Dear Mr. Commissioner,
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I have three particularly
important things to discuss with you today, but first I want to say I think you
have done a more then commendable job of dealing with many of the pressing
social issues that have plagued the NFL while you were in just your second year
on the job.
As for Michael Vick, I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Adam “Pacman”
Jones? I like your style Mr. Commissioner, and as a footnote, let me say one
thing to Mr. Jones -- young man, you’re darn lucky you’re currently not
doing some serious time in the slammer. In regards to Odell Thurman and Chris
Henry, again you exercised excellent judgment in dealing with these two
undesirables. The loyal fans in the “Queen City” and the dedicated
hard-working teammates that they let down by their actions deserve a good deal
more.
Looking back at Bill Belichick and the Spygate episode, I’m afraid, Mr.
Commissioner, that’s a far different story. I actually think you initially did
a fairly good job of handling that particular issue, although I believe that the
forfeited first-round draft selection by the Patriots should have been awarded
to the Jets.
Today, I’m urging you to revisit the circumstances involving Super Bowl
XXXVI in New Orleans between the Patriots and Rams, specifically as it concerns
the activities of Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh and the parameters of
which I’m sure you are quite familiar with. I would think that the potential
of a possible scandal surrounding the Super Bowl would be of tremendous concern
in your office; enough, in fact, that there would be a necessity — indeed an
urgency — to investigate the charge in such a way that the NFL would leave no
stone unturned in its search for a resolution to this matter. Yet
there is still an air of uncertainty over actions taken by Mr. Walsh, who has
since admitted to violating NFL policy; actions that may very well have affected
the outcome of Super Bowl and tipped the scales to the New England Patriots.
If the long-term integrity of the league, and/or the perception of it in the
public eyes, is of paramount importance to the league, then your overall ruling
in this matter is, quite frankly, unsatisfactory. The appearance of any
impropriety surrounding an NFL game is a major affront to the game, but for such
a question to loom over the NFL's biggest showcase, played on the largest stage
for any one-day sporting event in the world, is absolutely unacceptable. It is
simply too offensive to the sensibilities of fair-minded individuals, and
justifiably leaves the NFL open to a great deal of criticism from its skeptics.
I urge you to continue to exhaust all avenues at your disposal, to uncover
the facts that need to be known about this incident and to be resolute in taking
the action necessary to restore the kind of credibility that will leave no doubt
forever in the mind of the public that anything less than fairness and equity
will not be tolerated in the NFL.
Back in 2004, long before the “Spygate” incident, a player related a
story to me one evening after a workout at the Rams complex that I will never
forget.
At the last practice in St Louis prior to leaving for the Super Bowl, Mike Martz
installed a “red zone” play that the Rams had not used once during the
pre-season, regular season or during our playoff run. When the team arrived in
New Orleans, even with the beefed up security, Mike once again did not run that
particular play (a wheel route to Marshall Faulk) until the club’s final
walk-through on the Saturday prior to the game.
“I think Mike had been saving this particular play for this one situation.
And to tell you the truth, Tom, the play was unstoppable," said the now
former player. "But when Mike inserted the corresponding personnel package,
formation and made the call during the first half, the Patriots defensive
players and virtually the entire Patriots sidelines were screaming to watch the
wheel to Marshall. If was as if they knew what was coming.”
I’m never going to be entirely sure that our loss (we were clearly the
better team) wasn’t directly related to their apparent covert actions prior to
the absolutely most important game in my professional career. But a very long
time ago I resolved myself to the fact that we ultimately fell short of our goal
on that “Black Sunday" and that’s the way it has to remain.
That being said, Mr. Commissioner, let me now get to my second reason for
writing to you today. My next request is to ask you to strongly consider
allowing professional scouts the opportunity to have their own wing at the
Professional Football League Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. It is long overdue,
and should be acted upon immediately.
As you know, the baseball HOF in Cooperstown, NY includes players, managers,
executives, commissioners’, owners and also has a writers' wing. Basketball
has its players, coaches, referees, owners and contributors, while the hockey
hall includes players, coaches, referees, linesmen and builders (owners, GM’s
writers, and league officials).
The football HOF has virtually all of the above, plus an additional wing
dedicated to athletic trainers and the contribution they have made to the sport.
But for some unknown reason, the people most responsible for recommending
virtually all of the players inducted into the hall in Canton, have never been
recognized by the leagues’ hierarchy.
Stars like Dan Marino, Paul Warfield, Brett Favre, Barry Sanders, John Elway,
Orlando Pace, or the aforementioned Marshall Faulk, all future or current Hall
of Fame members, were superstars at every level of play and hardly required a
trained eye to decide their placement in football history.
But without the keen eye of the professional scout, how many of the
late-round, free agent, and current HOF members such as Bart Starr, John Unitas,
Willie Brown, Don Maynard, Larry Little, Deacon Jones, Emmitt Thomas, Kenny
Houston, Larry Wilson and Willie Wood, would have had the opportunity to make it
to Canton? Some certainly would have, while others would likely have become just
footnotes in time had it not been for the critical evaluations of the backbone
of professional football — the talent scout.
Coaching giants with names like Landry, Lombardi, Brown, Shula, Noll and
Walsh rightfully share a prominent position in the main hall in Canton, but I
again wonder, what would have been their fate had they not had excellent players
provided to them by their respective scouting departments?
Over the years, I’ve also found one distinct, common denominator that every
successful coach at the professional level shared; when they had good players
they won football games, when they had great players they won championships and
when the cupboard was empty, they — like many of their colleagues in the
coaching community — soon realized that they were no longer a valued
commodity.
Mr. Commissioner, you can take full credit for this undertaking and also for
the new football draft that I introduced earlier this month (my ego is not that
big). I also want to let you know that I don’t consider the suggestion of a
scouting wing to the hall to be self-serving in any way, because even with
thirty-four years of loyal service to the game, I would not be as presumptuous
or arrogant as to include myself into any discussion for entrance into these
hallowed halls, without the vote of my peers.
Enough talk, let’s get to the hall itself. The wing I propose should
include all the implements used through the ages to evaluate individual players:
stop watches, tape recorders, T-square, scales, the famed Kodak Analyst, film
clips on a continuous loop of the many college players before they attained
greatness and who, in some cases, entered the main building in the hall. It
would include the history of the draft, its major hits and misses, as well as
the many outstanding collegiate players now identified as members of the
exclusive Heisman Trophy Jinx Club.
I personally would love to view you and the previous commissioners announcing
the first selections. Living scouting legends like Bobby Beathard, Upton Bell,
Norm Pollom and Gil Brandt — along with other veteran scouts — could share
their thought on scouting for the ages while also sharing interesting and
humorous scouting stories that they experienced during their travels down life’s
highways.
The numerous scouting organizations — National, Blesto, United,
Galaxy, CEPO, Quadra — along with the combines organized by both the WFL and
USFL should be recognized for the contributions they have made to the
profession.
Finally, the enormous contribution from the many outstanding individual
talent scouts, many of whom I can humbly refer to as friends, need to be
recognized.
I would first propose the league automatically enter the names of the deserving
scouts on a wall of fame. The names of the fifty pioneers to the scouting
profession would be entered in the first year, followed by the induction of a
second fifty-person grouping to the hall in year two. In year number three, ten
additional members would be inducted into the hall, including four outstanding
scouts and quality people (Mark Hatley, John Goeller, Glenn Cumby, and Mike
Pollom), who left this world far too soon.
Beyond this three year period, I would ask you, Mr. Commissioner, to appoint
a committee of ten current and former scouts to annually nominate and vote on
individuals for entrance into the hall. For induction into the hall, an
individual would have to have at least fifteen years of personnel experience and
must be inactive for a period of three full seasons before he could become
eligible. A maximum of five individuals can be nominated in any season and a
maximum of two selected in any given year.
It makes a great deal of sense, Mr. Commissioner, particularly when you
consider how popular the draft has become over the last decade.
The charter members to the proposed scouting wing of the Professional Football
Hall of Fame were truly an extraordinary group of individuals who — by their
unselfish dedication, attention to detail and instincts for the game — paved
the way for all of us who followed and had a profound impact on the game that we
have all come to love.
More then half of the personnel scouts that I compiled for entrance into the
hall are no longer with us, and only Jerry Reichow and Jack Faulkner, from the
first grouping, have any involvement in personnel today. But the contributions
that these pioneers made, although often overlooked, is the principle reason the
game has evolved to its current status.
I proudly submit to you, Mr. Commissioner, the first of my three groups for
entrance into the Professional Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
|
Alex
|
Bell
|
Blesto
|
|
Bert
|
Bell
|
Philadelphia Eagles
|
|
Upton
|
Bell
|
Baltimore Colts
|
|
Nate
|
Borden
|
Atlanta Falcons
|
|
Gil
|
Brandt
|
Dallas Cowboys
|
|
Paul
|
Brown
|
Cincinnati Bengals
|
|
Jack
|
Butler
|
Blesto
|
|
Al
|
Davis
|
Baltimore Colts
|
|
Milt
|
Davis
|
Detroit Lions
|
|
Jack
|
Faulkner
|
St Louis Cardinals
|
|
Beattie
|
Feathers
|
New York Giants
|
|
Jim
|
Finks
|
Minnesota Vikings
|
|
Jackie
|
Graves
|
CEPO
|
|
Dick
|
Gallagher
|
Cleveland Browns
|
|
Charlie
|
Hall
|
Houston Oilers
|
|
Howard “Red”
|
Hickey
|
Dallas Cowboys
|
|
Mike
|
Holovak
|
Houston Oilers
|
|
Harvey
|
Johnson
|
Buffalo Bills
|
|
Don
|
Joyce
|
Indianapolis Colts
|
|
Frank “Bucko”
|
Kilroy
|
N.E. Patriots
|
|
Don
|
Klosterman
|
Los Angeles Rams
|
|
Eddie
|
Kotal
|
LA Rams
|
|
Vic
|
Lindskog
|
Quadra
|
|
Al
|
LoCasale
|
San Diego Chargers
|
|
Wellington
|
Mara
|
New York Giants
|
|
Ray “Fido”
|
Murphy
|
Chicago Bears
|
|
Jerry
|
Neri
|
Detroit Lions
|
|
Mike
|
Nixon
|
Cleveland Browns
|
|
Bill
|
Nunn
|
Pittsburgh Steelers
|
|
Bob
|
Nussbaumer
|
Detroit Lions
|
|
Jim
|
Palmer
|
Chicago Bears
|
|
Clarence “Ace”
|
Parker
|
St Louis Cardinals
|
|
Joe
|
Perry
|
San Francisco 49ers
|
|
Norm
|
Pollom
|
Buffalo Bills
|
|
Tony
|
Razzano
|
San Francisco 49ers
|
|
Jerry
|
Reichow
|
Minnesota Vikings
|
|
Art
|
Rooney Jr.
|
Pittsburgh Steelers
|
|
John
|
Sanders
|
San Diego Chargers
|
|
George “Chink”
|
Sengel
|
Buffalo Bills
|
|
Harley
|
Sewell
|
LA Rams
|
|
Frank
|
Smouse
|
Cincinnati Bengals
|
|
Dick
|
Steinberg
|
N.E. Patriots
|
|
Joe
|
Thomas
|
Miami Dolphins
|
|
Emlen
|
Tunnell
|
New York Giants
|
|
Lynn
"Pappy"
|
Waldorf
|
San Francisco 49ers
|
|
Will
|
Walls
|
Dallas Texans
|
|
Bill
|
Walsh
|
San Francisco 49ers
|
|
Bobby
|
Walston
|
Chicago Bears
|
|
Ron
|
Wolf
|
Green Bay Packers
|
|
John
|
Michelosen
|
San Francisco 49ers
|
My second season selections
are as follows:
Over the last ten days, I have tried to come up with a composite list of all
personnel scouts who worked at least one season in the professional game. I
called numerous scouts, perused media guides and surfed the internet, but in
spite of the research, I’m fairly certain that I likely omitted a number of
quality scouts. I apologize to every one of these individuals and hope that
they, their families, friends, league officials, media, or fellow scouts would
contact me so that I could correct and update my files.
Many of the names on this list of former scouts may surprise you. Some are
household names, while others, like the position that they held, were anonymous
figures on the football landscape. Some transitioned from player to scout to
coaching or to an upper-management position, while still others, after working
briefly, decided to pursue careers outside of the game.
As is the case in every walk of life, over the years I have met some true
characters and a number of individuals I will never forget. By the same token,
there were more than a few I neither liked and/or respected during my career.
But through it all, each of us shared one common goal during our careers, and
that was doing our part to help bring a championship to our respective
clubs.
Mr. Commissioner, I submit to you my total list of former personnel scouts
for consideration.