I’ve said before – and I’ll say it again and again and again because I fully believe it to be true – that two former Browns stars, wide receiver Gary Collins and left tackle Dick Schafrath, deserve to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Now I’m going to add another extremely worthy candidate, wide receiver Mac Speedie.
Speedie played opposite Dante Lavelli on the first seven Browns teams from 1946-52, giving quarterback Otto Graham two great targets. In fact, it was one of the top receiving combinations in pro football history.
Speedie had 349 receptions overall for 5,602 yards (16.1 average yards per catch) and 33 TDs. His NFL totals, covering three seasons, are 138 receptions for 2,048 yards (14.8) and nine TDs. He averaged 49.9 catches per season in his seven-year career.
Lavelli, a product of Hudson (Ohio) High School and Ohio State, is in the HOF after catching 386 passes for 6,488 yards (16.8) for 61 touchdowns. His NFL totals are 244 receptions for 3,908 yards (18.0) and 33 TDs. He averaged 35.1 catches per season in his 11-tyear career.
But Lavelli played seven seasons in the NFL, four more than Speedie.
In the seven seasons they played together, Speedie led the team in receptions five times.
So why is Lavelli in the HOF while Speedie is not, and probably never will be?
Because Speedie didn’t quite play long enough overall – close, but not quite. And he didn’t play long enough in the NFL, which is the only league the HOF voters watch when evaluating prospective inductees. A good number of the voters think the initials for the league the Browns played in during their first four seasons, AAFC (All-American Football Conference), are for a labor union or a futbol club.
When Speedie bolted the Browns following the 1952 season for the bigger money being offered by the Canadian Football League’s Regina Roughriders, it cost him a shot at the HOF.
And it may well have cost the Browns the NFL title. They lost to the Detroit Lions in the championship game for the second straight season, this time by just 17-16.
Do you think Speedie’s presence would have been worth a couple points? I do, too.
