On Wednesday, it was announced that a 12-person committee selected former NFL coach Buddy Parker to be a finalist for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame in 2024. Parker, who last coached in 1964 and led the Lions to consecutive NFL titles in the 1950s, died in 1982.
He emerged as the choice of the committee from among a group that consisted of Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, Frank “Bucko” Kilroy, Robert Kraft, Dan Reeves, Art Rooney Jr., Marty Schottenheimer, Mike Shanahan, Clark Shaughnessy, Lloyd Wells, and John Wooten.
Sal Paolantonio of ESPN, who presented Shanahan during the Tuesday meeting, told Mike Klis of 9News.com that Shanahan, Holmgren, and Kraft “are among those getting serious consideration” for eventual spots in the Hall of Fame.
It’s unclear why any of them took a back seat to Buddy Parker. With all due respect to his career and accomplishments, he didn’t get in when those from his era got in. If he didn’t get in then, why is he getting in now?
(That said, he’s not in yet. At least 80 percent of the full selection committee has to approve his enshrinement. If I had a vote — and I never will — I would vote no, frankly.)
One of the major problems with the entire selection process is that there’s too much of an effort to clean up past messes, giving spots to guys who were previously overlooked, for whatever reason. But whatever the reason, they didn’t get in. The game moves on.
There’s no shame in not making it to the Hall of Fame. The shame comes from diluting the honor by making it into the Hall of the Very Good. It’s why Deion Sanders has complained about the lower bar that has emerged for Canton, and why he wants an “upper room” that should consist only of the best of the best.
Eventually, Shanahan, Holmgren, and Kraft will get in. If Parker got in, they should. And if they don’t get in when their peers do, they’ll get in later.
Even if “later” means more than 40 years after they die.
