Twenty Season Hall of Fame Wait Comes to an End

By Broadside Staff Writer Rick Fincham

On Feb. 2, as the football world buzzed about numerous Super Bowl storylines, another storyline played out. Darrell Green, who has been considered a shoe-in for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for years by consensus opinion, received the call on Saturday afternoon that he would be inducted on his first try.

Cris Carter, who most people thought would be inducted on his first try, known as a wide receiver who could get down the field with relative ease and catch the ball for six points quite often, failed to get the same phone call as Green.

Instead, that phone call surprisingly went to Art Monk. The very same Art Monk who had been denied induction for seven straight years, despite setting records for being the first wide receiver to eclipse 900 receptions for a career (broken during his last season in the league by Jerry Rice), retiring with the single season record for 106 receptions, and having the most consecutive games with a catch (183).

Green, who may be one of the most beloved sports figures in his city, was known as the Washington Redskins’ undersized “shutdown” cornerback. During his hey-day, he was considered the NFL’s fastest man, making up for his diminutive stature with unbelievable speed, making some opposing quarterbacks unwilling to even test the side of the field he patrolled for numerous seasons during his illustrious career.

Green was drafted by the Redskins as the final pick in the NFL Draft’s first round in 1983. He earned the nickname “The Ageless Wonder” from his teammates and media in recognition of playing a young man’s position at a very high level, even during the twilight of his 20 season career for the Redskins. Many consider his greatest moment to be 1987's NFC Division Championship game against the heavily favored Chicago Bears, where he returned a punt for a go-head touchdown just before halftime. He also pulled a rib muscle during the run back; the Redskins would go on to win that game and Superbowl XXII.

Saturday’s announcement of induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, during his first year of eligibility, did not come as a surprise to many. He has the statistics, is always an interesting interviewee for the media and is known for his charity work in the area, which seem to be what the majority of the committee take into consideration when voting.

Monk, who based on statistics alone should have been inducted by now, finally will be. This is his eighth year of eligibility. Monk has mentioned in the past how he consistently gets phone calls each year apologizing to him for not receiving enough votes for enshrinement. Sadly, while still appreciative of the honor, he probably sees this more as a relief than a reward. Honestly, how could he not? Monk contributed to four Redskins Super Bowl teams, losing XVIII, winning a championship in XXII, XXVI and XVII. He did not play in the actual Super Bowl game, due to injury.

Many football fans, some Pro Football Hall of Fame members and members of the media have been outraged by Monk’s exclusion from the Hall. The two biggest reasons he has been excluded can be attributed to his soft spoken and shy demeanor, and because he did not catch the ball in the end zone as many times as some offensive players.

Monk is admittedly a very modest guy, who was better known for his charity work in the area than he was for providing memorable sound bites to the media. This hasn’t done him any favors among most non-Washington area media when it comes to voting discussions. He was considered Joe Theismann’s favorite offensive weapon during his time as the Redskins’ quarterback. Joe Gibbs’s philosophy was to pound the ball in with the running back when the team approached the red zone, most of those handoffs going to offensive “monster” John Riggins during his tenure with the team.

Many of Monk’s supporters encouraged him to do more interviews and send in tapes to help protest his constant exclusion from the Hall in recent years. He did not want any part of that, he believed the time he spent on the field was the time to protest for his career recognition. He wanted to be taken out of consideration for induction before the vote last year, but did not go through with it. He was positive that if he wasn’t inducted this year, he would definitely take himself out of consideration for a future induction.

Many were surprised that this was the year that Monk went in, much less with former teammate Green. It is not often that teammates make it together, but Monk was ecstatic to go in with Green. Both consider each other family, they work together in charity ventures, go on vacation together and their kids call each other cousins. In fact, they were not the only Redskins to go into the Hall of Fame this year, former Chiefs’ cornerback, Emmitt Thomas, served as the secondary coach for the Redskins under Joe Gibbs and later Richie Petitbon at one time.

As the Redskins’ faithful celebrate the induction of their players on Aug. 2 in Canton, Ohio, many sports fans and writers should be wondering what will happen with future wide receivers when it comes to voting as they watch Monk speak? The wide receiver position has not traditionally gotten a lot of love from voters, and that will be interesting to consider when it comes to players like Jerry Rice becoming eligible soon.

Today’s greats entering the height of their respective careers, like Terrell Owens, Randy Moss and Marvin Harrison. You would like to think if there ever was a wide receiver who should be inducted into the Hall of Fame, it would be Jerry Rice. But in today’s Pro Football Hall of Fame voting rooms, the majority of voters tend to focus on trivial matters like interviews instead of statistics; like voters in presidential elections focus on charisma instead of the issues. Marvin Harrison is 35-years-old and has Pro Football Hall of Fame statistics; however, he may find himself as this generation’s Art Monk, because he is not a prolific scorer like Moss or Owens, and does not have much more to say than Monk did.

Will it take him eight years to make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well?