Quarterbacks from the 1970s who “Maybe” should be in the Hall of Fame

I know that I will be getting a lot of feedback on this topic, and perhaps rightly so. I may even receive a lot of arguments as well. So be it. But let me begin by stating that this subject has at least some amount of stretching to it.

For example, no one really believes that some of the quarterbacks that I am listing here actually have a shot at becoming a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. All I am saying with this episode is that there is a category or two where these quarterbacks did manage to excel, and as such, they deserve at least some recognition over the span of several decades in time.

Maybe not in the Hall of Fame, but in some sort of acceptance and honor, nonetheless.

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 I’m just going to begin by listing these 1970s quarterbacks, in a non-alphabetical manner, and in a random way, by their names. 

I will then discuss with you, their achievements. Those signal-callers are: John Hadl, Ken Anderson, John Brodie, Earl Morrall, Craig Morton, and Roman Gabriel.

 You will obviously notice that most of the quarterbacks that I listed here did not play in the NFL just in the decade of the 1970s. Some played a portion of their careers in the 1960s, while another also played a portion of his career in the 1980s.

Now I will try to include at least one aspect to each of these quarterbacks that stands out as why they could be honored by somebody at least to some degree.  

John Hadl

Let’s begin at the top of this list with John Hadl, who was a journeyman quarterback who spent most of his early career in the 1960s in San Diego, where he led the Chargers to the AFL championship in 1963, and to the brink of another couple of AFL titles in 1964 and 1965.

He played 11 seasons in San Diego, then he went on to take the Los Angeles Rams to the best winning regular season of his pro career in 1973 with a record of 12-2.
Hadl would then play for both the Green Bay Packers and the Houston Oilers before closing out his 16-year pro career in 1977.

Ken Anderson

Of all of the quarterbacks who seems to get the most attention when it comes to a quarterback who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame but isn’t, Cincinnati’s Ken Anderson stands apart from most of the others.

Anderson was a product of the Bill Walsh school of West Coast offense while Walsh was an assistant coach under the great Paul Brown. Anderson developed into one of the most accurate quarterbacks in NFL history. He played 16 seasons of pro ball, all in Cincinnati. He led the Bengals to Super Bowl XVI in 1981. He won four different passing titles in 1974, 1975, 1981, and 1982.

Most people believe that if he had won a Super Bowl, Anderson would have been in the Hall of Fame several decades ago.

John Brodie

John Brodie was another quarterback who enjoyed a long pro career. He was never able to play in a Super Bowl, but he led the San Francisco 49ers to three straight NFC Western Division championships in 1970, 1971, and 1972.

In the 1970 and 1971 seasons, Brodie’s 49ers ended up in the NFC Title Game, just one win short of getting to the Super Bowl. Like Anderson, Brodie had plenty of durability. Brodie played 17 seasons in the NFL, all in San Francisco.

He led the league in both completions and yards in three seasons (1965, 1968, and 1970), and in 1970, he was voted as the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. He also led the NFL in touchdowns in both 1965 and 1970s.

Earl Morrall and Craig Morton

Similar in overall knowledge regarding the quarterback position as Hadl, Anderson, and Brodie was Earl Morrall, who was a journeyman extreme. Only Ryan Fitzpatrick in a more recent era has played the position for more different teams (nine) than Morrall, who played for six different teams during his 21-year pro career.

Morrall was considered by many to be a career backup quarterback. Even so, he took the Baltimore Colts to Super Bowl III, helped the Colts to win Super Bowl V, and drove the Dolphins to Super Bowl VII.

Craig Morton was a starting quarterback in Dallas before he was chosen by Cowboys head coach to become a backup to eventual Hall of Famer Roger Staubach. Yet Morton kept Landry’s team competitive all throughout his time there.

He took the team to Super Bowl V. He was a member of Dallas’ Super Bowl VI world championship team, and he took the Denver Broncos to Super Bowl XII. That 1977 season in Denver saw Morton lead the Broncos to their first-ever playoff game.

Roman Gabriel

Rounding out this discussion is Roman Gabriel, one of the biggest, tallest, and most muscular quarterbacks when he was in his prime in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Gabriel also had a cannon for a right arm, and he was certainly not shy to use it. 

He was able to force the pigskin through the zone defenses and into his receivers’ hands. Most of his pass-catchers had to catch the ball simply out of self-defense, as much as for any other reason. Gabriel was named the first-team All-Pro quarterback in 1969.

In conclusion, nobody really thinks that most of these men will ever get a bust in Canton, Ohio. If you had to pick one who might get a Gold Jacket, it would probably be Ken Anderson of the Bengals.

But all the men that we discussed today have made their mark in pro football. And I know for a fact that pro football fans and historians will never forget their deeds. In that respect, these quarterbacks have achieved fame…in their own right.

This Episode's Trivia Question:

Which of the quarterbacks that we talked about in this episode played for that college football juggernaut, Augustana College in Illinois?

Host and Author of Pro Football in the 1970s - Joe Zagorski

Throughout his days, Joe spent some time as a sportswriter and has been a member of the Pro Football Researchers Association since the mid-1980s.  Joe is also a proud member of the Pro Football Writers of America.

Also, if you’re interested in picking one of Joe’s books up, all three are listed below.

Here, you can learn more about Joe and Pro Football in the 1970s.

Joe Zagorski
Joe Zagorski

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