Moore and Murray the toast of Michigan

By Os Davis  |   Sunday, June 22, 2008  |  Comments( 4 )

Detroit Lions
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Kudos from RealFootball365.com to a couple of former Detroit Lions -- wide receiver Herman Moore and kicker Eddie Murray -- who will soon be inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

Announced as entrants on Friday, Moore and Murray join nine others in induction into the Hall. The rest include, among others, Pistons play-by-play man George Blaha and Red Wings co-owner Marian Illitch.

Among the younger set – and to a lesser extent, football fans outside of Michigan – Moore is one of the all-time forgotten greats. How forgotten is he? Check out this 1995 piece from Detroit Free-Press columnist Mitch Albom putting Moore on a tier with all-timers Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin; sure the home angle pumps his favorite WR up a bit, but this wasn’t an extreme view in Moore’s heyday.

Drafted 10th overall out of the University of Virginia in 1991, Moore was a two-sport star whose name is still in the Cavaliers’ track-and-field record book. Moore ended up spending essentially his entire career playing for Wayne Fontes’ up-and-down Detroit teams of the 1990s, amassing over 9,000 career receiving yards in 11 seasons with the Lions. A four-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, Moore combined with the immortal Barry Sanders to create a potent attack that was one of the NFL’s top offenses in those long-ago playoff seasons of 1995 and 1997.

His final stat line for the Lions looks like this: 9,174 yards on 670 receptions and 62 receiving TDs – all team records. His top single-season marks include 123 catches he hauled in for 1,686 yards to lead the NFL in both categories in 1995; those are best-ever Lions marks. All in all, the man’s a shoo-in to make the starting roster of the Lions’ 75th Anniversary All-Time Team; Moore certainly has RF365’s endorsement.

Recently, Moore’s been participating in any number of football-related activities: In January, he landed a business development job with the Grand Rapids Rampage after a year as the team’s radio color commentator. In 2007, Moore acted as honorary chairman at the highly interesting NFL Global Junior Championships.

After the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame nominated no Lions for its class of 2007, it’s fitting that 2008 would see two from the team make it into the hallowed halls. And because a great Lion of the 1990s gets in, nice as well is the entry of Detroit’s kicker through the 1980s, the previously mentioned Eddie Murray.

Showing the durability the great placekickers have, Murray played in 19 seasons over 21 years, with his first 12 seasons (and first 1,113 points scored) all in Detroit. With 1,594 points to his name, Murray is currently the NFL’s No. 10 all-time scorer; ironically, he’s only No. 2 all time in the franchise's record book, having been passed by 1992 replacement Jason Hanson, who's still the Lions' starter. (So call Murray the Motor City’s Wally Pipp.)

Though Murray eventually won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys, his peak certainly came in 1988-1989, when he turned in a pair of 20-of-21 seasons. Add that to his 57-of-58 on PATs (36-of-36 in ’89), and you realize that Murray was quite simply the best placekicker over the latter half of the 1980s.

It is also said that Murray is well-known as having “replaced the kickoff tee with an empty margarita glass, one of the most memorable moments in Pro Bowl history.” Unfortunately, most online references to the event merely echo the Wikipedia mention of the feat; YouTube is no help here and my own recall of the event is hazy after 18 subsequent years of dead brain cells.

And while we wait, a toast – with a little tequila, orange liqueur and lime juice, naturally – to a couple of greats.

Paying homage to the greats throughout the year at RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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