American Football League

Lance Alworth , Bobby Bell , Elvin Bethea , Fred Biletnikoff , Willie Brown , Nick Buoniconti , Larry Csonka , Curley Culp, Len Dawson , Bob Griese , Ken Houston , Charlie Joiner , Willie Lanier , Floyd Little , Larry Little , Don Maynard , Ron Mix , Joe Namath , Jim Otto , Billy Shaw , Art Shell , Jan Stenerud , Emmitt Thomas . and Johnny Robinson ; along with the late Junious (Buck) Buchanan , George Blanda , Gene Upshaw , and Winston Hill : you all starred in the American Football League. In spite of long odds and the aspersions cast at the AFL, you have achieved Professional Football's greatest honor, induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I respectfully ask that each of you reflect on the great team-mates who shared the field with you, as well as the worthy opponents you faced in those AFL years. Many of them ALSO deserve to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, but have unfairly been categorized as having played in an inferior league. Johnny Robinson , who has better statistics and more championships than some other (nfl) defensive backs of his era who were selected - was finally enshrined in 2019, 43 YEARS after he was first eligible; like Johnny, the Hall should induct Abner Haynes (All-time AFL all-purpose yards); Gino Cappelletti (All-time AFL scoring); John Hadl , half of that tremendous aerial attack with Alworth; Lionel Taylor (first receiver in Professional Football history to catch 100 passes in a season); Charlie Hennigan (first to break Taylor's record; held many Professional Football receiving records for 35 years after his retirement); Daryle Lamonica (2nd-best to Otto Graham in quarterback won-lost percentage); and defensive stars like Ron McDole , whose unit did not allow a rushing touchdown for seventeen straight games, a record that still stands. I could name many more who have been excluded because they played in the wrong league . I ask that you, the AFL Alumni in the Hall of Fame, as a group, lobby that institution to emulate the Baseball Hall of Fame's action when it recognized an ...