It will be a big weekend for the Falcons franchise as defensive end Claude Humphrey gets enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame at 7 p.m. Saturday in Canton, Ohio.
Humphrey will be the first player who played the majority of his career with the Falcons to be enshrined and the first player from the dark era of losing that kept him and likely others from receiving football’s greatest honor: a bust and a yellow jacket.
“We are all 100 percent thrilled and excited for him, for his family and for the Atlanta Falcons,” former linebacker Greg Brezina said. “It’s a positive for everybody. We are all honored he’s going in. Praise the Lord, he will have his bust there.”
There are several other Falcons worthy of consideration for the Hall of Fame, but the doors have been shut to them mostly because the teams they played on, during the Smith family ownership years, never were very successful.
Former Falcons kicker Morten Andersen, the game’s all-time leading scorer, was a finalist for the 2014 class, but didn’t receive enough votes.
Some believe that linebackers Tommy Nobis, and Jessie Tuggle and Brezina belong in Canton. Other Hall of Fame-worthy Falcons include offensive tackle Mike Kenn, center Jeff Van Note, tight end Jim Mitchell, offensive tackle Chris Hinton and running back Gerald Riggs, others contend.
With the enshrinement of Humphrey comes a glimmer of hope that the selection committee may reconsider some of the others.
Nobis is the player who’s been before the committee the most. He has been among the preliminary nominees five times and considered by the senior committee on 10 occasions, according to the Hall of Fame. He’s never been a finalist.
“I know what a great football player Tommy was,” former quarterback Steve Bartkowski said. “I know much he deserves to be right in there with the (Ray) Nitschkes and the (Dick) Butkuses of the world because he was every bit as good as those guys.”
The Falcons were founded in 1966 as an expansion team and didn’t make the playoffs until 1978. The franchise never had back-to-back winning seasons until the current regime achieved that in 2008 and 2009.
Dan Reeves took the Falcons to their first – and only — Super Bowl after the 1998 season.
Despite all of the losing, many believe there were some Hall of Fame-worthy careers spent in the black and red.
“(Nobis) just suffered from playing for a very poor organization for a long, long time,” Bartkowski said. “It’s sad the way that works. I think some people just don’t do their homework to try to figure it out … they go off statistics and off of the popular vote, if you will.”
Reeves has his own Hall of Fame supporters mostly for playing or coaching in nine Super Bowls. He believes the Falcons are under-represented in Canton.
“I played against Tommy Nobis, and he was one of best middle linebackers, period,” Reeves said. “It’s a shame he’s not in there. I played against Nitschke and Butkus, and Nobis, in my opinion, he was better than them. But if not, he was their equal.”
It seems that team’s history has held him back.
“He’s the first pick the Falcons took, and they struggled,” Reeves said. “So many times the Hall of Fame is predicated on how many championships you win.”
Lisa Kenn, Mike Kenn’s daughter, is heading up a campaign to get him considered for enshrinement. Kenn played left tackle from 1978-94 and was a five-time Pro Bowler and two-team All-Pro first team.
“Mike Kenn should be in Canton,” Bartkowski said. “He was the best offensive tackle in football, if not the best, one of the top two or three for 17 years. For him not to be able to get a nod, it breaks my heart for those guys because I know how great they were.”
Kenn started all 251 NFL games that he played in, but the Falcons went to the playoffs just four times over his 17 seasons. The loss in the divisional round three times (1978, 1980 and 1991) and the wild-card round once (1982).
“It’s tough,” Bartkowski said. “You have to play the hand that you are dealt. I’m just happy that the day has finally come for Claude. Hopefully, it will one day for Tommy and Mike, as well.”
Jerry Glanville, the architect of the Falcons’ “Grits Blitz” defense that set an NFL record for fewest points allowed in a 14-game season (129), is happy for Humphrey. He believes other Falcons should be enshrined, too.
“How can you give up just 129 points and not have more people in?” Glanville said. “Pittsburgh was a little bit behind us. Chicago was behind us. None of them were as good as that (1977) defense, and they’ve got their whole teams in the Hall of Fame.”
Glanville believes there are other candidates.
“How about Brezina at linebacker?” Glanville said. “How about (linebacker Fulton) Kuykendall?”
Humphrey will be the fifth former Falcon to have a bust in Canton. However, the other four played most of their careers with other teams.
Running back Eric Dickerson, who was enshrined in 1999, played one injury-filled season in 1993 and had only 26 carries for 96 yards. Defensive end Chris Doleman, who was enshrined in 2012, was with the Falcons for two of his 15 NFL seasons.
Wide receiver Tommy McDonald, who was enshrined in 1998, played one season with the Falcons and was known more for his time with the Eagles, where he played for seven of his 12 seasons in the league.
Cornerback Deion Sanders, who was enshrined in 2011, is the only other player drafted by the Falcons to be enshrined, but he spent only five of his 14 seasons in the NFL with the Falcons.
Brezina seems to have accepted the plight of the slighted Falcons.
“There should be more Falcons to get in,” Brezina said. “But it is what it is. You are what you are, and you played where you played.”
