Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 26, 1992 TAG: 9201270166
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTS COLUMNIST
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS LENGTH: Long
MAKE ROOM IN HALL OF FAME FOR EX-REDSKIN JOHN RIGGINS
THE MOST valuable player in Super Bowl XVII and three other men - Al Davis, John Mackey and Lem Barney - are elected to the football shrine in Canton, Ohio. \The man who ran the Washington Redskins into the Joe Gibbs era will have his head handed to him in August.
John Riggins, for whom Gibbs created the one-back set in the early '80s, was elected Saturday to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Riggins will be one of four men inducted in August at the Canton, Ohio, hall where honorees are enshrined with bronze busts. Others in the '92 class are Los Angeles Raiders managing general partner Al Davis, former Baltimore tight end John Mackey and former Detroit cornerback Lem Barney.
The Hall of Fame election was held Saturday in conjunction with the Super Bowl weekend. Electees must be named on 80 percent of the ballots cast by 31 voters, most of whom are media members.
There were 15 candidates for the Hall this year. The other finalists were Charlie Joiner, Tom Mack and Willie Gallimore. Those not reaching the finalist level were Ray Guy, Carl Eller, Bud Grant, Wellington Mara, Bill Walsh, Dan Dierdorf, Lynn Swann and Bob Brown.
Riggins becomes the 17th Hall of Famer with ties to the Redskins. In 14 NFL seasons with the New York Jets and Washington, he rushed for 11,352 yards, ranking sixth in league history. His 116 touchdowns place Riggins behind only Jim Brown and Walter Payton.
Riggins, 42, joined the Redskins as a free agent in 1976 and played nine seasons in Washington. He was the most valuable player in Super Bowl XVII with 166 yards on 38 carries against Miami. In nine postseason games, Riggins gained 996 rushing yards.
Despite his long-term excellence, Riggins made the All-Pro team only once, in 1983, and his only Pro Bowl appearance came in 1975, with the Jets.
The sixth player selected in the 1971 draft, Riggins, a Kansas native, retired after the 1985 season. His years with the Redskins were interrupted in 1980, when he sat out the season in a salary dispute.
"I did what I wanted and I wouldn't change what I did to belong to this club," Riggins said from Cancun, Mexico, where he is hosting the Super Bowl Beach Party.
"My image was less than Jack Armstrong, but in my heart, I was probably Jack Armstrong with a different point of view. I was Igor and Dr. Frankenstein in one, doing my own experiments.
"My personality is that I don't take too many things too seriously. This will touch me more as time goes by. It hasn't made me better looking, though."
Davis' controversial past tempered his Hall candidacy in the past. He is the only person to have served in pro football as a player personnel assistant, an assistant coach, a head coach, a general manager, a league commissioner (the AFL) and a chief executive officer of a club.
Davis' legal battles with the NFL and his move of the Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles, not to mention his differences with former Commissioner Pete Rozelle, often shoved his club's success into the background.
Mackey is the second player who performed strictly as a tight end to make the Hall. The other is Chicago coach Mike Ditka, who was elected in 1988. Mackey, 50, joins Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Jim Parker, Raymond Berry, Weeb Ewbank and Johnny Unitas as former Colts in Canton.
Barney, 56, played in seven Pro Bowls for the Lions. He finished an 11-year career with 56 interceptions for 1,077 yards, and also was Detroit's punter for two seasons.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.
\ NEW MEMBER FAST FACTS\ PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
\ Lem Barney: Cornerback played 11 seasons (1967-77) with the Detroit Lions. His first year out of Jackson State, he was chosen defensive rookie of the year, sharing the NFL lead with 10 interceptions and returning three for touchdowns. His 56 interceptions for 1,079 yards in returns (seven for touchdowns) rank him 11th among all-time interception leaders. Barney was a feared punt and kickoff returner and he punted for two seasons. He played in seven Pro Bowls.
\ Al Davis: In his 32 years in pro football, Davis has been a scout, assistant coach, head coach, general manager, league commissioner and principal team owner and chief executive officer. Selected the Oakland Raiders' head coach and general manager in 1963 at age 33, Davis led the team to a 10-4 record and was chosen the AFL coach of the year. He was 23-16-3 in three years as a head coach. During the first 27 years of the "Davis era" (1963-88), the Raiders' .671 winning percentage was the finest in all of professional sports. He became the AFL commissioner in 1966, and the AFL-NFL merger followed two months later. Following the credo of "Just win, baby," he engineered the Super Bowl championships of 1977, '81 and '84. He engineered the controversial move of the Raiders to Los Angeles in 1982 and frequently has skirmished with the NFL front office in recent years.
\ John Mackey: Mackey played 10 seasons (1963-72), nine with the Baltimore Colts and his last with the San Diego Chargers, and missed only one game in his pro career. He was considered a prototype tight end, a strong blocker with breakaway speed and the ability to avoid tacklers. Despite his 6-foot-2, 224-pound frame, he had the speed to go deep: In 1966, he had touchdown catches covering 51, 57, 64, 79, 83 and 89 yards. His career totals were 331 catches for5,236 yards and 38 touchdowns. He was a Syracuse graduate and played in two Super Bowls and five Pro Bowls. He joins Mike Ditka as the only tight ends in the Hall.
John Riggins: Riggins played 14 seasons and is the NFL's sixth-leading rusherwith 11,352 yards. His 116 touchdowns are third-highest in NFL history. He entered the league in 1971 with the New York Jets, then moved to the Washington Redskins as a free agent in 1976. He sat out 1980 because of a contract squabbleand finished his career in 1985. Riggins was the most valuable player in the 1983 Super Bowl, with a record 38 carries for 166 yards, scoring the winning touchdown on a 43-yard run. He rushed for at least 100 yards in 35 games.