Chris Hanburger, The Hall of Fame and Links to Redskins History

Former Washington Redskins linebacker Chris Hanburger, a standout performer of the George Allen era, joined 18 other Redskins players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame—final accolade for one of the NFL’s finest performers of the 1970s.

As a service to readers of the Redskins Hog Heaven Blog, we provide the links to the Hall of Fame and the 70 Greatest Redskins biographies for the best players in Redskins history.

We included players and coaches who are remembered as Washington Redskins, even if those players (Dudley, Jurgensen, and Huff) spent time with other teams. We did not include players or coaches who spent career time with the Redskins but are better remembered for time with other teams. Vince Lombardi and Bruce Smith are two such personalities.

Answers.com has a good description of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and what to do there. There is always the Hall of Fame site itself. For that, look here.

The link to Chris “The Hangman” Hanburger’s HOF acceptance speech can be found here.

The nature of the acceptance speeches took a decided turn after Shannon Sharp’s heartfelt homily. Marshall Faulk and Deion Sanders, like Sharp, cited crushing poverty and grim childhood circumstances as drivers for excellence for them. We look with disdain at players whose personal conduct and attitude do not mirror the middle class sensibilities of fans. Sharp reminded us that something about that background makes players tougher and motivates a few to the Hall of Fame.