Charlie Hennigan for the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Having had some training in statistical methods, I understand that there are many variables which must be considered when looking at numbers. This is particularly the case with team sports, in which each player’s work reflects also that of his teammates. Thus a pass receiver who could be the greatest of all time would not be so without a great quarterback and a great offensive line to protect his quarterback. Further, one must decide how to define greatness. A receiver such as Lynn Swan, whose numbers are rather meager, but who was a superbowl MVP must be considered great on the basis of his contribution to his team’s greatness. A receiver with great longevity in the game can accumulate great career numbers without necessarily being altogether brilliant in a game-to-game basis.

Art Monk, having played 224 career games is the 4^th leading receiver in career yardage in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. However, his yardage per game average is only 56.8, 15 yards/game less than Charlie Hennigan, who only had 6,823 career yards and only played 95 games. Monk had 33 100+ yardage games, but did so in 224 games, contrasted to Hennigan, who had 28 100+ yardage games in only 95 games, 4 of those being 200+yard games as contrasted to Monk’s 2 games of greater than 200 yards. Thus, one must look at factors which include what I would call brilliance of play as well as consistency in play. Both of these should be honored.

The following rankings show Charlie Hennigan’s numbers ranked against the other pass receivers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Included are not only the total numbers, but also these numbers as related to number of games played. With regards to team accomplishments, Charlie Hennigan, along with Bill Groman, was one of George Blanda’s tandem receiver corps which won AFL championships in both 1960 and 1961. The 1961 Oiler’s team has been described as one of the greatest professional football teams of history, dominating the AFL in both rushing and receiving. Billy Cannon was the league-leading rusher that year. Charlie Hennigan broke Elroy Hirsh’s season yardage record, one which stood until Jerry Rice broke it in 1995. Charlie was voted all pro in 5 of the 7 years which he played.

The following is a ranking of Charlie Hennigan along with hall of famers based on career receptions:

Ranking these players by receptions per game results in the following:

Review of career yardage statistics results in similar findings:

When one scrutinizes yardage per games played, however, one finds the rankings change:

Following are rankings of career TD’s, TD’s/game played, and also yards/reception:

Finally, 100+ yardage games and 200+ yardage games, which reflect what I would call brilliance of play are reviewed. I am including ranking on total 100+ yard games as well as percentage of games played which were greater than 100 yard games.

(Some data is not available on this for earlier receivers, which is indicated by “NA”)

Finally, 200+ yard career games are ranked. As there are so few receivers who had 200+ yard games I am not ranking them per “game played”. I believe that Jerry Rice has only 4 200+yard regular season games, and 1 in post-season, which seems all the more impressive to me, so I’m including it.

When I look at data in this way, I cannot understand why Charlie Hennigan has not already been inducted
into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.