The Dallas Cowboys gained another Hall of Fame stamp on their great roster of champions today. Posthumously, “Bullet” Bob Hayes (HOF entry, short bio and video) finally achieved entry (AP and Dallas Morning News stories), thanks to the Senior Committee of voters.
The only things keeping Bob Hayes out of the HOF this long were his post-retirement drug problem and the HOF voters’ well-known, longstanding, anti-Cowboys bias (2005 BLOG entry). The long-ago induction of Lawrence Taylor should have rendered the drug/alcohol factor pointless; and (especially given Rayfield Wright‘s induction 2 years ago) time seems to be weeding out the anti-Dallas voting contingent, gradually.
Now, finally, the Bullet’s long-overdue induction is going to happen! I only join Roger the Dodger and others in wishing he had lived to experience it. Long before Cris Carter (former Minnesota wideout who probably deserves HOF entry) earned the same accolade, Bob Hayes could have been christened with announcer Chris Berman’s famous line, “All he does…is score touchdowns.” Hayes’ combination of pure speed and ball handling caused the zone defense to exist. Quite simply, what the man did was revolutionize the way the game was played.
And while not qualifying criteria for the NFL Hall of Fame, let’s not ignore his track accomplishments either.
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