An NFL pro who has long been denied America's highest honor will finally join the elite, with election into our Hall of Fame at Canton. It took so long, probably because of one cocaine conviction (which was overturned) for selling the drug to an undercover cop after he stopped playing. What makes this ironic is that Lawrence Taylor was elected into the HoF on the first ballot even though he admitted to heavy cocaine (and other drugs) use while he was playing. "Bullet Bob" Hayes will finally get his day in the sun, at least his son will; as he is deceased himself. He will join only one other Olympic Gold Medal winner in the NFL Hall of Fame, Jim Thorpe. Here is a part of an article which makes one wonder what besides that cocaine charge could have kept him out for so long. Hayes led the league in total punt-return yardage in 1967 and in yards per punt return in 1968. His average that season was 20.8; nobody has come within 2 yards since. To put Hayes' career in modern terms, consider this: Over 11 years, he averaged more yards per punt return than Deion Sanders, more yards per catch than Randy Moss, scored more touchdowns than Michael Irvin and averaged a touchdown every 5.2 catches, compared to every 6.8 catches for Terrell Owens and every 7.9 for Jerry Rice. And, get this — stats were a lot harder to come by in his era. "You didn't throw the ball 45 times per game back then and receivers could get hit anywhere down the field," Staubach said. "That was the thing with Bob. They knew they couldn't catch him, so they were trying hit him." It makes you wonder what Hayes would've been like with today's rules. For whole article: 'Bullet' Bob finally land among football's best - Yahoo! News I am pleased to see he is finally being honored, better late than never. I almost became a Cowboys fan while he was playing, but lost interest after a real cocaine cowboy; "Hollywood" Henderson named them "America's Team" (who voted on that?), Coach Landry was canned, and they became so "commercial". Now you non-NFL fans, don’t confuse Art Monk with jazz pianist Thelonious; See: YouTube - THELONIOUS MONK - Blue Monk Just thought I'd throw that out for the fun of it.
