Marino and Young Get Passes to the Hall

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —  One stood in the pocket and won himself a place among the great quarterbacks in NFL history. The other scrambled around behind the line and down the field and won himself a Super Bowl. One set the standard for quarterbacks in the early days of the NFL and the other helped set a precedent for African Americans as a player and a coach.

They couldn’t be more different. Yet Saturday, the foursome came together as the NFL Hall of Fame’s class of 2005, to be enshrined in Canton, Ohio, in August.

Quarterbacks Dan Marino and Steve Young, on hand for the announcement, and Benny Friedman, another quarterback, and halfback Fritz Pollard, both deceased, qualified for induction by being named on at least 80% of the 39 ballots cast by the selection committee.

“It’s humbling,” said Marino, who spent his entire record-breaking career with the Miami Dolphins. “Today, I feel blessed.”

A first-round draft pick in 1983 and the 27th player selected overall, Marino, in his 17 seasons in Miami, became the game’s all-time leader in the major categories for a quarterback: passing attempts (8,358), completions (4,967), yards (61,361) and touchdowns (420).

For 20 seasons, Marino had held another mark that seemed untouchable: 48 touchdown passes in a season. But this season, Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts broke that by throwing 49 touchdown passes.

In Saturday’s announcement at Super Bowl headquarters, Marino expressed his gratitude to his longtime coach, Don Shula, who was in the audience.

“Thanks,” Marino said, “for turning me loose and letting me throw as much as I wanted to.”

He may be second to John Elway in fourth-quarter comebacks with 37, but Marino’s career will always be perceived as coming up short. Many will remember that he never won a Super Bowl. Marino made it to football’s biggest show only once and lost. In Super Bowl XIX in 1985, Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers beat Marino’s Dolphins, 38-16.

There is no such blank spot on the resume of Young, the only quarterback in league history to have a passer rating of more than 100 six times. Young led the 49ers to Super Bowl XXIX, his third appearance in football’s biggest show, but his first as a starter. Before the game was over, he had become first in the record book in touchdown passes in a single Super Bowl with six. The result was a 49-26 49er victory over the San Diego Chargers, with the MVP award going to Young.

He also won a record-tying six passing titles.

Unlike Marino, who rarely strayed from the pocket and never from the Dolphins, Young, in his early years, was not only all over the field, but all over the map as well. He began his pro career with the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League, signing a $36-million, 43-year contract.

With that league collapsing, Young jumped to the NFL to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Traded to the 49ers after two seasons, he played in San Francisco for 13 years, despite growing increasingly frustrated being stuck on the depth chart behind Montana.

“I had chances to leave,” Young said, “but I wouldn’t. Having been other places, I knew what I had where I was. I realized this [San Francisco] was the place I could find out how good I was. This was the spot.”

Young, who passed for 232 touchdowns and rushed for 43 more, pointed with pride Saturday to his accomplishments with his feet as much as his left arm.

“I think I showed being a scrambler can be a positive,” he said, “rather than just someone who is a crazy scrambler.”

And Young took a moment to remember his fellow inductees who weren’t present.

“We stand on their backs,” he said.

Friedman, the league’s first star quarterback, set the standard for touchdown passes in a single season with 11 while playing for the Cleveland Bulldogs in 1927.

Friedman, who died in 1982, also played with the Detroit Wolverines, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers over eight seasons.

With the Giants in 1929, he extended his single-season touchdown mark to 20.

Pollard began with the Akron Pros in 1919, the year before the NFL was formed. He went on to become one of the first two African Americans in the league. In 1921, Pollard was named co-coach of the Pros, while continuing to play, thus becoming the first African-American with the title “coach” in front of his name. Pollard also played for the Milwaukee Badgers, Hammond Pros and Providence Steam Roller of the NFL, as well as the Gilberton Cadamounts, an independent team. He died in 1986.

The four inductees named Saturday were selected from six finalists. The two failing to gain the required percentage of votes were Dallas Cowboy receiver Michael Irvin and Giant linebacker Harry Carson.

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Class of 2005

The four players elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday:

BENNY FRIEDMAN

Quarterback, 5-10, 183

* NFL career: 1927 Cleveland Bulldogs, 1928 Detroit Wolverines, 1929-31 New York Giants, 1932-34 Brooklyn Dodgers.

* Notes: Senior nominee. ... NFL’s first great passer. ... Threw league-record 11 touchdown passes as a rookie in 1927. ... Set another record with 20 touchdowns in 1929. ... Led league in touchdown passes four consecutive years (1927-30). ... His 66 career touchdown passes were an NFL record for years. ... Triple-threat player, could run, pass and kick. ... Although official statistics were not kept, he is believed to have completed more than half his passes, at a time when 35% was considered very good. ... In 1928, led NFL in rushing touchdowns and touchdown passes; no one else has accomplished that. ... During first four pro seasons, earned first-team All-NFL honors.

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DAN MARINO

Quarterback, 6-4, 218

* NFL career: 1983-99 Miami Dolphins.

* Notes: Miami’s first-round pick (27th overall) of the 1983 draft. ... Five other quarterbacks, including Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and John Elway, had been taken before the Dolphins grabbed Marino. ... Most prolific passer in NFL history; career statistics include 4,967 completions, 8,358 attempts for 61,361 yards, and 420 touchdowns. ... Threw for 20 touchdowns and recorded a 96.0 passer rating to earn rookie of the year honors. ... In 1984, became first player to pass for 5,000 yards in a season (5,084) and threw a then-record 48 passes for touchdowns. By season’s end, he had set six league records and was named the NFL’s most valuable player. ... In the 1984 AFC championship game, passed for 421 yards and four touchdowns in the Dolphins’ 45-28 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, earning his only trip to the Super Bowl. ... By the end of the 1995 season, he had supplanted Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton as the career passing leader in attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns. ... Recorded 13 3,000-yard seasons, which includes the six seasons he reached the 4,000-yard plateau. ... Passed for 300 yards in a game 63 times and threw for 400 or more yards in a game 13 times. ... Named first- or second-team All-Pro eight times and earned All-AFC honors six times. ... Selected to nine straight Pro Bowls.

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FRITZ POLLARD

Back/Coach, 5-9, 165

* Pro career: 1919-21, 1925-26 Akron Pros, 1922 Milwaukee Badgers, 1923, 1925 Hammond Pros, 1923-24 Gilberton Cadamounts (independent pro team), 1925 Providence Steam Roller.

* Notes: A two-time All-America halfback from Brown University, he turned pro in 1919 after service during World War I. ... In 1920, led the Pros to an undefeated (8-0-3) season and won the American Professional Football Assn.’s first title. ... Earned a place in pro football history as one of only two African Americans in the new league. ... In 1921, became the first African American head coach in NFL history when the Pros named him co-coach. ... An exciting, elusive runner, he was the most feared running back in the fledgling league in 1928. Pollard organized and coached the Chicago Black Hawks, an all-African American professional team.

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STEVE YOUNG

Quarterback, 6-2, 205

* NFL career: 1985-86 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1987-99 San Francisco 49ers.

* Notes: Buccaneers’ first-round pick of 1984 supplemental draft after spending two seasons in the United States Football League. ... Traded in 1987 to the 49ers, where he served as the backup to Hall of Famer Joe Montana. ... Stepped into the starting role in 1991 after Montana suffered an injury. Young passed for 2,517 yards and 17 touchdowns to post a league-high 101.8 passer rating, the first of four straight passing titles. ... Tied with legendary Sammy Baugh as only quarterbacks to win six NFL passing titles. ... Set then-record 112.8 passer rating in 1994. ... Threw six passes for touchdowns and named most valuable player in San Francisco’s 49-26 win over the San Diego Chargers in the 1995 Super Bowl. ... Career statistics include 33,124 yards and 232 passing touchdowns; also rushed for 4,239 yards and 43 touchdowns. ... Threw for 3,000 or more yards six times and had 20 or more touchdown passes in a season five times, and posted a passer rating of 100 or higher six times. ... Named All-Pro in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1998 and earned All-NFC honors three times.

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Source: Pro Football Hall of Fame