Patriots HOF vote: Morgan in a landslide

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, June 12, 2007  |  Comments( 2 )

New England Patriots
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In what looks to be the biggest landslide vote since Ronald Reagan was bucking to become Commander in Chief, the New England Patriots have released the 2007 ballot for the team's Hall of Fame. The actual election itself is surely a formality, and on Aug. 1, the great Stanley Morgan is certainly to get his due.

Morgan is up against tight end Ben Coates and running back Ron Burton, whom you may now begin Googling.

Coates is an astute choice and though the great tight end may not enter the hallowed halls of Patriot Place in 2007, he is certainly a first-balloter in any election for All-Time Underrated Hall of Fame.

Coates came to New England out of North Carolina private school Livingstone College, where he was a multi-sport star who picked up football in his senior year. By 1993, he led the Patriots in receptions and the following year began an incredible run of five consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. Coates' 96 receptions in 1994 were the most ever by a tight end, a mark which stood for 10 years. Incredibly, Coates currently ranks fourth all-time in the category (Who knew?) behind the good company of Kellen Winslow, Shannon Sharpe and Ozzie Newsome.

After taking home a Super Bowl ring in 2000 via a short stint with the Baltimore Ravens, the great Patriot starred in "Welcome Back, Coates," returning to Livingstone to coach. At the pro level, Coates most recently appeared as TE coach with the Cleveland Browns.

Ron Burton will be an unknown to most voters, to be sure -- heck, he's even before my time -- and feels like more of a respectful nod to a good citizen.

Burton was one of the original Boston Patriots, the Northwestern U. All-American drafted in the first round of the first AFL draft for 1960, and played with the team throughout his short career terminating in 1965. Burton was known as a versatile player, peaking in '63 with 1,009 yards and six TDs in a 14-game schedule.

Burton may be better known in certain parts of Massachusetts for his post-AFL work, however. The Ron Burton Training Village is a summer camp for underprivileged children in Hubbardston, and Burton received a community service award for the Boston Celtics in 2001. Today, the Patriots' own community service award is named for Burton.

Then there's Stanley Morgan. Nobody who remembers those nattily red-attired Patriots teams of the late '70s and early '80s will ever forget Morgan, certainly the greatest to play at the position for New England. Ever. No question. And excepting his final, forgettable 1990 season in Indianapolis, Morgan was a lifetime Patriot.

For those who never saw the lightning-quick skyscraper-leaping Morgan, you'll have to content yourself with stats, and impressive they are. Over the first six years of his career (1977-1982), Morgan averaged over 22.5 yards per reception; most insane was his (first) career year of 1979, when the man scored 12 TDs on just 44 receptions. Think it would be useful to have a dude score every third or fourth time he catches the ball? Steve Grogan sure did.

Morgan's last great season came in 1986, when he led the No. 3 passing offense in the NFL with an awesome 1,491 yards and 10 TDs on 84 receptions. At No. 20 all-time in receiving yardage plus truly dominant play deep in his younger days, a case could be made for Morgan in Canton, never mind The Hall at Patriot Place.

In Patriotland, this year's Hall of Fame voting is ballyhooed as the first-ever open to public vote. Should you wish to formalize Morgan's entry, you can vote at the Patriots' official Web site. With this slate of candidates, however, it seems as though the 27-person committee making the nominations didn't want the rabble to screw things up.

(It's a shame that Coates has no change, though, isn't it? Where's the written-in-stone rule that only one candidate can go in per year? Steve Grogan, sub-70 career QB rating and all, is in there; why not Coates?)

Congratulations to all three candidates for the Patriot Hall of Fame. And to Morgan, especially.

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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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