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Twenty-six of the greatest names in NFL history
make the elite club chosen by fans as part of the game's 50th Game
Celebration
Thirteen Pro Football Hall of Famers. Fifteen
players with at least one Super Bowl ring. Players who finished their
careers as the all-time
rushing and interception leaders. A Heisman Trophy winner.
Dominating performers regarded by many as the best to ever play the game.
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| Senior Bowl
All-Time Team members pose for a historic photo prior to the 50th
annual contest in 1999 and include (front row) Joe Namath (far
left), Ed Too Tall Jones (second from right) and Art Monk (far
right) and (back row, left to right) Paul Krause, Lee Roy Jordan,
Derrick Thomas, Joe Greene, Albert Lewis, Ozzie Newsome, Tom Banks
and Roger Wehrli. |
Legend after legend after legend.
A fantasy team?
No, it's the 50th Anniversary Senior Bowl
All-Time team, announced by game officials after counting thousands of
ballots from fans who voted in the spring of 1999 as part of the game's
50th Anniversary Celebration.
And a quick glance at the players who
made the team reads like a "Who's Who" of all-time college and
pro football greats.
Joe Namath. Walter Payton. Steve Largent.
Jerry Kramer. Ed "Too Tall" Jones. "Mean" Joe Greene.
Ray Nitschke. Franco Harris. The list goes on and on, and they serve as
the perfect reminder of the game's impressive history which helped
ignite the celebration of five decades of Senior Bowls.
"The All-Time Team balloting was a
perfect way to kickoff our special 50th Game Celebration," said
Senior Bowl President Steve Hale. "The balloting also served as a
reminder of the unmatched legacy of the many great players who have played
in Mobile since our game's inception in 1950, and we were very pleased to
see the tremendous participation on the part of the fans and the
outstanding job they did in selecting this special team."
Fans were asked to vote for the players
based on their entire football careers -- both collegiate and professional
-- and not simply their performance in the Senior Bowl, although many of
the players who made the team also enjoyed outstanding Senior Bowl games.
The most hotly-contested race was for the
game's best-ever quarterback. With four of the greatest signal callers in
NFL history -- Joe Namath, Terry Bradshaw, Dan Marino and Brett Favre --
vying for the top spot, fan balloting was pretty evenly split among the
impressive quartet.
Namath, the first player in NFL history
to throw for over 4,000 yards in a season and who passed for 246 in Senior
Bowl 65, edged out Bradshaw, a fellow member of the Pro Football Hall of
Fame and the MVP of Senior Bowl 70, for the honor with 1,230 votes to
Bradshaw's 1,066. Marino, the NFL's all-time leading passer, and Favre,
the only player in league history to win three-straight MVP awards,
finished with 902 and 861 votes, respectively.
The team's leading vote getter was kicker
Morten Andersen, who easily led all kickers with 3,116 votes or 76 percent
of the total votes cast.
Other top vote getters were the NFL's
all-time leading rusher Walter Payton at running back; Pro Football Hall
of Famers Steve Largent at wide receiver, Gene Upshaw at offensive line
and Joe Greene at defensive line; former Alabama All-American and Dallas
Cowboys great Lee Roy Jordan at linebacker; and 1998 Pro Football Hall of
Fame inductee Paul Krause, the NFL's all-time interception leader, at
defensive back.
Even though the group of players who made
the elite team represents many of the greatest players to ever play the
game, the list of players who didn't make the team stand as perhaps an
even greater testament to the quality of players who have played in the
Senior Bowl since its inception.
Seven members of the Pro Football Hall of
Fame -- Bradshaw, Doak Walker, Frank Gifford, Jim Taylor, Kellen Winslow
and Sam Huff -- were on the ballot but didn't garner enough votes to make
the team, while two other Hall of Famers -- quarterback Len Dawson and
linebacker Joe Schmidt -- didn't even make the final ballot. The NFL's
all-time leading passer, Dan Marino, didn't make it, nor did several other
NFL greats such as Thurman Thomas, Sterling Sharpe, John Stallworth, Alex
Karras and Dick Anderson, just to name a few.
Since 1950, a grand total of 3,075
players have played in Mobile's annual talent showcase. From that list of
names, a master ballot of the game's best-ever players was submitted to
National Football League coaches and general managers. Their votes were
then calculated to determine the names which appeared on the official
ballot from which fans selected the all-time team.
50th Anniversary Senior Bowl All-Time Team
(As selected by fan voting)
|
Offense |
|
Pos |
Name |
School |
Year in Senior Bowl |
| QB |
Joe Namath |
Alabama |
1965 |
| RB |
Walter Payton |
Jackson State |
1975 |
| RB |
Bo Jackson |
Auburn |
1986 |
| RB |
Franco Harris |
Penn State |
1972 |
| WR |
Steve Largent |
Tulsa |
1976 |
| WR |
Lynn Swann |
Southern Cal |
1974 |
| WR |
Art Monk |
Syracuse |
1980 |
| TE |
Ozzie Newsome |
Alabama |
1978 |
| OL |
Gene Upshaw |
Texas A&I |
1967 |
| OL |
Jerry Kramer |
Idaho |
1958 |
| OL |
Mike Webster |
Wisconsin |
1974 |
| OL |
Randall McDaniel |
Arizona State |
1988 |
| OL |
Tom Banks |
Auburn |
1970 |
| K |
Morten Andersen |
Michigan State |
1982 |
|
Defense |
|
Pos |
Name |
School |
Year in Senior Bowl |
| DL |
"Mean" Joe Greene |
North Texas State |
1969 |
| DL |
Ed "Too Tall"
Jones |
Tennessee State |
1974 |
| DL |
Bubba Smith |
Michigan State |
1967 |
| DL |
Jack Youngblood |
Florida |
1971 |
| LB |
Lee Roy Jordan |
Alabama |
1963 |
| LB |
Ray Nitschke |
Illinois |
1958 |
| LB |
Derrick Thomas |
Alabama |
1989 |
| LB |
Ted Hendricks |
Miami |
1969 |
| DB |
Paul Krause |
Iowa |
1964 |
| DB |
Dale Carter |
Tennessee |
1992 |
| DB |
Albert Lewis |
Grambling |
1983 |
| DB |
Roger Wehrli |
Missouri |
1969 |
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