, having been left unprotected by the team in the annual NHL waiver draft.

Has He Been Voted On?: The Hockey Hall of Fame isn't exactly the type you can just find finalist info unlike the NFL or with MLB. You want to know how many Hockey Hall of Famers there are who played five years in the WHA? Three: Gordie Howe (actually he was inducted into the HHOF in 1972, but who's counting for a man who scored 975 professional goals), Mark Howe, and Bobby Hull. Probably the one outlier among the 17 WHA-connected HOFers was Vaclav Nedomansky, the first defector of the Soviet Union to go play hockey - he was inducted...in 2019. The HHOF has systematically ignored the World Hockey Association as if it hindered the game when the league clearly delivered positives to the players and regions that got to see hockey on the pro level for the first time that ranged from Edmonton to Houston to Arizona. To say nothing of the demise of the reserve clause as a direct result of the WHA challenging the NHL in court. The Hall will say Norm Ullman is a Hall of Famer with 490 goals in the NHL before they acknowledge that his 47 goals in the WHA made him a 500-goal scorer. For professional players of hockey from the 1970-71 season to the 1978-79 season (for the purposes of my system, pretend that this link had WHA players), only Phil Esposito (475) scored more goals than Tardif (391), and his 818 points is behind Esposito and Bobby Clarke. From 1969 to 1983, only Esposito and Marcel Dionne scored more goals in a pro hockey league than Tardif, and you might recognize that Esposito, Dionne, and Clarke are all Hall of Famers. The Hockey Hall of Fame induct Russians that play in their own leagues but can't find a place for one of the top WHA players ever? The only place to honor him is the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 2010.

In closing: Look, I know and you know that hockey gets a bum rap for honoring history. But a player who scored 500 combined goals in the professional ranks deserved better than to be ignored by the higher ups. He did all of his talents and didn't even play to age 35 but found time to win two league MVPs and multiple championships, that alone should be something people remember and cherish. I leave it with some closing words from a Tardif interview: 

“I follow what’s going on but not actively. It’s been a long time since I played. But I’m amazed that people still remember. I still get cards and letters almost every week from people telling me how much 

they enjoyed seeing me play in a game or scoring a goal. That’s really nice.” 

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Marc Tardif to the Hall.

N O T E S

*Jean Beliveau (1972), Yvan Cournoyer (1982), Ken Dryden (1983), Jacques Laperriere (1987), Guy Lapointe (1993), Jacques Lemaire (1984), Frank Mahovlich (1981), Henri Richard (1979), Serge Savard (1986; DNP), Rogie Vachon (2016)

*Tardif videos at least exist: The Most Underrated Player of the '70s & the Violent Act He Can Never Forget. The Marc Tardif story

*The NHL pretends the 1979 deal that got the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, and Hartford Whalers was an expansion rather than, duh, a merger. WHA forever. 

Image: 1978-79 Dimanche/Derniere Heure Photos #NNO Marc Tardif | Trading Card Database

The Unsung – Larry Foust.

Laurence Michael Foust (June 24, 1928 – October 27, 1984)

Played for: Fort Wayne Pistons (1950–1957), Minneapolis Lakers (1957–1960), 

St. Louis Hawks (1960–1962)

Larry Foust Basketball Reference [player]) statistics - PF / C

11,198 points (13.7 points per game), 8,041 rebounds (9.8 rebounds per game), 1,368 assists (1.7 assists per game)

8× NBA All-Star (1951–1956, 1958, 1959)

All-NBA First Team (1955)

All-NBA Second Team (1952) 

Once upon a time, it really meant something to be an NBA All-Star. As of 2026, 67 players have been selected to the NBA All-Star Game eight times. Not counting the ones that are active legends (James, Curry, you get the idea), there is just one player with eight All-Star Game selections that isn't a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. His name is Larry Foust. Born in Painesville, Ohio but attending school in Philadelphia, Foust probably was destined to be a basketball mainstay with a height of 6'7 before he even graduated high school (as a senior he grew two inches). For South Catholic, the star center went to the City Championship for the Catholic League three straight years and helped win it all with a last-second play in his senior year. In college, he attended nearby La Salle College in 1946. With teammates such as Jim Phelan (a future coaching icon at Mount St. Mary's) and head coach Ken Loeffler, Foust was an All-City player four straight years that scored nearly 1,500 combined points and led La Salle to their first two National Invitational Tournaments in 1948 and 1950; he was named to the athletic hall of fame in 1962. Foust was drafted in 1950 by the Chicago Stags (the original NBA team in Chicago) as the 5th overall pick, but the franchise was on its way out and Foust found his way to joining the Fort Wayne Pistons. With players such as Fred Schaus (forward but also future pro coach) and head coach Murray Mendenhall, the Pistons went 32–36 and made the Division Semifinals while Foust averaged 13 points and 10 rebounds a game (one can do that with a frame of 270 pounds) while being part of one of the most dubious games in NBA history. On November 22, in an attempt to combat George Mikan and with no shot clock to deter it*, the Pistons engaged in "hold the ball as long as possible before the final basket was scored by Foust for a 19-18 victory over the Minneapolis Lakers. Foust made the inaugural All-Star team that year, which would have sportswriters choose players (none from their own city) that had ten players each from the Western and Eastern Division; Foust was one of three rookies (Paul Arizin and Bob Cousy) to make it.

In 1955, with three future members of the Hall of Fame in George Yardley, Andy Phillip, and Bob Houbregs, the Pistons made it all the way to their first NBA Finals, doing so as Division champions with a 43-29 record. Described by Slater Martin as one who would “knock you if you went into the lane", Foust was an All-Star for the fifth straight year and was named to the All-NBA First Team for the only time while shooting 48.7 percent from the field (owing to his dominant frame from up close described by Phelan as having "a very soft touch around the basket"), which actually was a season record for four years. They met the Syracuse Nationals in a series where home games were played in Indianapolis due to other commitments. In a series where he averaged 28 minutes per game, he was the leading scorer with 111 points (15.9 per game) and leading rebounder at 65 (9.3 per game) that also saw him go to the line the most (35/48 on free throws). He led the way in scoring in Game 1 (26) and Game 7 (24), but the Pistons blew halftime leads in both Game 6 and Game 7 (which included a go-ahead free throw in the latter with 12 seconds remaining). Foust averaged 16 points and nine rebounds on the 1955-56 squad that saw the Pistons make it back to the NBA Finals versus the Philadelphia Warriors; he averaged 19/13/1 in the subsequent five-game loss. In his final season for Fort Wayne, he played in just 61 games due to injury and averaged 12.4 points. He had four 1,000-point seasons for the Pistons (who had nine total seasons where a player scored 1,000 points combined) when he left. George Mikan, now a coach for Minneapolis, wanted him on his team and thus traded Walter Dukes to acquire Foust. He averaged 16.8 points per game (where he played all 72 games) and made his seventh All-Star team. The following year, with rookie Elgin Baylor on the squad, Foust made one more All-Star team and reached the Finals for the third time. Foust played nearly 30 minutes a game and averaged 12.5 points/15 rebounds as the Lakers were swept by the dynasty-era Boston Celtics. 

In the 1959-60 season, he was traded to the St. Louis Hawks for three players. It was the last season he averaged 27 minutes a game. He played a bit less with stars such as Clyde Lovellette around, but the Hawks went all the way to the NBA Finals (dispatching the Lakers on the way), where Foust put up 5/5 before breaking his hand in Game 5 as the Hawks lost in 7. Foust played off the bench for the final two seasons of his career (17.8 in 1960-61 and 20.2 in 1961-62) and had one more Finals loss in 1961 before injuries to his leg and back (at one point in time, the NBA had teams play in five cities for five games in a week) saw him decide to retire in 1962 to become a salesman. He had four children with his wife and even became a youth counselor in his later years before dying of a heart attack at the age of 56 in 1984. Foust should have gone down as a bona-fide Hall of Famer. Instead, he became forgotten. He played 817 total games and when he retired, he was 9th in points* (of the top 14, he is the only one not in) and 4th in rebounds in all of NBA history despite retiring at 33. Of the seven players who averaged 10 points a game in ten seasons by 1962 (Foust did that for his first ten years), he is the only one not in the Hall. Hell, if you want to look at guys who averaged 10 points/10 rebounds a game by the time of 1962 (so a double-double), Foust was one of eight guys to do so for six seasons (nowadays there are 59 guys who have done that in the BAA/NBA/ABA era). And yet he isn't even a finalist for the Class of 2026. The Basketball Hall of Fame (a place that does not even bother to have a link to see who a finalist in past years was and is a general weird place) should be ashamed of themselves, but at least Foust has one place he can be appreciated.

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Larry Foust into the Hall.

Notes

Photo credit: https://www.playmakerstats.com/player/larry-foust/575323

*In 1954, Daniel J. Biasone and Leo Ferris invented the 24-second shot clock. Somehow, Ferris is not a Hall of Famer.

He also was part of one of the stranger plane trips for a pro team: landing in a cornfield in Iowa: 1960 LAKERS WILL NEVER FORGET PLANE CRASH THAT CHANGED THEIR LIVES | New York Post

*While media outlets at the time said Foust was 10th, they forgot that George Mikan actually was below Foust in points because the NBA pretends that the NBL (where Mikan scored over 1,000 points) does not exist.

The Unsung – Buddy Parker.

Raymond Klein Parker (December 16, 1913 – March 22, 1982)

Played for: Detroit Lions (1935–1936), Chicago Cardinals (1937–1943)

Coached: Chicago Cardinals (1949; Co-head coach), Detroit Lions (1951–1956), Pittsburgh Steelers (1957–1964)

Buddy Parker Pro-Football Reference [coach]) statistics 

Regular season record: 104–75–9 (.577), Postseason record: 3–1 (.750), Career: 107–76–9 (.581)

2-time NFL champion (1952, 1953)

Once upon a time, the Detroit Lions were on top pf the football world. Buddy Parker was a part of three championship teams for Detroit, initially starting out as a fullback in 1935, having grown up in Slaton Texas and attending both the University of North Texas and Centenary College in Louisiana. As a pro, Parker ran 180 times for 489 yards but won a championship in his rookie year before a trade to Chicago in 1937 saw him play and later coach for the then-Cardinals. He served as an assistant to the team in the 1940s before becoming a "co-head coach" in 1949 with Phil Handler to replace Jimmy Conzelman. It did not work out, as the team went 6-5-1 as Parker left the team after one season. He planned to just be a coach with the Lions for the backfield but found himself catapulted to head coach with the resignation of Bo McMillin in late 1950. Under first-year GM Nick Kerbawy* and second-year quarterback Bobby Layne to go along with a few acquisitions, the 1951 team went 7-4-1 and narrowly lost out on playing for the championship with a loss to the 49ers (as the Rams were 8-4). The 1952 team fared better. Cloyce Box (end) had a league-leading 15 touchdowns, Jack Christensen returned punts for a leading 21.5 yards per return and Layne had 1,999 passing yards while the defense allowed just 16 points per game (192 in a 12-game season). Six players from that team were eventual Hall of Famers: Layne, Christensen, Doak Walker, Yale Lary (defensive back and punter), Lou Creekmur, and Dick Stanfel. The Lions, tied with the Rams at 9-3 for first, defeated the Rams in Detroit 31-21 to get to the championship game for the first time in decades. They played the dynasty-era Browns, who under Paul Brown had reached the championship game of the AAFC all four years (1946-1949) and reached the NFL championship each time from 1950 to 1955*. In Cleveland, Walker and Layne teamed up to give the Lions a 17-7 win. The next year, now with rookie linebacker Joe Schmidt (a future Hall of Famer himself), the Lions soared even higher, with Layne throwing for 2,431 yards while outscoring teams 271 to 205 while losing only twice the whole year to go 10-2 and reach the NFL championship game against the Browns. In a narrow game that saw Bobby Layne and company with less than five minutes to go down the field, the Lions went 80 yards for a Layne touchdown before a subsequent interception (Otto Graham went 2-of-15 for Cleveland) clinched a 17-16 victory for Detroit at home. They were the third team to win back-to-back NFL championship games in NFL history...and that was the peak for Parker.

In fairness, 1954 was a decent year for the Lions. They went 9–2–1 while outscoring opponent 337 to 189. They then played the Browns (who they played one week earlier and beat) once more in the Championship Game. The slightly favored Lions were walloped 56-10 as they turned the ball over nine times (Cleveland turned it over four times) as Otto Graham threw and rushed for three touchdowns each. Ironically, Layne actually led the league in completion percentage in 1955 (53.0), which was also the final season with Walker as a middle-tier run game (1,477 yards, which actually was 10th in the league) was crushed by a bad pass defense (10th) for a 3-9 record where Layne missed two games as the Lions lost their first six in a row. With Layne taking up kicking duties as well for 1956, the Lions won their first six games in a row on their way to an 8-3 record facing the Chicago Bears. Layne got knocked out of the game on a hit by Ed Meadows and the Bears won 38-21 to finish 9-2-1 and get to the NFL championship game. As it turned out, that was the last game coached by Parker in Detroit. He traded for Tobin Rote from Green Bay in the offseason but in August 12...Parker resigned. George Wilson was promoted from assistant to head coach. Parker became coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers two weeks later and watched from afar as a Layne injury opened the door for Rote to lead the Lions to the championship that year.

Parker took over for the ailing Walt Kiesling and had a one game improvement in 1957, going 6-6 for a team that actually had a QB room of Earl Morrall, Len Dawson, and Jack Kemp (Morrall played while the 5th overall pick in Dawson made one start in three years and Kemp went elsewhere). In 1958, Parker traded Morrall and draft picks for Bobby Layne after losing the first two games. The Steelers started 1-4 but finished strong with a record of 7-4-1, which was the first over .500 season since 1949 and good for a third place finish. The 6–5–1 finish in 1959 meant that the Steelers had three straight seasons of .500 or better for the first time...ever. Parker's teams in Pittsburgh were a case of ups and downs, with the peaks coming in 1962 when they finished 2nd with a 9-5 record (New York had 12 wins in 1st), their first 2nd place finish since 1949. Layne retired and Parker's last two teams finished 7-4-3 and 5-9 before electing to quit in September of 1965 (the team proceeded to go 2-12). Parker spent the rest of his life out of head coaching, doing real estate and a bit of assistant coaching in 1978 (with the Cardinals, now in St. Louis) before dying in 1982 from complications of surgery at the age of 68 in Texas.

Has He Been Voted On?: It took a while for the Hall of Fame to look at him, twice in fact. The 2020 Centennial Class had him as a coaching finalist but did not elect him. He was a semifinalist/not the final cut for a few years before making it as a contributor finalist in 2024...but he did not get the 80% of the vote. 

In closing: When Parker retired, he had 104 wins, 75 losses, and 9 ties. Nowadays, there are 44 head coaches with 100 wins in NFL history and Parker is 42nd. But let us consider the following. Do you know how many coaches in the top 44 started their career in the first 30 years of the NFL (1920-1950, which includes the AAFC)? Just five: George Halas (who coached on and off from 1920 to 1967 as the then all-time leader in wins with 318), Curly Lambeau (1921-1953, 226 wins), Steve Owen (1930-1953, 153 wins), Paul Brown (who coached until 1975, 213 wins), and then Parker. 

If you want to stretch it to 1920-1970 to include the AFL and expansion teams, the list only grows to 13 with: Weeb Ewbank (1954; 130 wins), Sid Gillman (1955, 122 wins), Tom Landry (1960, 250 wins), Hank Stram (1960, 131 wins), Don Shula (1963, 328 wins), George Allen (1966; 116 wins), Bud Grant (1967, 158 wins), and Chuck Noll (1969, 193 wins). You may notice something from those coaches besides Parker: All of them are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

In fact, Parker is one of just five head coaches with multiple championships that are not in the Hall, which includes Lou Saban (1964, 1965 - AFL), George Seifert (Super Bowls XXIV, XXIX), Mike Shanahan (XXXII, XXXIII), Tom Coughlin (XLII, XLVI). Tom Flores (who won XV, XVIII) only left the club of the snubbed in 2021. You might remember he went 83-53 with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders...before closing his career out with disaster in Seattle that saw him go 14-34. He went 97-87 as a head coach. Why does Parker (who went 6-5-1 in Chicago, 47-23-2 in Detroit, 51-47-6 in Pittsburgh) get punished for his obvious talents? In case you were wondering, Parker's .577 winning percentage isn't a detriment to his case, either, as even guys such as Ewbank made it in the hall despite a winning percentage of .502. In short, Parker deserved better and should've already been in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But our Hall rewards winners, so with that in mind....

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Buddy Parker into the Hall.

Notes

*Since the AAFC statistics now count as legit among the NFL, yes, that means the Browns made the championship ten straight times. Before talking about Tom Brady and other title QBs, consider that Otto Graham, QB for the Browns from 1946 to 1955, never missed the championship game in his career.

Image: File:Buddy Parker - 1952 Bowman Large.jpg - Wikimedia Commons 

Poor Nick Kerbawy. He got hired away by the Detroit Pistons in 1958 by owner Fred Zollner for plenty of money...and was fired after three years. He spent his remaining years watching sports and serving for the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, which he had created in 1954.

The Unsung – Cookie Gilchrist

Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist (May 25, 1935 – January 10, 2011)

Played for: Sarnia Imperials (1954), Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen (1955), Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1956–1957), Saskatchewan Roughriders (1958), Toronto Argonauts (1959–1961), Buffalo Bills (1962–1964), Denver Broncos (1965), Miami Dolphins (1966), Denver Broncos (1967)

Cookie Gilchrist [Canadian football Stats] and [American football Stats] - FB (Fullback)

CFL: 849 carries, 4,911 yards, 5.8 per carry, 28 touchdowns, 86 receptions for 1,068 yards, 5 TD, 12 interceptions, 2 TD

AFL: 1,010 carries, 4,293 yards, 4.3 per carry, 37 touchdowns; 110 receptions, 1,135 yards, 6 TD

Pro Total: 1,859 carries for 9,204 yards (5.0 per carry), 65 rushing touchdowns, 196 receptions for 2,203 yards and 11 TD - 78 total touchdowns

Grey Cup champion (1957)

AFL championship (1964)

AFL Most Valuable Player (1962 - UPI & AP)

First-team All-AFL (1962, 1964, 1965)

Second-team All-AFL (1963)

ORFU All-Star (1955) 

CFL All-Star (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)

AFL All-Star (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965)

Once upon a time, Cookie Gilchrist was among the most noted players of football leagues in two different countries. But conflicts of personality in a time as turbulent as possible for confident black men and a body that aged him out of football before he turned 33 saw him never named to a Hall of Fame. You might wonder, hey, why include the CFL in this discussion? Because it matters to understanding just how good Cookie Gilchrist really in what I think is a special case. Cookie Gilchrist was a star player in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania. Gilchrist did not go to college, because his talents were so readily apparent that Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns had a contract ready for him just as he was winding up to play in the pro leagues in 1954. Gilchrist did not make the cut in preseason, so he decided to take his talents to where else but Canada, which at that moment in time had football teams in three different "Football Unions" (the pros with the Western Interprovincial and the Interprovincial Rugby to go with the amateur Ontario Rugby Union) with 110-yard fields and a three-down format. In the two amateur years of 1954 and 1955, he ran for 800 yards in each year. Starting in 1956, with the dawn of the pros in the CFL, Gilchrist played for the first of three different Canadian football teams and played a wide variety of positions on the field beyond fullback that saw him catch passes and play defense. It was with Hamilton in 1957 (the second season of the CFL) that Gilchrist earned his first pro title. He ran for 958 yards with nine total touchdowns (7 rushing, 2 INT for TD) as the Tiger-Cats defeated Winnipeg in the Grey Cup. He later claimed that the Browns asked about bringing him to the NFL but he apparently declined because they wanted him to stop dating the woman he was seeing (who was white). Gilchrist ran for 1,254 yards for Saskatchewan in 1958 and seemed to be on the path to a big career with Toronto, where he played three seasons before friction with management led him to go on waivers and eventually find his way to playing in the AFL in 1962. In total, between the ORFU/West/East, he had made the All-Star team six times.

Gilchrist would play in just six years for the AFL, but he sure made his mark known as a 6'3 250-pound fullback. Granted, it got to a slow start. The Bills (comprised of one HOFer, tackle Billy Shaw) lost each of their first five games under first-year head coach Lou Saban and quarterback Al Dorow (who somehow was replaced by a slightly better player in Warren Rabb), with Gilchrist running for under 60 yards four times, although he did have a touchdown in three of the five games. He proceeded to cut loose against San Diego in Week 6, rushing a season-high 25 times for 124 yards with a touchdown (while also catching a receiving TD) as the Bills broke the drought 35-10. From there, Gilchrist kept going, where he had a seven-game streak with at least one rushing touchdown on his way to five 100-yard games leading up to Week 14. Needing less than 60 yards for history, Gilchrist ran for 143 yards versus the New York Titans to become the first AFL rusher with 1,000 yards in a season. His two touchdowns finished off his season with 13 (tied with Abner Haynes), a league high as the Bills finished 7-6-1. Gilchrist won the AP and UPI MVP while Len Dawson won the TSN MVP*. With a slightly heavier load to bear in 1963 that saw the full arrival of Jack Kemp at QB (for the most part), the Bills had another slow start in 1963, where they didn't win a game until Week 5. Gilchrist did not have a 100-yard game until Week 9 but the Bills persevered late in the year, and the Week 14 game was a highlight of itself. At War Memorial Stadium, Gilchrist faced the New York Jets and ran 36 times for 243 yards and five touchdowns in a 45-14 wallop. It was the most rushing yards in one game since Spec Sanders ran for 250 in 1947 for the AAFC*. He then ran for 114 yards on 31 carries in a narrow 19-10 win over the Jets the following week that combined with a Patriots loss to set up a tie at 7-6-1 in the Eastern Division that necessitated a "playoff". It didn't go well, as Gilchrist ran eight times for seven yards, fumbled once and even missed a field goal in the 26-8 loss at home. In total, Gilchrist ran for 979 yards and 12 touchdowns, a league high.

1964 was a peak time for all involved. Gilchrist led the league in yards with 981 on 230 carries for six touchdowns (which was a league high alongside Daryle Lamonica and Sid Blanks) but most significantly the Bills clicked on all cylinders for a 12-2 finish. In the AFL Championship Game versus San Diego (who lacked Lance Alworth due to injury and lost Keith Lincoln early in the game) on December 26, 1964, Gilchrist ran for 122 yards on 16 carries and caught 2 passes for 22 yards as Pete Gogolak kicked two field goals to go along with touchdowns runs by Wray Carlton and Kemp to win 20-7; Buffalo was a championship city at last. It that was the last game played by Gilchrist in Buffalo. Gilchrist was traded in February of 1965 to the Denver Broncos for Billy Joe. There was one last flicker for Cookie that year, as he ran for 954 yards on 252 carries for 3.8 yards a carry for six touchdowns on a terrible Broncos team that went 4-10. His six touchdowns were actually a league-high (for the 4th and final time) alongside Wray Carlton, Paul Lowe, and Curtis McClinton. He was named to the All-Star team and served as a key force for boycotting the game away from the original intended location of New Orleans due to bad experiences several black players went through in the city (instead, the game was played in Houston). Gilchrist missed the first six games of the 1966 season and by then he was playing in Miami, where in six starts (eight appearances) he ran 72 times for 262 yards. He recorded his final career touchdown on a catch on October 23. He then had 10 carries for Denver in 1967 as knee injuries finally stopped Gilchrist from playing football, having ran for 9,000 total yards in two football leagues.

Gilchrist either was refused entry into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame or rejected it personally (he claimed in a 2010 interview that the country treated him terribly from 1956 to 2010 and that the Hall asked him to treat a certain person nicely). Gilchrist was not inducted into the Bills Wall of Fame until after his death; Gilchrist died in 2011 at the age of 75, where a brain scan revealed he was stage four for having CTE (making him one of over 300 players to have had CTE, which come from hits to the head). At any rate, Gilchrist has never been a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For all players in the 1960s, Gilchrist managed to rank 12th in touchdowns (and 15th for players from 1962 to 1967) despite playing 65 games (as seen here*), where he ranked behind legends such as Jim Taylor and who else but Gale Sayers; Sayers and Gilchrist played nearly the same amount of games (less than 70) and each ran for only over 4,000 yards with over 35+ rushing touchdowns, and four All-Star selections. Gilchrist had an MVP; Sayers had 5 All-Pro selections...and only Sayers made the Hall. In the history of the pro leagues (NFL, AFL, AAFC), Gilchrist was the third player to lead a league in rushing touchdowns in four seasons but the only one to do it in four consecutive seasons (Steve Van Buren did it from 1945, 1947–1949 and Jim Brown did it from 1957–1959, 1963, 1965). No player has led the league in touchdowns four times in their career since Gilchrist did so (Derrick Henry is the most recent to get to three, by the way).

Famously confident in his abilities and just as famous for management squabbles, Gilchrist deserved better, and there were teammates that said that if he played much later on, he would've been an even bigger star. His post-career effort to make a "United Athletes Coalition of America" (for former players trying to adjust to life after football) clearly meant that he cared about more than just the game itself, but circumstances always found a way to screw him, In my view, he shone extremely bright and deserved all the attention required for how he made defenders crumble, whether it was for America or Canada. 

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Cookie Gilchrist to the Hall.

N O T E S

*In the ten-year history of the AFL, there were multiple MVPs for a season three times because of how the voting went for the Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UPI), and The Sporting News (TSN)

For a concise biography on Gilchrist, check out https://profootballresearchers.com/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/24-02-933.pdf

Or his autobiography The Cookie That Did Not Crumble, along with Chris Garbarino

*More on the All-American Football Conference later.

*Yes, Jack Kemp had 40 rushing touchdowns in the 1960s, with the next closest at the position of QB being Roman Gabriel with 24. Only Otto Graham had more rushing TDs for a QB when Kemp retired. More on him later.

The Unsung – Bobby Boyd

Robert Dean Boyd (December 3, 1937 – August 28, 2017)

 

Played for: Baltimore Colts (1960–1968)

Coached: Baltimore Colts (1969–1972; DB), Baltimore Colts (1981, assistant)

Bobby Boyd (Football Reference [Player]) statistics – Cornerback (CB)

57 Interceptions, 994 Interception yards, 5 defensive touchdowns

First-team All-Pro (1964, 1965, 1968)

Second-team All-Pro (1966)

NFL championship (1968)

Pro Bowl selection (1964, 1968)

Boyd was born in Dallas, Texas but raised in Garland that saw him show a clear interest in sports from a young age, where he excelled at basketball, baseball, and football. He actually was a star halfback and defensive back that saw him attract offers from SMU and Oklahoma, with Boyd deciding to pick the latter at the last second. In college (1957-1959), he played both ways to a certain extent, playing halfback (first year) and quarterback to go alongside his work as defensive back and punt returner. In 1960, he was drafted by the AFL (second round, Los Angeles) and the NFL's Baltimore Colts in the 10th round. He went with the Colts, where he would play cornerback (with a few goes as a returner in 1961-62, 1964).

Did I mention he only played nine seasons? Boyd has the most interceptions for all players who played less than ten seasons [as evidenced here], which includes Hall of Famers such as Jack Butler and Bobby Dillon (52). And yes, Boyd even leads for all players who played 10 or 11 seasons*. A noted student of game film for the habits that quarterbacks would do, Boyd intercepted seven passes for the 1960 rookie season (6th most in the league) as the Colts were in transition from having won the last two NFL titles. Boyd recorded his lowest INT total in 1961 with just two. It was not until 1964, the year the Colts reached the NFL Championship Game, that Boyd received Pro Bowl/All Pro attention, and that year he intercepted nine passes (3rd most in the league). Boyd's only meaningful play in the championship versus Cleveland was being tackled as the holder for a failed FG snap in the 27-0 loss. Boyd continued his prowess in 1965, leading the NFL with nine interceptions for his only league-leading season. In the next three seasons, he was top 8 for interceptions and in total finished in the top ten for interceptions seven times. His 57 interceptions are tied for 13th most in NFL history and no player had more INTs than Boyd did from his career span of 1960 to 1968.

Boyd closed out his career at 31 years old in 1968 and at least went out with some fun. He had eight interceptions as the Colts reached the playoffs for the first time in three years. In the Divisional Round versus Minnesota, Boyd recorded his second and final career playoff interception in a 24-14 victory. In the 1969 NFL Championship Game for the right to go to Super Bowl III, Boyd didn't record a statistic, but it didn't matter as the Colts defeated the Browns 34-0 to win the penultimate NFL championship. In Super Bowl III, Boyd and the heavily favored Colts lost to the New York Jets, with Boyd recording two tackles. He decided to retire in order to become the defensive backs coach of the Colts, and he stayed on long enough to see the Colts achieve a form of redemption with their Super Bowl V victory in 1971. He retired the following year to become a businessman (involving restaurants and an air freight service). He died in 2017 at the age of 79 in Garland.

Has He Been Voted On? Boyd has never been a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame (as evidenced here), not even for the Seniors vote. You could pick any player from that list such as say, Charley Conerly (*seven* votes) and wonder how Boyd was ignored for even one yearly vote (consider [this article from 2025]. The Ravens, who try to co-op the history of football in Baltimore with a Ring of Honor that honored Colts such as Johnny Unitas, somehow forgot to induct Boyd (meanwhile, the Colts only have a Ring of Honor for Indianapolis players). 

Boyd was one of the three cornerbacks named to the NFL 1960s All-Decade Team alongside Lem Barney (who finished with 56 INT) and Herb Adderley (who had 48 INT), who unlike Boyd are in the Hall. Given how the Pro Football Hall of Fame just ignored L.C. Greenwood on the seniors ballot, I'm not shocked at Boyd being left out. But he deserves better.

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Bobby Boyd as the next member of the hall.

Notes

For players with 12 seasons, Ed Reed leads the way: https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/qQaKw

Photo courtesy of Baltimore Colts promotional photo, c. 1967

The Unsung – Candy Jim Taylor.

Candy Jim Taylor (February 1, 1884 – April 3, 1948)

Managed Dayton Marcos (1920), Cleveland Tate Stars (1922), Toledo Tigers (1923), St. Louis Stars (1923-1925, 1927-1929), Cleveland Elites (1926), Detroit Stars (1926), Memphis Red Sox (1930), Indianapolis ABCs/Detroit Stars (1931-1933), Nashville / Columbus / Washington Elite Giants (1934-1936), Chicago American Giants (1937-1939, 1941-1942, 1945-1947), Birmingham Black Barons (1940), Homestead Grays (1943-1944)

Candy Jim Taylor (Baseball Reference [Player] / Baseball Reference [manager]) statistics  

955–991–21 (.491) / 997-1,121-35 (.471) in 27 seasons

3 league pennants as manager

2 NWS championships

Time has rewarded the Negro leagues. You might know that baseball didn't allow black players to play baseball until the 1940s because of racist slime that operated the leagues. But there were many leagues of baseball for players and managers that operated in the 20th century. It was in 2024 that MLB integrated Negro league stats such as managerial wins into their records. Please note that Retrosheet, Seamheads, and Baseball Reference have their own quibbles about postseason play and even his record is debatable. Please note that black baseball is considered major league in 1920, although Taylor played and managed for many years prior. Okay, work with me on this: Taylor managed 12 teams in the major league era of black baseball and won over 900 games, which is the most for any person in that era. He also lost over 900 games in that era. Taylor apparently started playing baseball before he was even 20, doing so with his brothers Ben, C. I. and "Steel Arm" Johnny, who all played various forms of ball in the early 20th century. He became a player/manager in the 1910s for teams such as West Baden and Indianapolis. In 1925, the Stars 59-30-2 in 91 games for a second-place finish. They were matched against the Kansas City Monarchs for a Championship Series, which resulted in the Stars losing 4-3 as the Monarchs reached the black World Series. In 1928, Taylor led the St. Louis Stars to the Negro National League pennant, going 67-26 in 93 games. In the year that the league didn't send its champion to the black World Series, the Stars instead had a "Championship Series" versus the Chicago American Giants. The Stars won in a best-of-nine series that went the distance. With St. Louis, he managed them for 515 games, the 2nd most he managed for a team officially next to Chicago (593) and went to the playoffs twice.

With Chicago in total, he led them to the playoffs once: in 1937, a third-place finish somehow saw them make the Negro American League playoffs with a 39-37-1 record. They lost 5-1 to Kansas City. Taylor went 244-340-9 in eight on-and-off seasons. It was during World War II that Taylor saw his strategies turn up lucky. When Vic Harris left managing duties to do work at a plant, Taylor became manager of the Homestead Grays for 1943 and 1944. The result saw him go 141-52 that saw him win the Negro National League (II) pennant twice. They faced the Birmingham Black Barons (as managed by Gus Welch) in both years of the Negro World Series (brought back in 1942). In 1943, the Grays and Barons traded wins (and a tie) that forced a pivotal Game 8 where Homestead scored six runs to overcome a 4-2 deficit in the eighth inning to win 8-4. 1944 in contrast saw the Grays win it in five games by an average of five runs. A baseball lifer who never married or had children, Taylor had 11 winning seasons while finishing in the top-three of a league season ten times. Taylor died suddenly before the start of the 1948 season, where he was to manage the Baltimore Elite Giants.

It may interest you to know that Taylor was up for a Hall of Fame vote once, in 2006. He didnt make it, but 17 others did. As of now, in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, only one black person has been inducted for anything relating to managerial effort. Rube Foster was both a domineering pitcher (specifically in the early 1900s) and executive in the Negro leagues, specifically with the Chicago American Giants, where he won 300 games as manager from 1920 to 1926 that saw four league pennants. And that's it, no other black managers are recognized despite obvious standouts. Taylor is the very definition of what it means to understand history of black baseball in all of its facets: the lifer, the winner, the career man, the one who endures. 

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Candy Jim Taylor as part of the Unsung Hall of Fame.

Notes

For more info on Candy Jim, seek out SABR: Jim Taylor – Society for American Baseball Research

The Unsung – Lionel Taylor.

Lionel Thomas Taylor (August 15, 1935 – August 6, 2025)

Played for: Chicago Bears (1959), Denver Broncos (1960–1966), Houston Oilers (1967–1968) 

Lionel Taylor (Pro Football Reference page]) statistics – WR

121 games, 567 receptions, 7,195 receiving yards, 12.7 yards per catch, 45 touchdowns

First-team All-All-AFL (1960–1962, 1965), Second-team All-AFL (1963), AFL All-Star (1961, 1962, 1965)

Lionel Taylor caught 567 passes in nine seasons for the greatest threat to the NFL, the American Football League. And yet, his name has been almost forgotten by the ones who write legacies for football players, particularly ones from his era and league. Born in Kansas City but raised in West Virginia, Lionel Taylor wound up attending college at New Mexico Highlands in 1955 that saw him excel in football, basketball and even track. He wasn't drafted by an NFL team, but the Bears had him sign a contract in 1958 and 1959, making the cut in the latter. Believe it or not, Lionel Taylor did all of his receptions in nine of his ten seasons. Yes, Taylor started playing pro football with the Bears in 1959, bur he recorded no statistics as basically a substitute end for the team before he found his real place with the upstart AFL and the Denver Broncos in 1960. It took a while to make his decision, which is how he played in just 12 of the 14 games for that year - but he was essentially electric from the start. In his first game as a Bronco on September 23, he caught six passes for 125 yards with a touchdown; in an event soon familiar to Taylor in Denver, the Broncos lost 28-24. In twelve games, Taylor had four games with at least 10 receptions, and he recorded seven 100-yard games, even getting one yard short of a 200 game against Buffalo on November 27 (as it turned out, his 199-yard game was his career high). In the final game of the year (a loss to Oakland), he finished the season out with four catches to get his total to 92 receptions on the year for 1,235 yards and 12 touchdowns. With 92 receptions, Taylor set a pro football record, topping Tom Fears' mark of 84 in 1950. 

1961 was even more interesting. With a 14-game slate all ready to go for Taylor to catch passes from Frank Tripucka, Taylor caught many and the Broncos lost plenty, with the Broncos being bad enough that Taylor didn't record a touchdown catch after Week 5. With Denver at 3-10 in the final game of the year, Taylor had caught 95 passes for over 1,000 yards. Even though the Broncos were walloped on that day by the Dallas Texans, Taylor's fifth and final reception of the day handed him a historic achievement. He caught 100 passes for 1,176 yards for 4 touchdowns to become the first 100-reception man. For reference, the NFL, a league that had receivers such as Bobby Mitchell and Charley Taylor dominate the books for the 1960s...had the peak of the decade come from Johnny Morris (93, in 1964). While Taylor's record for a season was passed by Charlie Hennigan in 1964, it should be noted no NFL receiver recorded 100 receptions in a season until 1984 with Art Monk. Taylor did not reach 90 catches again, but he continued to dominate the league in receptions, leading the league in 1962 (77), 1963, (78) and 1965 (85). To cherry pick a bit (this is my HOF), let's say you like to see a receiver catch 75 passes a season. From 1920 to 1968, Taylor had *six seasons with that number* while the nine other receivers to ever do it in NFL history...combined for 11 total 75-reception seasons. Nowadays, 35 other receivers have 6+ 75-reception seasons, but Taylor was still #1 as late as 1993, over 20 years after he retired.

For the timespan of 1960 to 1965, he caught 508 passes in 82 games for 43 touchdowns while becoming only the second player to lead a league in catches five times (for reference, only Don Hutson did it more with 8 and no player has even gotten to 4 in the past 60 years). 1966 saw Taylor hurt his knee in training camp in what ended up being the beginning of the end of his career. He caught 35 passes for 448 yards in what was his final season with Denver; in the seven seasons he played there, the team went 26-69-3 while having ten different quarterbacks start games in seven years: Frank Tripucka, George Herring, George Shaw, Mickey Slaughter, John McCormick, Don Breaux, Jacky Lee, Max Choboian, and Scotty Glacken. He was traded to the Oakland Raiders in late 1967; he had decided to retire from the game and never played for Oakland. However, he arose in October to make appearances for the Houston Oilers, playing eight games and catching 18 passes for 233 yards (his one touchdown that year, against Denver on November 12, ended up being his last TD). Because the Oilers won the Eastern Division title, Taylor played in his first and only playoff game against Oakland: it did not go well, with Taylor catching one pass for 6 yards in the 40-7 loss as Oakland reached Super Bowl II. After catching six total passes in 1968, Taylor retired for good.

In closing: After his football career ended, Taylor was a coach for a variety of teams, most notably serving as the wide receivers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1970-1976) and Los Angeles Rams (1977-1981 - his two final years saw him add offensive coordinator duties) to go along with head coach of Texas Southern (1984-1988) and head coach / offensive coordinator in the World League (1995-1998). He coached in three Super Bowls (IX, X, XIV) and won two Super Bowl rings with the Steelers. In 2024, he was awarded the Pro Football Hall of Fame Award of Excellence; Tony Dungy labeled Taylor as a role model: "We all need role models in life, and fortunately, there was a Lionel Taylor there that I could look at and say, 'Yeah, this is possible. "I came in the league with Herm Edwards and Ray Rhodes, and we all became head coaches. It would not have happened without Lionel Taylor."

At the end of 1965, only three men had 500 receptions: Raymond Berry, Taylor, and Billy Howton (a tale for another time) [as seen here]; nowadays, 184 people are part of the club. When Taylor retired, he had the most receptions for any player to play 10 seasons or less in all of NFL history (as seen here, he has since been passed by just 14 players, the first being Sterling Sharpe). And yet, Taylor was never a HOF finalist (as seen here). Taylor recorded more receptions than receivers such as Bobby Mitchell but couldn't even make a HOF vote. The Excellence award was one thing, but Taylor deserved more than just being a member of the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame. So, would I recommend Lionel Taylor for the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Of course I would. 

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Lionel Taylor as part of the Unsung Hall of Fame.

Notes

As always, enjoy a link: Remember the AFL

Image credit: NEA, 1965: https://newspaperarchive.com/helena-independent-record-dec-12-1965-p-11/