Guest Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrY0kUVkRYY Let me say, unequivocally, #70 Defensive End Jim Marshall should be in the Hall of Fame! He played the game the way it was supposed to be played! All out...100% between the whistles...never take a play off. Off the field, and also on the field when no one was running a play...he was a gentleman and good sport! He played EVERY defensive down for 20 seasons! He played effectively when most offensive lineman outweighed him by 20 to 50 pounds...sometimes more. For most of his career he was the defensive captain. He totaled 127 career sacks. Was first team All-Pro twice. He recovered 29 opponent fumbles...an NFL record. A lot of quarterbacks ran away from Marshall right into the waiting arms of Carl Eller and Alan Page. He was and is a class act. But, he'll always be remembered by most fans as the guy who ran 66 yards the wrong way after recovering a San Francisco 49er fumble. If it hadn't been for that one play...Marshall would be in the Hall of Fame. One play...one darn play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SemperFeist Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Probably the only player in NFL history who has been kept out of the Hall of Fame because of one play. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 It's unfortunate that most people only remember him for that play. It didn't keep Roy Riegels out of the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. I think he will eventually get in via the Veterans Committee, especially now that Jerry Kramer (who was one of the few more deserving than Marshall) is in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 aaah, Jim Marshall... pretty much the reason i became a Vikings fan. Page and Eller were more ferocious, and received more accolades, but Marshall was the glue that held that defensive line together. as to the wrong way run... interestingly enough, as he crossed the wrong goal line, the play was not yet over or called dead. as he still could have re entered the field of play, because the ball had not been downed yet. but he spiked the ball and it bounced out of the endzone, making it a fumble and a safety for the other team. and as much derision as he received from the media over the decades for that blunder, we still won that game. few know or remember that, so his safety was meaningless to the final outcome. Marshall was also snowmobiling in the offseason once with a group of tourists and they became stuck in the snow, unable to get home. they lived off their wits overnight until rescued, with Marshall assuming the leadership of the group to keep them calm. they burned their money to stay a little warm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 (edited) 22 minutes ago, vike daddy said: aaah, Jim Marshall... pretty much the reason i became a Vikings fan. Page and Eller were more ferocious, and received more accolades, but Marshall was the glue that held that defensive line together. as to the wrong way run... interestingly enough, as he crossed the wrong goal line, the play was not yet over or called dead. as he still could have re entered the field of play, because the ball had not been downed yet. but he spiked the ball and it bounced out of the endzone, making it a fumble and a safety for the other team. and as much derision as he received from the media over the decades for that blunder, we still won that game. few know or remember that, so his safety was meaningless to the final outcome. Marshall was also snowmobiling in the offseason once with a group of tourists and they became stuck in the snow, unable to get home. they lived off their wits overnight until rescued, with Marshall assuming the leadership of the group to keep them calm. they burned their money to stay a little warm. When talking about Jim Marshall you also have to talk about the times that he got released from the hospital on Sunday morning and was playing a few hours later. Here's a fantastic SI article from 1979 just as he retired and includes your story VD... https://www.si.com/vault/1979/12/24/826332/a-man-for-20-seasons-old-indestructible-jim-marshall-of-the-vikings-retires-after-302-straight-games Edited May 22, 2019 by swede700 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 Here's his opportunity... Quote The Pro Football Hall of Fame has agreed -- in principle -- to go forward with a Centennial Class of inductees. There’s been a lot of speculation lately about a proposed Centennial Class for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a one-time body of inductees -- many of them from decades past – to join Canton as part of the NFL’s 100th anniversary celebration. How it will be accomplished … how many players, coaches and contributors will be chosen … how they will be chosen … who that group is and how it will be honored … essentially, the “details,” as Horrigan put it, has not been determined. Nevertheless, having the idea itself accepted is a significant step toward reducing a backlog of qualified seniors, coaches and contributors that only increases with each year. According to our Rick Gosselin, there are seven first-team all-decade players in the senior pool, and only one – former Dallas safety Cliff Harris – has been a Hall-of-Fame finalist. https://footballmaven.io/talkoffame/nfl/good-news-for-hall-of-fame-seniors-centennial-class-is-going-to-happen-axpCVZEdOkSTuWSU3HEbwg/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 He's shut out again, he's not a finalist even in the expanded class... http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001089634/article/finalists-for-hall-of-fames-centennial-class-revealed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 Randy Gradishar is a finalist and Jim Marshall isn't?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marshpit23 Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 12 minutes ago, Virginia Viking said: Randy Gradishar is a finalist and Jim Marshall isn't?? Randy who??? Come on, man! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 I just wrote an email to the HOF...I know it won't get to voters...but anyway, I wanted to voice my utter displeasure at the way Jim Marshall's candidacy has been treated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplexing Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) Jim Marshall didn't get into the Pro Football HOF because he made a mistake on one play. Several HOF members made similar, but not as notable mistakes over their careers. The key reasons holding back Marshall and dozens of other worthy players are two-fold; 1. the HOF criteria isn't completely objective, and 2. too great an emphasis on a players' team(s) winning a championship or having a winning record for the majority of the players' career with his team(s). Edited December 27, 2019 by Purplexing plural reasons, not main reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 I'm pretty disgusted with this 100th Anniversary Class going into the HOF. I am especially disgusted with the seniors getting in. Harold Carmichael was a pretty good receiver, but he only went to one SB (the Eagles lost) at the end of his career. Yet, he get's in while Jim Marshall isn't even a finalist. Right now, to me, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is dead! I will never enter it's doors, never spend my money there or in Canton, boycott watching the HOF induction ceremony, and the HOF game, until Jim Marshall is allowed to slip on a yellow jacket with the league shield on the chest, as he stands next to his bronze bust, ready to be placed next to other great players. I urge all Viking fans to boycott all things related to the HOF until they "Let Jim In!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Virginia Viking said: I'm pretty disgusted with this 100th Anniversary Class going into the HOF. I am especially disgusted with the seniors getting in. Harold Carmichael was a pretty good receiver, but he only went to one SB (the Eagles lost) at the end of his career. Yet, he get's in while Jim Marshall isn't even a finalist. Right now, to me, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is dead! I will never enter it's doors, never spend my money there or in Canton, boycott watching the HOF induction ceremony, and the HOF game, until Jim Marshall is allowed to slip on a yellow jacket with the league shield on the chest, as he stands next to his bronze bust, ready to be placed next to other great players. I urge all Viking fans to boycott all things related to the HOF until they "Let Jim In!" Well, at least Drew Pearson didn't get in. And he's really mad about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SemperFeist Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 On 12/20/2019 at 11:43 AM, Virginia Viking said: Randy Gradishar is a finalist and Jim Marshall isn't?? I think your purple shades are clouding your judgement. Jim Marshall is a great Viking, there are a lot of classic stories about him in Vikings history, but he just doesn’t have the resume of a Hall of Famer. It’s not about the one play where he ran the wrong way, it’s that he only was a 2x pro bowler and a 3x 2nd team all pro, never a 1st team all pro. In comparison, Gradishar, the player you scoff at, was a 7x pro bowler, 6x all pro, and a defensive player of the year. And even he didn’t get selected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swede700 Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 10 hours ago, SemperFeist said: I think your purple shades are clouding your judgement. Jim Marshall is a great Viking, there are a lot of classic stories about him in Vikings history, but he just doesn’t have the resume of a Hall of Famer. It’s not about the one play where he ran the wrong way, it’s that he only was a 2x pro bowler and a 3x 2nd team all pro, never a 1st team all pro. In comparison, Gradishar, the player you scoff at, was a 7x pro bowler, 6x all pro, and a defensive player of the year. And even he didn’t get selected. That's always been a fair argument used against Marshall, but the competition that Marshall had at his position was far deeper than Gradishar, as Marshall played in what could be considered the golden era (pre-sacks era) of DEs with Willie Davis, Doug Atkins, Jack Youngblood, Deacon Jones and his linemate Carl Eller. Gradishar didn't have nearly the competition at his position because he was a MLB. There was typically only 1 of them on the field, as there weren't a whole lot of teams running 3-4s. But, that doesn't mean Gradishar shouldn't be there as well, he should. But, Marshall just seems to be overshadowed because of the era he played in, which was a very deep era of talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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