Many AFL Stars Have Been Snubbed by HOF

The Oakland Raiders certainly were not a dominant force in the 10-year history of the American Football League from 1960-69, but the Silver and Black were very competitive from 1963 on after Al Davis took over as coach and general manager.

The Raiders were 10-4 in 1963 and finished second to the AFC champion San Diego Chargers in the AFC West that season, but recorded their first two victories in eight games against the Chargers, who many believe could have beaten the Chicago Bears, National Football League champions that season.

During the 10 seasons of the AFL, the Raiders played in the last three league championship games, routing the Houston Oilers, 40-7, at the Oakland Coliseum in the 1967 season when they were 14-1 before losing to the Green Bay Packers, 33-14, in Super Bowl II, before losing to Joe Namath and the New York Jets, 27-23, at Shea Stadium in the 1968 title game, and falling to Len Dawson and the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-7, in the last AFL title game in the 1969 season at the Coliseum.

The Chiefs, who started out as the Dallas Texans, claimed three AFL titles, while the Oilers won the first two and the Buffalo Bills also captured two.

The Raiders are well represented on the All-Time AFL team with nine players, including Hall of Fame center Jim Otto, Hall of Fame cornerback Willie Brown, Hall of Fame quarterback-kicker George Blanda, running back Clem Daniels, and cornerback Dave Grayson on the first team.

Receiving second-team honors were wide receiver Art Powell, defensive tackle Tom Keating, linebacker Dan Conners, and tight end Dave Kocourek.

Hall of Fame tackle Ron Mix of the San Diego Chargers, who finished his career with the Raiders, also is on the first team.

Coaches Weeb Ewbank of the Jets and Sid Gillman of the Chargers also were selected to the team and are in the Hall of Fame, along with Davis.

However, Namath, Dawson, wide receivers Lance Alworth of the Chargers and Don Maynard of the Jets, guard Billy Shaw of the Bills, linebackers Nick Buoniconti of the Miami Dolphins and Bobby Bell of the Chiefs, safety Johnny Robinson of the Chiefs, tackle Winston Hill of the Jets, defensive tackle Buck Buchanan of the Chiefs are the only other members of the team in the Hall of Fame.

The last AFL player inducted at Canton were Buoniconti in 2001 until Hill was selected in 2020, and people in the know who watched the AFL believe several players are deserving but have been overlooked, and there also has been talk of a separate AFL wing at the HOF to make up for it.

Not only that, the first AFL player wasn’t inducted into the Hall until 1978, which shows the bias that existed during and after the Pro Football War, with ended with the completed merger of the NFL and AFL in 1970.

Only once in the 52 years since the merger were more than one player from the AFL been elected to the Hall of Fame, and that came Class of 1987, when Dawson and Maynard both were inducted.

“It’s no secret that some voters viewed the AFL as an inferior league and didn’t treat its players equitably,” Clark Judge of Fan Nation wrote in 2020. “I don’t know about that, either. I wasn’t in the room. What I do know is that the two leagues were 2-2 in Super Bowls (before the merger), and that sounds equal to me.”

Here are some of the players who former AFL observers believe at least deserve consideration for the Hall of Fame:

On offense, quarterbacks John Hadl of the Chargers, Jack Kemp of the Bills and Daryle Lamonica of the Raiders; running backs Daniels, Abner Haynes of the Chiefs, Jim Nance of the Boston Patriots, and Paul Lowe and Keith Lincoln of the Chargers; wide receivers Powell, Otis Taylor of the Chiefs, Lionel Taylor of the Denver Broncos, Gino Cappelletti of the Patriots, Chris Burford of the Chiefs and Elbert Dubenion of the Bills; tight end Fred Arbanas of the Chiefs, and linemen Jim Tyrer of the Chiefs, Walt Sweeney of the Chargers, Ed Budde of the Chiefs, Bob Talamini of the Oilers and Jon Morris of the Patriots.

On defense, there are linemen Keating, Jerry Mays of the Chiefs, Gerry Philbin of the Jets, Tom Sestak of the Bills, Ernie Ladd of the Chargers, Houston Antoine of the Patriots; Rich Jackson of the Broncos, and Earl Faison of the Chargers; linebackers Conners, George Webster of the Oilers, E.J. Holub of the Chiefs, Mike Stratton of the Bills and Larry Grantham of the Jets, and defensive backs Grayson, Butch Byrd of the Bills, Goose Gonsoulin of the Broncos and George Saimes of the Bills, plus punter Jerrel Wilson of the Chiefs and kicker Jim Turner of the Jets.

Of course, some of those players weren’t quite good enough to make the Hall of Fame, but tragically, those who were might never get there.

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