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HELP ME in my mission to get Chris Hanburger into Canton! Get all your website fans to help too please.
Chris Hanburger
Washington Redskins
Linebacker
6’2″ 220
1965 – 1978 (14 Seasons)
187 Games Played
19 Interceptions
5 Touchdowns
9 Pro Bowls
Christian G. Hanburger was an 18th! Round draft choice of the Redskins in 1965. He was the 245TH! player chosen that year. He was a 25 year old rookie, due to his service in the Army before going to the University of North Carolina. At UNC, he was a 2 way player who was named All ACC at Center his junior and senior years. In 1963, his team won the ACC Championship.
Hanburger played right away and was in the Pro Bowl by his second year in the league. He would then begin a string of Pro Bowl appearances until 1969. He then resumed that string in 1972 until 1976. Sacks and tackles were not recorded in those days, but Hanburger was a play maker. He is considered one of the best of his era. He was known for his blitzing ability and pass coverage. Ever the complete player, he returned 3 fumbles for touchdowns in his career to go with 2 on interceptions. In 1972, Hanburger captained the Over The Hill gangs defense to a Super Bowl appearance. Hanburger was known not only for good speed, but his exceptional quickness. He had the innate ability to diagnose a play before the ball was hiked. He often would cover the other teams tight end and peel off to knock passes down meant for wide receivers. Coach George Allen liked to have a safety first defense, leaving the rest to Hanburger and his fellow linebackers.
Hanburgers nine Pro Bowl appearances are still the most by any player in the entire history of the Washington Redskins.
As a kid, I once heard a long time local media type say that he figured Hanburger had over 50 quarterback sacks in his career. This, coupled by the facts that are allowed in the record book truly says that there is NO DOUBT that Chris Hanburger SHOULD BE in the NFL Hall of Fame.
HELP ME in my mission to get Chris Hanburger into Canton! Get all your website fans to help too please.
Chris Hanburger
Washington Redskins
Linebacker
6’2″ 220
1965 – 1978 (14 Seasons)
187 Games Played
19 Interceptions
5 Touchdowns
9 Pro Bowls
Christian G. Hanburger was an 18th! Round draft choice of the Redskins in 1965. He was the 245TH! player chosen that year. He was a 25 year old rookie, due to his service in the Army before going to the University of North Carolina. At UNC, he was a 2 way player who was named All ACC at Center his junior and senior years. In 1963, his team won the ACC Championship.
Hanburger played right away and was in the Pro Bowl by his second year in the league. He would then begin a string of Pro Bowl appearances until 1969. He then resumed that string in 1972 until 1976. Sacks and tackles were not recorded in those days, but Hanburger was a play maker. He is considered one of the best of his era. He was known for his blitzing ability and pass coverage. Ever the complete player, he returned 3 fumbles for touchdowns in his career to go with 2 on interceptions. In 1972, Hanburger captained the Over The Hill gangs defense to a Super Bowl appearance. Hanburger was known not only for good speed, but his exceptional quickness. He had the innate ability to diagnose a play before the ball was hiked. He often would cover the other teams tight end and peel off to knock passes down meant for wide receivers. Coach George Allen liked to have a safety first defense, leaving the rest to Hanburger and his fellow linebackers.
Hanburgers nine Pro Bowl appearances are still the most by any player in the entire history of the Washington Redskins.
The game was played different for the most part in his era. The running game was most teams primary weapon. Tackling with sound fundamentals was a must then. Few players lead with their heads for “kill shots” because they would be injured much faster than today with innovations of modern technology on equipment nowadays. It also should be remembered that players then did not command the same level of salaries that they do today. Most players would work a second job in the off season, compared to the luxury players have today to train whenever they choose to.
As a kid, I once heard a long time local media type say that he figured Hanburger had over 50 quarterback sacks in his career. This, coupled by the facts that are allowed in the record book truly says that there is NO DOUBT that Chris Hanburger SHOULD BE in the NFL Hall of Fame.
IF you agree with me, then help me wake up the Senior Committee members by e-mailing them along with me and DEMANDING that CHRIS HANBURGER be put into the Hall of Fame. If we all do it, maybe they will stop ignoring the facts!
imiller@sportsxchange.com
john.mcclain@chron.com
epope@herald.com
dgoldberg@ap.org
rgosselin@dallasnews.com
jerry.magee@uniontrib.com
len.shapiro@washingtonpost.com
Now that Art Monk has been inducted, Redskins fans need to unite and focus their attention and energy on the next most qualified Redskin for the Hall of Fame. That player is NOT Russ Grimm, Joe Jacoby, Gary Clark, Larry Brown, Jerry Smith, Len Hauss or Pat Fischer. They were all great players, but the player most qualified for induction is Chris Hanburger. Nine-time Pro Bowler. Five-time All Pro. 1972 NFC Defensive Player of the Year on the Redskins first Super Bowl team. Handpicked by George Allen to call defensive signals for one of the best defenses in the NFL during the 1970′s. Don’t forget those last two facts. People familiar with Hanburger often mention the Pro Bowl number (9), but most people forget that he was once voted NFC Defensive Player of the year (an honor bestowed on very few players) and was entrusted by the great defensive mastermind George Allen to call plays for his defense for 5 years. The NFL Network recently ran an NFL Films special on the 10 best players not in the Hall of Fame. The 10 players they picked were Ken Anderson, Steve Tasker, Alex Karras, Ricky Watters, Ken Stabler, Bob Hayes, Jim Marshall, Chris Carter, Derrick Thomas and Jerry Kramer. Most of those players (except Tasker and Watters) should probably be in the Hall of Fame, but Chris Hanburger is more qualified than anyone on that list except Chris Carter, and none of them has as many combined Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections (14) as Hanburger. You will be hard pressed to find another retired player with 14 or more combined selections who is not in the Hall of Fame. Of all former NFL players who are eligible to be selected by the Veterans Committee, Chris Hanburger is by far the strongest candidate in the field.
So why isn’t Chris Hanburger in the Hall of Fame? The biggest impediments to his induction appear to be his past relationship with the media (Len Shapiro has told many people that he was “very media unfriendly” during his playing career) and the fact that younger fans don’t know anything about him and older fans have to be reminded of him before their eyes light up and they remember how good he was. Another impediment may be the timing of his career. Hanburger’s best years were between 1966 and 1976. He was a dominant player during the last half of the 1960′s and the first half of the 1970′s, but did not dominate either decade from beginning to end. As a result, he was not named to the all-decade team for the 1960′s or 1970′s, but he had an 11 year run between those two decades that was as good as almost any linebacker in NFL history.
What can Redskins fans do to help get Chris Hanburger inducted? Well, writing or talking to members of the local sports media and asking them to support the cause would certainly help. Writing to Daniel Snyder and asking him to mobilize the Redskins media machine behind this cause would help even more. Finally, if 5,000 (or more) Redskins fans took a few minutes out of their lives to send letters or e-mails to the Hall of Fame voters, those voters would be compelled to at least look at Hanburger’s career. Once they saw his numbers and talked to some of his peers (such as Sonny Jurgensen, Sam Huff, Fran Tarkenton, Don Coryell and Joe Gibbs, Mike Ditka, Bob Griese and other players and coaches from that era), his election would be a near certainty. The key is to make at least 5,000 Redskins fans (and some key media people) aware of Chris Hanburger’s Hall of Fame credentials and remind them that they can do the same thing for Hanburger that they did for Art Monk… crusade relentlessly until they get the necessary votes!
P.S. — For those who support other former Redskins for induction, please note the following. Hanburger’s 9 Pro Bowl and 5 All Pro selections gave him a selection total of 14. By comparison, Russ Grimm had a selection total of 8 (4 PB and 4 AP), Joe Jacoby had 4 (2 and 2), Pat Fischer had 6 (3 and 3), Gary Clark had 7 (4 and 3), and Len Hauss had 9 (5 PB and 4 second team AP). Please keep this in mind and throw your support behind the strongest candidate (Hanburger) for now. We can fight to support the other candidates later.