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There are two types of hall of famers, in any professional sport. There are the guys that go in right away (like Jerry Rice will) because they were the best at their position for a long, long time. Then there are the guys that need a groundswell of support to get into the hall because they were either the best for a short period of time, or they were great but not necessarily the best.
Compared to head coaches today, Don Coryell was the Chargers' Head Coach for a long time. However, for his time an nine-year tenure was fairly average. During that short amount of time, Don Coryell developed the "Air Coryell" offenses that inspired the offenses of today's NFL and turned Dan Fouts into a star.
Coryell's career record stands at 111-83 (69-56 with Chargers) and led his team to the playoffs in 6 out of his 14 years of coaching. In his 9 years with the Chargers his offense ranked in the top 6 in all but one season. That's incredible offensive dominance.
Currently, the San Diego Chargers have 10 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I believe Don Coryell was successful enough, and inspirational enough, that he deserves to be #11. JCPenney and Van Heusen are doing, for the first time ever, a "Fans' Choice" selection for the Hall of Fame. Although Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith and Cris Carter are the obvious choices that will most likely win the voting, if Chargers fans can get Coryell into the top 5 or top 10 it could be the beginning of the groundswell that eventually propels Don in.
So go here and vote. You're allowed 7 choices on your Hall of Fame ballot, so vote for who you believe are the best selections....just make sure you leave one of those choices available for Don Coryell.
This post is sponsored by JCPenney and Van Heusen