To Jacket Or Not To Jacket

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is getting some heat over their policy of honoring those inducted posthumously. Currently, the football greats that pass before they get to Canton receive no gold jacket nor Hall of Fame ring. This has long been the Hall's policy but it didn't seem to be an issue until Ken Stabler's family received no jacket nor ring this year. Stabler's induction was absurdly late. He should have made it to Canton decades earlier. If the voters had done the right thing even a year earlier than they finally did, Stabler would have been alive to learn that he'd made it. Two years earlier and he'd have been able to wear that jacket and ring for about 11 months. Now, all that his family has is a bust and a framed patch.

I can understand the Hall's policy. The jacket and ring were meant to be worn by the Hall of Famer. Not to be morbid but the football great is no longer around to even be fitted. Those items were never intended to be a keepsake for surviving family members. They are items that signify the football greatness of a particular individual and for that indiviual. Only 303 men have them. It doesn't matter much at this point but the gold jacket wasn't even a Hall of Fame creation. It came from the NFL Alumni Association in the late 1970s. A decade and a half of enshrinees went into the Hall without that snappy jacket. The ring was an even more recent addition. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is being unfairly criticized. On the surface it doesn't seem like a big enough issue to get in a pissing match. Just give the Stabler family what they desire. But where does the Hall draw the line? Do they go back and give jackets and rings to the families of Dick Stanfel, Junior Seau, Les Richter, Benny Friedman, Fritz Pollard, Reggie White, Derrick Thomas...? Do they give jackets and rings to the families of those Hall of Famers that were buried wearing their jackets and rings? Do they give jackets and rings to the families of the unfortunate Hall of Famers that found the need to sell their cherished items? The criticism is well-intended. The critics see a family that isn't receiving the same precious items that the other Hall of Famers receive. They don't understand that those particular items were never intended for the family members. As cold as that might seem.