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LB Randy Gradishar (All B1G, All-American, CFB HOF, NFL Defensive POY, NFL HOF)

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Gradishar disappointed again
The leader of the Broncos' "Orange Crush" defense gets passed over for Hall of Fame
By Irv Moss
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 02/03/2008

The words didn't come easily, some hesitantly at times, for Randy Gradishar as he acknowledged disappointment Saturday at being turned down for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"Do I feel bad? Yes, of course, I feel bad," Gradishar said before a small group that assembled for what was supposed to be a celebration. But it was quiet in the room, with a cake uncut and bottles of Orange Crush soft drink unopened in displays around the room.

Gradishar, who played 10 years for the Broncos from 1974-83, became the leader of the "Orange Crush" defense at middle linebacker. He said that it was an honor to have reached the 15 modern-era finalists for induction for the second time. But he was disappointed to learn that he didn't make the cut to the final 10 in the voting.

"Sure, I feel as if I deserved to have been inducted," Gradishar said. "My statistics fall favorably in the range of statistics compiled by players who already have been inducted."

Gradishar's time in the NFL corresponded with the playing years of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jack Lambert and partially with linebacker Willie Lanier of the Kansas City Chiefs. Both are in the Hall of Fame.

Lambert played in 146 games over 11 years, Lanier in 149 games over 11 years, while Gradishar never missed a game playing 145 in 10 seasons. Gradishar joined the Broncos as a first-round draft pick in 1974 out of Ohio State after achieving All-America status. He was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

With the Broncos, Gradishar was in the Pro Bowl seven times and became the franchise's leading tackler with 2,049. The high point for the Broncos during his career was reaching Super Bowl XII after the 1977 season. Gradishar was the league's defensive player of the year in 1978.
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The Denver Post - Gradishar disappointed again
 
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Getting blocked off field, but rarely on
Reporter Irv Moss writes about stars from the past
By Irv Moss
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 02/05/2008

Randy Gradishar was the leader of the Broncos' Orange Crush defense that advanced to Super Bowl XII in the 1977 season. (Denver Post file photo)As Randy Gradishar looks back at his 10-year career as the leader of the Broncos' famed Orange Crush defense, he has to think he's a victim of identity theft.

The Randy Gradishar who continues to be blocked from entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame isn't the same guy who became all-everything for Broncos faithful from 1974-83, including the 1977 season that produced the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance.

It's too bad the facts of Gradishar's career couldn't change the Hall of Fame voters' rush to negative opinion.

But once again Saturday, Gradi-shar didn't hear his name among the five players selected from an original list of 17 finalists. He now joins the list of senior candidates who face a fuzzy path to induction.

"I felt tremendous disappointment and a sinking feeling," Gradishar said when asked his thoughts as the announcement was made. "I was feeling good going in and heard that things looked positive. But what I heard didn't happen in that room."
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The Denver Post - Getting blocked off field, but rarely on
 
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Steve19;1083997; said:
This is a travesty.

What can we do about it. I mean it. What can we do so that he is elected next year by whatever process they use for senior players?
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It's real easy Steve, all we have to do is convince the selection comittee that Randy played College Ball at Notre Dame and played Professionly for the Cowboys or Steelers.
 
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DaddyBigBucks;1086112; said:
I was under the impression that this was the last year of his eligibility. If so, then I can say for certain that I'll never go to Canton again. Total sham
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I think it was his last year for being voted in as a player and its up to a "veterans committee" type of thing to get him in from here but I'm not 100%.

Andre fucking Tippett over Randy Gradishar? :shake:
 
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Voters in hall of shame
By Terry Frei
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 02/06/2008


A year ago, I visited former Broncos quarterback Craig Morton at the University of California-Berkeley's Haas Pavilion. Early in the first of our conversations, Morton, the Cal athletic department's major gifts officer, went out of his way to get something on the record.

"Louis Wright was as good a cornerback as I ever saw," Morton said. "Gradishar, Tommy Jackson, Billy Thompson. None of them are in the Hall of Fame? That's just a joke."

That's at the heart of why the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters' rejection of Randy Gradishar again Saturday in Phoenix was an unconscionable slight of not just the former Broncos inside linebacker — but of Denver's entire Orange Crush defense of 1977 and beyond.

Stupid us. Most of us assumed that in Gradishar's 20th and final year of eligibility before his candidacy must pass through the senior committee, the 44-person panel finally would get it right. As they had done with former Cardinals cornerback Roger Wehrli, in his 20th year of eligibility in 2007, they would acknowledge Gradishar had been kept waiting long enough.
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The Denver Post - Voters in hall of shame

The next step for Gradishar advocates
by Terry Frei on February 7, 2008


I?ve already referred to the reactions I?m getting to Wednesday?s Randy Gradishar column. I?m also getting a lot of questions about whether there is anything anyone can do.

Well, I?m frankly amazed that nothing has worked in the past. Woody Paige eloquently argued Gradishar?s case in the meeting room when Woody was on the committee. (Woody left the Post for a time, as you know, and, besides, now the paper does not allow us to participate on such panels.) This time around, Gradishar advocates ? including his former coaches and Jay Cimino of the Phil Long dealerships ? compiled information and testimonials, and that didn?t work, either. The one sticking point, and Woody has alluded to this, is that one well-known writer spoke out against Gradishar in the past, arguing that Broncos tackle statistics were inflated during Grandishar?s playing days. That might still be poisoning the waters. I can?t speak to the point of the tackle stats? accuracy, but as I said in the column, it?s an eye test, too, and by any standard, Gradishar passes that.
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The next step for Gradishar advocates : All Things Colorado Sports
 
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Former Bronco encourages La Juntans to 'pay forward'

By Joe Zemba

BoosterClub

La Junta, Colo. -
Ron Davis of La Junta Economic Development may have said it best in describing the presence of former Denver Bronco great Randy Gradishar at the La Junta High School Booster Club dinner and auction Friday evening saying, We've never had somebody as popular, whose given us so many great memories visit us in La Junta.? Davis went on to express his gratitude adding, He's a role model.
Described by his fans as the champion from Champion, OH, Gradishar, who graduated with a degree in Distributive Education, was a three-year starter with the Ohio State Buckeyes from 1971 to 1973. Former Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes called Gradishar "the best linebacker I ever coached". He made 134 tackles in his senior year, 60 of them solo, to lead the team.
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In his speech given to those in attendance at the inaugural La Junta High School Booster Club meeting, Gradishar recalled the words once used by his former head coach at the Ohio State Woody Hayes in commemorating his commitment to appear at gatherings across the state, saying, You win with people, which was the title of a book later written by Hayes. You gotta pay it forward. It's about people and the communities that they live in; that's why I'm here.
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Vet committee snubs Gradishar, Little
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 08/27/2008

If only the bronzed-bust room of Canton were like horseshoes, Floyd Little and Randy Gradishar might have felt better about the Pro Football Hall of Fame senior committee vote Wednesday.

As Hall of Fame candidates, Little and Gradishar may be getting closer to Canton, as both were among the 15 finalists considered for nomination by the seniors committee. But like so many other times before, the Broncos greats were snubbed in the end.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame seniors committee nominated former Dallas Cowboys receiver Bob Hayes and Atlanta Falcons defensive end Claude Humphrey to be among the 17 finalists submitted for election on Jan. 31, 2009, the eve of Super Bowl XLIII.

The senior committee confirmed that Little, Broncos' star running back from 1967-75, and Gradishar, middle linebacker of the Orange Crush defense in the 1970s, were among the 15 senior candidates up for discussion this year.
That was hardly consolation for Gradishar, who wasn't ready to comment when first told of the news Wednesday, and Little, the Broncos' first superstar who retired as the NFL's seventh-leading rusher. The six ahead of him are all in the Hall of Fame.
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Vet committee snubs Gradishar, Little - The Denver Post
 
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The lost art of NFL tackling

Former Broncos linebacker Randy Gradishar says today's pro players lack fundamentals.

By Jim Armstrong
The Denver Post

Updated: 11/23/2008 12:55:24 AM MST


If anybody knows a little about tackling, it's Randy Gradishar.
Back in the days of the Orange Crush, Gradishar was your basic tackling machine. During one five-year span, from 1977-81, he averaged 250 tackles per season, including a franchise-record 286 in 1978, when the NFL expanded its season from 14 games to 16.
So what does the Broncos Ring of Famer think of the state of tackling in today's NFL? He thinks it's broken, as in all those broken tackles on Sunday afternoons.
Not that Gradishar is surprised. It's pretty simple, he says. Tackling, for the most part, has become a lost art in today's NFL because players don't work on it in practice. "The basic fundamentals have changed," Gradishar said. "We were always in full pads, and our theme was everybody get to the ball and tackle the guy. We worked on form tackling day after day. Today, they don't know what to do at practice because they don't have the pads on.

Continued.........
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OregonBuckeye;1081839; said:
Too bad he didn't play for the Cowboys or Steelers. He would've gotten in a long time ago.
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Peter King on CNNSI.com agrees
? I DON'T THINK THERE WAS OPPOSITION, JUST A LONG LINE. From Bruno, B., of Metuchen, N.J.: "What was the opposition to Shannon Sharpe for the Hall of Fame? I can't argue with the six guys who got in, but Sharpe should have been a first ballot lock. You can't tell me that there isn't a bias against the Broncos. There are only two Broncos in the Hall and there are nine Chiefs. You tell me which franchise has the better history of the two and why the one with the lesser history has far more players in the Hall. I am convinced for example that Randy Gradishar would have been in had he worn the uniform of an east coast team.''
Don't look for biases where there are none. This class wasn't a New York-LA-Chicago class. It has men from Buffalo (two), Minnesota, Kansas City, Pittsburgh/Oakland/Baltimore (Rod Woodson) and Dallas picked. There is no Denver bias from a soul in that room, at least from anything I've ever heard on or off the record.
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NFL did review Kurt Warner fumble at end of Super Bowl XLIII - Peter King - SI.com
 
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King can say what he wants, but I've heard the opposite when it comes to Denver. I've read several places that the people who are supposed to be "pushing" the Broncos are less than enthusiastic, and that translates to the rest of the room quickly. It's why guys like Floyd Little and Gradishar probably have no shot.

Bias? Nah, of course not. I mean, the backup punter for the Dolphins and Steelers of the 70's aren't in, after all.
 
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