It’s Official: Emmitt in the NFL Hall of Fame

Emmitt Smith’s run to greatness has finally ended.

Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, was selected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, reuniting the Triplets for eternity in Canton, Ohio.

Smith becomes the 12th Cowboy in the Hall of Fame, with fellow Triplets Michael Irvin and Troy Aikman as well as Bob Lilly, Roger Staubach, Tom Landry, Tex Schramm, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, Rayfield Wright, Mel Renfro and Bob Hayes.

The induction ceremony will take place Aug. 7. Jerry Rice, the NFL’s all-time leading receiver, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, Dick LeBeau, Floyd Little and John Randle also were selected.

There really was no suspense in Smith’s selection. In 15 seasons he ran for 18,355 yards and 164 touchdowns. He won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys, earning the MVP honors in Super Bowl XXVIII. He was also named the league’s MVP in 1993. He was named All-Pro four times. He was named to the Pro Bowl eight times. He led the NFL in rushing four times (1991-93, ’95). He had 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons from 1991-2001, which is an NFL record.

While his 1,000-yard streak ended in 2002, Smith broke Walter Payton’s rushing record that season on Oct. 27, 2002 against Seattle at Texas Stadium.

At 5-9, 207 pounds, there were questions about Smith’s durability when he entered the league, but durability proved to be his greatest asset. He never missed more than two games in a season with the Cowboys. He carried the ball a Cowboy-record 4,052 times, including 377 in 1995. Adding his two seasons in Arizona, Smith ran the ball an NFL-record 4,409 times. His 175 touchdowns are second most in league history. He holds the Super Bowl record with five career rushing touchdowns.

Sunday Morning thoughts

It’s been awhile. Sometimes it takes time for me to conjure up enough things to write about. I get writer’s cramp occasionally and can’t seem to buy a thought worth writing about. Other times, I think I see all kinds of things worthy of writing about, but by the time I can get in front of my computer, the thoughts have escaped me. So at any rate, let’s see what we can come up with this Sunday morning.

1)  Bob Hayes makes it in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It’s about time huh? A darn shame he couldn’t get in while he was alive. Imagine the only person to have won an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring taking this long to get in? On top of that, he changed the way defenders had to defend him. He changed the game of football due to his skills and abilities.

2)  According to autopsy results, cocaine contributed to Billy Mays death. 

While heart disease was the primary cause of death, a report released Friday by the medical examiner listed cocaine as a “contributory cause of death.” The medical examiner “concluded that cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and thereby contributed to his death,” the office said in a press release.

What gets me about this story is the Mays family wants a second opinion here. My question is why? Isn’t it embarrassing enough to find out ol Billy sniffed Coke? Why embarrass your family any further?

Bob Hayes – Pro Football Hall of Fame

 

Distinguishing marks:

Scored one touchdown every 5.2 times he caught the ball.

Earned 18 touchdowns of 50 yards or more.

Led NFL in punt returns in 1968. (20.8 yard average) including a 90 yard touchdown.

Selected for three Pro Bowls.

Helped Cowboys win 3 Eastern Conference titles, 2 NFC Titles, and Super Bowl VI.

Inducted in to the Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001.

 

Bob Hayes Jr. pays tribute to the father ‘who had a big heart’

From the Dallas Morning News

  

Bob Hayes did not live to see this glorious night, when at last he will enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But when the ceremony commences in Canton, Ohio, the Dallas Cowboys’ transcendent “Bullet” will be there in more than spirit. His presence will be tangible.

Bullet Had Speed To Burn

Bob Hayes lets smoke trail from his mouth as he talks with the press in Fort Lauderdale in 1971

 

 

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

JACKSONVILLE – Before he died in 2002, Bob Hayes told his older sister, Lucille Hester, just what he wanted – to rest in his hometown of Jacksonville. To rest in a proper memorial so folks would remember. Too many had forgotten.

“He wanted what he’d done on there,” said Hester, a youth sports administrator in Washington, D.C. “He wanted an American flag, the Olympics flag, a Cowboys flag. He wanted the Olympic rings and the Cowboys star.”

It took five years, because Bob Hayes died poor, at least money poor. When the Super Bowl came to Jacksonville in 2005, he was still in an unmarked grave at Jacksonville’s Edgewood Cemetery. It was sad.

The small, elegant mausoleum was dedicated in 2007. You can see Bob Hayes’ flags when you turn into the cemetery. His mom has joined him. The words on the tomb tell you here rests the only man ever to win Olympic gold medals and a Super Bowl ring. There’s room for more words.

“We left room in case my baby brother gets in the football Hall of Fame,” Hester said. “That would be a wonderful thing.”

He remains Jacksonville’s greatest athlete, one of America’s greatest, a two-sport wonder. Some insist he’d have been bigger than Deion and Bo.

“Crow came along too early,” said Curtis Miranda, Bob Hayes’ lifelong friend.

Robert Lee Hayes grew up on Jacksonville’s East side. He was a pigeon-toed child racing down dirt roads. “No one could catch him,” said Earl Kitchings, Hayes’ high school football coach. He’ll never be “Bullet Bob” on the East side. His nickname was “Crow” for his dark skin and, well …

“He could fly,” said Charles Sutton, Hayes’ friend and college roommate. “Crow could fly.”

He broke track records at Matthew W. Gilbert High School and played football. At Florida A&M, he played for Jake Gaither when not setting sprinting world records. Al Austin, who raced Hayes in high school (beating him once), teamed with him on FAMU’s record-setting relay team. Hayes was the anchor.

“Crow would tell us, ‘Just give it to me close,’” Austin said.

Sutton and Miranda played football with Hayes. They played in the NFL, too. As much as Hayes’ talent, they remember his spirit, his laughter. Sutton remembers once in the offseason when they spotted a rabbit on the football field. “We’re eating rabbit tonight,” Bob Hayes announced. “Crow snuck up on the rabbit,” Sutton said.

He ran it down. Never was anybody like Crow.

The world saw in 1964. At the Tokyo Olympics, Hayes won two gold medals. He tied a world record by running 100 meters in 10 seconds. But it was in the 4×100 relay that he made his legend. He was in fifth place when he began his anchor leg. The United States won by 3 yards. The stop watches said Bob Hayes ran 100 meters in 8.6 seconds. Hester sat in the stands, next to her mother, who sat next to Jesse Owens.

Ralph Boston won 1960 Olympic gold in the long jump. He and Hayes traveled the world, rooming at track meets. Boston says the Tokyo anchor leg isn’t Hayes’ fastest.

“I saw him the year prior, in West Germany, he was even farther behind a German anchor man, and he ran right past him. The guy was so blown away that after the race he went into the dressing room, took off his uniform and handed it to Bob,” Boston said.

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