Every year, the Pro Football Hall of Fame asks a panel of photography experts to choose the best NFL photo of the year. The photographer gets an award, and the picture is put on display at the Hall of Fame.
In the case of this award-winning picture of Aaron Hernandez scoring a touchdown in 2010, the photo was displayed for a year after it won the photography award, then put up again this year as part of a new exhibit displaying some of the best pictures in the Hall of Fame’s collection. The Hall of Fame took the picture down, however, when Hernandez was accused of murder and visitors suggested that it wasn’t appropriate.
That was disappointing for Mary Schwalm, who took the picture of Hernandez.
“It is disappointing,” Schwalm told the Sporting News. “I was able to say, ‘I have a photo hanging in the Hall of Fame.’ Can I still say that? . . . I’m bummed. I’m disappointed.”
Schwalm is still the winner of the 2010 award, and her picture -- which captured the joy of Hernandez as he scored and the disappointment of the fallen Packers defensive back behind him -- is still a good one. It’s just not one the Hall of Fame wants to display right now.
