A Hall of Fame Comparison – Abner Haynes

[Coach Andy Mac]

I just watched a You Tube video where Haynes scores on a swing pass from Len Dawson in the 1962 AFL Championship win over Houston. 1967 describes him well: “silky smooth and fluid.” 

Haynes was one of the AFL players I read about in the late ’70’s, and I remember thinking, when I was 10 or 11 years old, that he was a great player. Now I’m hearing one of his teammates call him “the face and ‘the name of the game’ in the AFL in the early ’60’s.” It sounds like Abner’s impact on the AFL was huge, and I’d like to see him go to The Hall of Fame.
 

read more:  https://talesfromtheamericanfootballleague.com/a-hall-of-fame-comparison-abner-haynes/

[UNTLifer]

I would too, but it took entirely too long to even get him in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.  It was a joke that he was inducted just a couple of years ago.  

[GrayEagle]

I totally agree that Abner is deserving but one problem is that he was in the AFL, not the AFC.

I think that Abner was one of the most exciting players in college or pro football.  He could eat you up whether running, receiving or returning. I was told that when Abner came to Denton to try to get a scholarship he was denied by Coach Mitchell.  That was pretty common for Coach Mitchell;  there was no Texas Football and what you were able to do at Dallas Lincoln carried little weight with him.  When he first saw Abner he thought that he was too small for college football.  But, Abner and his brother were persuasive and Odus decided to give him a tryout.  He put him in pads and they kicked off to him.  Long story short...he wove his way through the entire defending team.  

In addition, he was a great person.  He had to be because he may have taken more verbal and physical abuse than any other college player.  Oh, his teammate Leon King didn't have an easy time of it either but little compared to Abner who was the star.

If there's any way that I/we can do to help please tell us who to write.

[drex]

I think the Joe Greene holds the key to this happening.  Joe knows a lot of the brass at the NFL and he could be a huge help.  Joe is easily accessable if the right people made the call.  It seems to me that it would be Wren Baker's call that might carry some weight, plus as many of our former NFL players who we could find to help the cause.  Sadly, the times we live in right now will probably require a delay in taking on this project.

 

 

 

 

[greenjoe]

And please keep in mind that time is not on our side as we deal with Abner Haynes.  If his inclusion into the NFL HoF is to happen in his lifetime, we don't have a minute to waste. 

[drex]

Quite so.

[97and03]

No requirement to be from the NFL to be in the pro football hall. There already is one player in the hall who spent his entire career in the AFL. 
No reason Hayes should not he included. 
 

https://www.profootballhof.com/news/hall-of-famers-in-the-afl/