JSU Sports Media Relations
The Black College Football Hall of Fame announced its seven newest members today. The Class of 2014 includes six players and one coach. The inductees were selected from a list of 25 finalists who had been determined earlier by the Black College Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee.
The Selection Committee is comprised of black college football sports writers, analysts and commentators Roscoe Nance (Chairman), Donald Hunt, Ty Miller, Charlie Neal and Lloyd Vance former NFL General Managers Ernie Accorsi and Gil Brandt, long-time NFL scouts Charles Bailey and Charles Garcia, director of the Smithsonian‘s National Museum of African American History and Culture Lonnie Bunch, and historian Michael Hurd.
The Class of 2014 includes Robert Brazile (Jackson State University), Leroy Kelly (Morgan State University), John Stallworth (Alabama A&M University), Michael Strahan (Texas Southern University), Willie Totten (Mississippi Valley State University), Doug Wilkerson (North Carolina Central University) as player inductees and Marino Casem (Alcorn State University) as a coach inductee.
Brazile and the rest of the 2014 class will be honored at the Fifth Annual Enshrinement Ceremony, presented by the Atlanta Falcons on March 1, 2014. The event will take place at the Loews Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia in conjunction with Black College Football weekend.
“The history of Black College Football is compelling and must be shared,” said Atlanta Falcons Owner & Chairman Arthur Blank. “We are proud to support the Black College Football Hall of Fame and congratulate the Class of 2014.”
Brazile was a first round pick by the Houston Oilers in 1975, with the sixth selection of the NFL draft. He was rated as one of the premier collegiate defensive players in 1974 while playing linebacker at Jackson State, despite starting his collegiate career as a tight end (he switched to the linebacker position after his freshman season). In 1972 and 1973, Brazile helped lead the Jackson State Tigers to consecutive SWAC championships.
Shortly after being drafted, Oilers head coach and general manager Bum Phillips switched Houston’s base defense from the 4-3 to the 3-4. Brazile is cited by many to be the most important player in making the 3-4 popular because of his ability to rush the quarterback from the outside linebacker position.
He was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1975 and made the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven seasons. He was a key member of the Oilers teams that made back-to-back appearances in the AFC Championship game (1978 and 1979). Brazile was selected as a member of the 1970’s NFL All-Decade team.
During his career with the Oilers he was a seven time Pro Bowl selection (1976-82), a five time first team All-Pro selection (1976-80), a second team All-Pro selection (1981) and a five time All-AFC selection (1976, 1978-80, 1982).
Other fact about Brazile: In college, his nickname was “Mr. Versatile” and in the NFL his nickname was “Dr. Doom”. Brazile has eight seasons of quarterback sacks that were not recorded because sacks were not kept as an official stat until 1982. Officially, his sack total is 11. However, he is unofficially credited with 48 sacks to go along with 1,281 tackles.
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