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     The "Pro Football Hall of Fame" in Canton, Ohio, supposedly represents all of Professional Football.  Yet, of its two hundred and thirty-plus members, only ONE was never in the NFL.  That one, Buffalo's Billy Shaw, played his entire career in the AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE.  Yet, at his induction, he wore a yellow coat emblazoned with the NFL logo.
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     Great players like Tom Sestak, Lionel Taylor, Johnny Robinson, Abner Haynes, and numerous other American Football League stars have been ignored by the "Pro Football Hall of Fame", we believe, because they played in the wrong league.
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     This, then, is a Hall of Fame devoted to the players of a league that had a profound impact on Professional Football; a sport that today reflects the AFL's influence in everything but name.  The American Football League is now widely acknowledged as the genesis of modern Professional Football.

     Our Hall of Fame list of American Football League players, coaches, and contributors includes those who, against tremendous odds, got into the "Pro Football Hall of Fame".

     But it also includes (with names in
BLUE) the AFL stars who until now, have not received the honor they so richly deserve.  We also include men whose lives (and deaths) after their AFL careers warrant their induction to the AFL Hall of Fame.  Names in RED represent those who were in the AFL HALL OF FAME BEFORE they were selected to the other hall of fame.

    My criteria for admission to the AFL Hall are mainly subjective.  Go to the bottom of this page for details.
 

         
     The American Football League Hall of Fame exists only in my mind, and can be visited only in the cyberspace of the Internet.  But unlike other halls of fame, this one is open every day of the year.  Archives of the AFL Hall of Fame do physically exist, and AFL fans may request copies of photos, articles, etc. by e-mailing RemembertheAFL@aol.com

 


    

     To the AFL greats honored here, and to ALL American Football League players, your fans extend a resounding "Well done!!!"
 

The
AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE HALL OF FAME
is
CONTINUALLY EVOLVING. 
Visit frequently to see additions and improvements.

Click on a linked name to go to the American Football League
Hall of Fame
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Click above for another take on some
American Football League stars.


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AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE
HALL OF FAME


Amherst, New York ~ Open 365 or 366 days a year
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Players  

(Alphabetically)


A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N
O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z


(Click here to see members >> by Team)

LEGEND ~ Color of name signifies:

Houston Antwine Not previously recognized.
Lance Alworth Also in "pro football" hall of fame.
Hank Stram In the AFL Hall of Fame before
being selected to the
"pro football" hall of fame.
        Look at the names in BLUE, below. 
       Can you seriously say that NONE of them belong in the "pro football" Hall of Fame?
 

A
 Tommy Addison
 Lance Alworth
 Houston Antwine
 Fred Arbanas


B
 Stew Barber
 Bobby Bell
 
Al Bemiller
 Elvin Bethea
 Verlon Biggs

 Fred Biletnikoff
 George Blanda
 Marlin Briscoe
 Willie Brown
 Junious (Buck) Buchanan

 Ed Budde
 Nick Buoniconti

 Chris Burford

 Ron Burton
 George "Butch" Byrd

C

 Billy Cannon
 Gino Cappelletti
 Larry Carwell
 Larry Csonka
 Curley Culp

D

 Clem Daniels

 Ben Davidson
 Len Dawson

 Tom Day
 Bob Dee
 Elbert Dubenion
 Jim Dunaway
 Speedy Duncan


E
 Booker Edgerson
 Larry Eisenhauer

F
 Earl Faison
 Miller Farr
 Tom Flores
 Don Floyd

G
 Larry Garron
 Claude "Hoot" Gibson
 Cookie Gilchrist
 
Pete Gogolak
 Austin "Goose" Gonsoulin
 
Kenny Graham
 Larry Grantham
 Dave Grayson

 Bob Griese


H
 John Hadl
 Wayne Hawkins

 Abner Haynes
 Sherrill Headrick
 Charlie Hennigan

 Winston Hill
 E. J. Holub

 Ken Houston
 Bobby Hunt
 Jim Hunt


I

J
 Rich Jackson
 Harry Jacobs
 Bobby Jancik

 Charlie Joiner
 John Henry Johnson


K
 
Bob Kalsu
 Jack Kemp
 Dave Kocourek

 

L
 Ernie Ladd
 Daryle Lamonica

 Willie Lanier
 Jacky Lee
 Keith Lincoln

 Floyd Little
 Larry Little
 Paul Lowe

 
Jim Lynch

M
 Paul Maguire
 Bill Mathis
 Don Maynard
 Jerry Mays
 Curtis McClinton
 Wahoo McDaniel
 Ron McDole

 Gene Mingo
 Ron Mix
 Jon Morris

N

 Joe Namath
 Jim Nance
 Jim Norton

O
 Jim Otto

P
 Vito "Babe" Parilli
 Gerry Philbin
 Dick Post
 Art Powell

Q

R
 Johnny Robinson
 Paul Rochester
 Tobin Rote

S

 George Saimes
 George Sauer
 Tom Sestak

 Billy Shaw
 Art Shell
 O.J. Simpson

 Matt Snell
 Jan Stenerud
 Mike Stratton
 Walt Sweeney


T
 Bob Talamini
 Lionel Taylor
 Otis Taylor
 Emmitt Thomas
 Charlie Tolar
 John Tracey
 Frank Tripucka
 Jim Turner
 Jim Tyrer

U
 Gene Upshaw

V

W
 Ernie Warlick
 George Webster
 Jerrel Wilson
 Ernie Wright

X

Y

Z

 

Coaches

Owners and
Contributors


Weeb Ewbank

Sid Gillman

Lou Saban

Hank Stram


Bud Adams**

Chris Berman


Paul Brown*


Paul Christman


Al Davis

Larry Felser

Joe Foss

Curt Gowdy

Jack Horrigan


Lamar Hunt

 


Don
Klosterman


Will
McDonough

Charlie Jones

Jerry Magee

George Ratterman


Lloyd Wells

Sonny Werblin

Ralph Wilson

Harry Wismer


Milt Woodard


Fans

Dave Orr

Angie Coniglio

Dave Steidel

Todd Tobias

Ange Coniglio

 

©2003  American Football League Hall of Fame  All rights reserved. Duplicate in any form you like, if you're an AFL fan.
You have the permission of the American Football League Hall of Fame.  Please credit/link to: http://www.remembertheafl.com
Last revision: 31 October 2023 ~ Angelo F. Coniglio, nospam.RemembertheAFL@aol.com
 

 

      What qualifies a person to be in the American Football League Hall of Fame?  Since it's my Hall of Fame, I set the criteria when I began my Remember the AFL website in 2001.
      The criteria are admittedly very subjective.  I have been a fan of the AFL since its inception in 1960.   I agonized over the unfair press the league and its players received from the likes of Tex Maule of SI, Jerry Green of the Detroit Free Press, Pat Summerall and the other NFL shills on CBS-TV, and last, but not least, from the pompous other league itself.  I shuddered at the losses by AFL teams in the first two AFL-NFL World Championship Games, and then I reveled in the victories of the Jets and the Chiefs over two successive teams labeled "the best in NFL history".
     What defines greatness?  It's an ineluctable quality best defined by "You know it when you see it."  In this case, my memory was the "selector".  If I could remember a player's on-field excellence forty years after he performed, and in spite of the dearth of "press" he received during and after his AFL career, that makes him a Hall-of-Famer to me.
     So, to put it simply, the men in this list are men who I think belong in a Hall of Fame, based on my first-hand knowledge of their prowess during the years 1960 through 1969.  I'm open to comments by others, and have periodically added names submitted by others, if I agreed with their assessments.  I by no means suggest that ALL of these players belong in that
other hall of fame.  But look at their names, and their feats, and try to tell me WHY MANY MORE are not in it.
    I have also included men who are identified with the AFL, but who have been inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Most of these (excepting Billy Shaw) also spent time in the other league, and in some cases (Paul Brown, Curley Culp, etc.) I include them in the AFL Hall of Fame only because of that other honor.  Culp, for example, played only two years in the AFL, winning a World Championship with the Chiefs, but was not on my original list of AFL Hall-of-Famers.  Somehow selectors for the Pro Football Hall of Fame believe that because Culp spent most of his career in the other league, his qualifications are better than those of his teammates like Abner Haynes or Jim Tyrer.
    I believe that the snubbing of Haynes and Tyrer, as well as other AFL greats, will never be corrected by the Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors, since those selectors are continually replaced by younger men who have no concept of the quality of play in the league that was the genesis of modern Professional Football.  They simply don't
REMEMBER  the AFL.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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