PFT looks at the 2010 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
It’s a silly nickname and maybe even an insulting nickname, but “The Hogs” was also the perfect nickname for those big, fat, sweaty guys who led the way as the Washington Redskins won three Super Bowls.
Russ Grimm was the original Hog.
Fellow Hog George Starke told Peter King of Sports Illustrated the story: “Not everyone knows that the name Hogs came from a description of Russ Grimm. He was lying on the ground at the end of a blocking drill and [offensive line coach] Joe Bugel walked by and Russ had his stomach peeking out of his shirt. Buges said, ‘Man, Russ get up. You look like a Hog laying on the ground.’ After that the rest of us decided to poke fun at Buges and wear white shirts to practice and we all had Hogs written on them. Buges said to us, ‘Why are you doing that?’ We said, ‘Because we are in solidarity with Russ and if you call him a Hog, you have to call us all Hogs.’ That is where the name came from.’'
Grimm played for the Redskins from 1981 to 1991, and although the second half of his career was plagued by injuries, he was named a member of the All-Decade Team at the end of the 1980s.
Starke called Grimm “the greatest guard to ever play pro football.” Today he takes a place among his fellow greats.
