The "Pro Football Hall of Fame" in Canton, Ohio, supposedly represents all of professional football. Yet, of its two hundred and twenty-one members, only ONE was never in the NFL. That one, Buffalo's Billy Shaw, played his entire career in the AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE. Yet, at his induction, he wore a yellow coat emblazoned with the NFL logo. Great players like Tom Sestak, Lionel Taylor, Johnny Robinson, Abner Haynes, and numerous other American Football League stars are ignored by the "Pro Football Hall of Fame", because they played in the wrong league. This, then, is a Hall of Fame devoted to the players of a league that had a profound impact on professional football; a sport that today reflects the AFL's influence in everything but name. Our Hall of Fame list of American Football League players, coaches, and contributors includes those who, against tremendous odds, got into the "Pro Football Hall of Fame". But it also includes (with names in BLUE ) the AFL stars who until now, have not received the honor they so richly deserve. Names in | |
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