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While the Pro Football Hall Of Fame continues to shun Otis Taylor, it is good to see that the Black College Football Hall of Fame didn’t. Taylor, the gifted wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs out of Prairie View A&M University, joins five other HBCU greats in the BCFHF class of 2016. Southern University’s Aneas Williams, the late Jethro Pugh from Elizabeth City State University, Emmett Thomas (Bishop College), Ken Burroughs (Texas Southern University) and Lloyd ‘Judge’ Wells, the longtime NFL scout, who pointed teams to look at Black College prospects.
The Class of 2016 will be inducted at the Seventh Annual Black College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony on February 27, 2016, at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia.
Taylor, a fifth-round draft pick by the Chiefs in 1965, played 11 seasons in the NFL. He was one of the game’s first big receivers, checking in at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds. His 46-yard touchdown catch and run in the 1970 Super Bowl is perhaps the most famous play in Kansas City’s franchise history.
Pugh was an 11th round draft pick in 1965. The defensive tackle was one of the main cogs in Dallas’ famed ‘Doomsday’ defense, making it virtually impossible to run inside on the Cowboys. He played 14 seasons in Dallas, and won two Super Bowl rings.
Ken Burroughs was famous for wearing the number ’00’ during his 14-year career. He was the No. 10 pick in the 1970 draft by New Orleans Saints. Like Taylor, Burroughs was big, strong and fast. He earned several All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors during his 12 year career.
Aneas Williams was a third round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in the 1991 draft. He quickly established himself as one of the game’s best cornerbacks, taking on and locking up some of the best receivers in the league on a weekly basis. Williams made eight Pro-Bowls, earned the NFL’s prestigious Man of the Year award for community service, during his 14 year career. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
You might say the DNA from lock down corners like Williams comes from Emmett Thomas, who was an All-Pro cornerback for the Chiefs out of Bishop College. Thomas was a member of two Super Bowl championship teams as a player, and went on to become one of the NFL’s top defensive secondary coaches. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
Wells is regarded as the NFL’s first fulltime African-American scout. He was the man that pushed and prodded pro teams to look at the untapped wealth of talent at the Black Colleges, and small colleges. He helped pave the way for talents like Taylor and Thomas at Kansas City.
Linked below are highlights of Williams and Taylor, in addition to a link the BCHOF press release.
http://www.blackcollegefootballhof.org/releases/bcfhof-announces-class-of-2016
