Well, the NFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame have their very own version of “that kid.” His name is Art Monk. He was the first player in NFL history to break the 100-reception mark in a season, a barrier that was not broken by another player for six more season. He retired in 1995 as the all-time receptions leader with 940 catches. He caught all of these passes without whining to his coaches or quarterbacks (none of whom were named or played at the level of Joe Montana, Steve Young or Troy Aikman) about wanting more catches. In fact, he caught 940 passes while helping his fellow wideouts break loose for long plays, and helping his teams’ running backs by some of the best downfield blocking seen from a wide receiver.
Photo from SI.com
Yet, Art Monk has been snubbed by the Hall of Fame Voters time and time again. They point to the fact that his career yards-per-reception stands at “only” 13.5, ignoring the fact that he put his body on the line to go across the middle time and time again. How many times have we seen supposed star receivers develop a case of the alligator arms while trying to catch a first-down pass across the middle? You never saw Monk pull back. To that end, during his 14 years as a Redskin, nearly two-thirds of Monk’s 888 receptions were for first downs. How’s that for a statistic?
The case for placing Art Monk in the Hall of Fame would take up pages upon pages of this blog, space which we do not have. However, I urge you to take a look at this letter and either cut/paste it or use it as inspiration for your own letter to any or all of the Hall of Fame voters. The names and contact info for all but 6 of the voters is below. If you have info on any of the ones I’m missing, please pass it along.
Finally, I’d like to leave you with two items. First is a link to an excellent website devoted to getting Art Monk into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Second is an excerpt from an article that SI.com’s Peter King wrote about how he changed his mind from being a Monk hater to a believer:
“As I made my rounds of training camps this year, I asked veteran coaches about Monk and the one word that kept coming up was “unselfish.” His downfield blocking prowess kept coming up. His long-term numbers were almost Yastrzemski-like (one or two great years, lots of productive ones, very reliable). But when I talked to Joe Gibbs on Friday, the one thing that stood out was the body of work we don’t see — the downfield blocking, the quiet leadership, and this: Unlike his louder receiving mates Clark and Ricky Sanders, Monk, according to Gibbs, never once said he wanted the ball more. “We used him almost as a tight end a lot,” said Gibbs, “and not only did he do it willingly, he was a great blocker for us. If he’d been a squeaky wheel, who knows how many catches Art would have had. But he cared about one thing — the team.” (SI.com - 11/27/2006)
| Kent Somers, | kent.somers@arizonarepublic.com |
| Len Pasquarelli, ESPN.com | |
| Scott Garceau, WMAR-TV | Garceau@wmar.com |
| Mark Gaughan, | mgaughan@buffnews.com |
| Charles Chandler, Charlotte Observer | cchandler@charlotteobserver.com |
| Dan Pompei, | dpompei@tribune.com |
| Chick Ludwig, | cludwig@daytondailynews.com |
| Tony Grossi, Cleveland Plain Dealer | tgrossi@plaind.com |
| Rick Gosselin, | rgosselin@dallasnews.com |
| Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News | sports@RockyMountainNews.com |
| Mike O'Hara, The | mohara@detnews.com |
| Cliff Christl, | cchristl@journalsentinel.com |
| John McClain, | john.mcclain@chron.com |
| Mike Chappell, | mike.chappell@indystar.com |
| Sam Kouvaris, WJXT-TV | skouvari@wjxt.com |
| Bob Gretz, KCFX | |
| Edwin Pope, | epope@herald.com |
| Sid Hartman, The | sports@startribune.com |
| Ron Borges, HBO Sports/Pro Football Weekly | borges@globe.com |
| Pete Finney, Times-Picayune | pfinney@timespicayune.com |
| Vinny DiTrani, | sports@northjersey.com |
| Paul Zimmerman, Sports Illustrated | |
| Frank Cooney, The Sports Xchange | FCooney@sportsxchange.com |
| Paul Domowitch, | pdomo@aol.com |
| Ed Bouchette, | ebouchette@post-gazette.com |
| Bernie Miklasz, | |
| Jerry Magee, | jerrymagee@uniontrib.com |
| Ira Miller, The Sports Xchange | miller@sportsxchange.com |
| Clare Farnsworth, | clarefarnsworth@seattlepi.com |
| Ira Kaufman, | kaufman@tampatrib.com |
| David Climer, The Tennessean | dclimer@tennessean.com |
| David Elfin, | |
| Charean Williams, Ft. Worth Star Telegram | cjwilliams@star-telegram.com |
| Howard Balzer, The Sports Xchange | HBalzer@sportsxchange.com |
| | bell@usatoday.com |
| John Clayton, ESPN/ESPN Magazine | |
| John Czarnecki, FoxSports.com | |
| Nancy Gay, San Francisco Chronicle | ngay@sfchronicle.com |
| Dave Goldberg, Associated Press | dgoldberg@ap.org |
| Peter King, Sports Illustrated | |
| Bob Oates, | oatesinla@aol.com |
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