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Sports Watch
IF being selected to play in the Pro Bowl is quite an honor, imagine what it's like getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Seven can’t wait
for enshrinementOf the 16,000 who have played or coached in the National Football League, only 211 have made it to Canton, Ohio.
The latest seven, making up the Class of 2001, are Nick Buoniconti, Marv Levy, Mike Munchak, Jackie Slater, Lynn Swann, Ron Yary and Jack Youngblood.
They will be introduced at tomorrow's Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium. The official enshrinement ceremony will be Aug. 4.
To a man, they can't wait.
Even Swann, pro football's Susan Lucci, who waited for 14 years before finally getting "The Call."
"I cried, I called my wife and we cried together," said the Pittsburgh Steelers' wide receiver, who played on four winning Super Bowl teams.
After so many years of disappointment, Swann added kiddingly, "After 14 years, I didn't care who else was here. I'm just glad I'm going in there with somebody."
What made the intervening years more difficult for Swann was that he came here year after year for ABC-TV, introducing the new enshrinees at the Pro Bowl.
"That was hard, but it was part of the job," Swann said.
Yary, who played in four Super Bowls for the Minnesota Vikings, was among three offensive linemen inducted, joining Slater and Munchak.
There are more offensive linemen than any other position," Yary noted. "We're a rare breed. Why aren't there more of us in the hall of fame?"
Yary, who missed only two games in a 15-year NFL career, waited 18 years.
"My wife (Barbara) ran down the street when she heard the news, embarrassing me in front of my neighbors."
Slater was at home in Los Angeles, watching the televised announcement of the new inductees. At first, Slater's name was erroneously omitted.
"Where's Jackie Slater?" he asked. Finally, when the oversight was corrected, he said, "What a great day! It couldn't happen to a better guy."
Clearly, no one more deserving.
Slater played a remarkable 20 years for the Rams, including his final season in St. Louis. He played 259 regular-season games -- the most ever by an offensive lineman.
Youngblood, Slater's teammate with the Rams, is still in awe of Slater and other offensive linemen like him.
"It's incredible to be able to play in the pits like that for all these years. You can never imagine what it's like if you haven't done it."
Munchak, who played all 12 seasons with the Oilers, is glad that Houston will have an NFL team again. But the nickname "Texans" will need some getting use to, he said.
Buoniconti is the first of Miami's "No-Name Defense" to be inducted, getting in under the old-timers' category.
Now in his 22nd year with HBO's popular "Inside the NFL," Buoniconti was the star linebacker on the 1972 Dolphins -- the only undefeated team in NFL history.
He and other ex-Dolphins still get together annually with a champagne celebration when the last unbeaten team loses.
"We never wish any team ill will. We're only celebrating that we're the only undefeated team. Besides, that champagne does taste good."
The seven were told what Deacon Jones of the Rams said when he was inducted: "You're now on a team you can't quit. And they can't cut you or trade you."
"He say anything about getting fired?" quipped Levy, the only coach to lead a team (the Buffalo Bills) to four consecutive Super Bowls, all of them losses.
Bill Kwon has been writing about
sports for the Star-Bulletin since 1959.