Link: Tuscaloosa News: Kenny Stabler Passes Away

Vinny

Hall of Fame
Sep 27, 2001
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This is such sad news. I met Kenny back in 2005 on the eve of the Tennessee game. We chatted before he was being interviewed by Joe Scarboro on the quad. May he rest in peace.
 

CaliforniaTide

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Aug 9, 2006
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It's almost criminal that his bust ain't in Canton, the irony that it may have been a criminal bust (link) that's "abetted" keeping him out.

Never forget what an exciting athlete the Snake was, on two fields of play - the Yankees, Mets and Astros (as a first-rounder) all drafted him in successive years as a southpaw. Always wondered, when he left the Raiders and was out of football for a season, whether he gave any serious thought to going back to the mound. But, no, he came back to the Silver and Black and stardom - and sent Daryle Lamonica on to the WFL and eventually pro bass fishing.

He deserves to be in Pro Football Hall of Fame and there's got to be some way, posthumously, to right this egregious wrong.
Some of the sports writers in the Bay Area in California have said that if the NFL celebrates your career on TV, and we all know they celebrate Stabler's career with the Raiders, then you should be in the HOF.
 

TideEngineer08

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Some of the sports writers in the Bay Area in California have said that if the NFL celebrates your career on TV, and we all know they celebrate Stabler's career with the Raiders, then you should be in the HOF.
It's such a shame. I don't care what he's done, it's not nearly as bad as some of the characters that are enshrined there.

In some ways, its like Derrick Thomas and the college football HOF. They should have been first ballot selections. But it didn't happen for Derrick until after he passed away, and now Stabler won't be here to enjoy it whenever the NFL corrects this wrong. And I really hope they do.

I know there is so much more to life than sports halls of fame. But this is something that is usually very special to these guys. I believe Kenny Stabler would have appreciated the honor.
 

TitleWave

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Dec 3, 2012
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It's such a shame. I don't care what he's done, it's not nearly as bad as some of the characters that are enshrined there.

In some ways, its like Derrick Thomas and the college football HOF. They should have been first ballot selections. But it didn't happen for Derrick until after he passed away, and now Stabler won't be here to enjoy it whenever the NFL corrects this wrong. And I really hope they do.

I know there is so much more to life than sports halls of fame. But this is something that is usually very special to these guys. I believe Kenny Stabler would have appreciated the honor.
What I believe he also would appreciate is a gesture in memoriam by the University of Alabama's football program. Gotta believe it's in the works now - a helmet sticker or jersey patch paying tribute to the Snake - but what will it be? Would love to see a decal of a football with a "Snakey" left-hand gripping it on the back of 'Bama's helmets this season with the "12" beneath it. Now do it - or do something else as distinctive to honor the most exciting quarterback ever to play in Tuscaloosa. H*ll, I remember as a kid who wrote left-handed, trying to teach myself to throw left-handed so as to emulate him. None since have rivaled him and only Joe Willie before him came close in my lifetime.
 

TideEngineer08

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What I believe he also would appreciate is a gesture in memoriam by the University of Alabama's football program. Gotta believe it's in the works now - a helmet sticker or jersey patch paying tribute to the Snake - but what will it be? Would love to see a decal of a football with a "Snakey" left-hand gripping it on the back of 'Bama's helmets this season with the "12" beneath it. Now do it - or do something else as distinctive to honor the most exciting quarterback ever to play in Tuscaloosa. H*ll, I remember as a kid who wrote left-handed, trying to teach myself to throw left-handed so as to emulate him. None since have rivaled him and only Joe Willie before him came close in my lifetime.
Surely there will be something. I do like your suggestion of the helmet sticker.
 

TommyMac

Hall of Fame
Apr 24, 2001
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I don't agree that Kenny had his own demons. Sure, sometimes he stepped outside the generally accepted societal guidelines, but I think that was just Kenny determined to live according to his own standards, not those of society. I don't think his living life to the fullest was due to "demons," it was just Kenny being the Snake.

Among the many things I loved about him was his passes, he threw the prettiest passes I've ever seen, beautiful tight spirals that seldom wobbled even in crappy weather and usually with pin-point accuracy. He was the King of Cool and as good as any in the two minute drill. You can bet that no rival coach ever felt safe with a slim lead in the waning moments of the game with #12 out there


:BigA: :BigA: :BigA:
 

BoSox Tider

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Jul 1, 2011
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Kenny was the first Bama QB I remember. I became a Tide fan as a kid in the mid-60s because of Bart Starr, when I was first and foremost a pro football and Packer fan.

A sad day indeed.

RIP Kenny. You will be missed.
 

TideEngineer08

TideFans Legend
Jun 9, 2009
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I'd love to see every Tide player wear #12 on the side of their helmet in his honor.
Now that would be cool, but I don't think the ncaa will allow it. Wasn't Ole Miss going to do something similar in the past year or two where they were going to wear 38 on the side of their helmets in honor of Chucky Mullins? Seems like the ncaa wouldn't allow the same number to be on the side of the helmet.
 

CullmanTide

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Jan 7, 2008
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Now that would be cool, but I don't think the ncaa will allow it. Wasn't Ole Miss going to do something similar in the past year or two where they were going to wear 38 on the side of their helmets in honor of Chucky Mullins? Seems like the ncaa wouldn't allow the same number to be on the side of the helmet.
You may be right though I can't see a reason. Numbers aren't a requirement as other teams put a logo there. Either way, do it for one game and move on.
 

bamanut_aj

Hall of Fame
Jul 31, 2000
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Stabler was what you would expect from a Raider. Man he was brash....a competitor, cocky, a doer, the guy you wanted to have the ball on the last drive.

Listening to John McClain, of the Houston Chronicle, tell stories on the radio today was PRICELESS. Stabler was awesome.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Bazza

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Oct 1, 2011
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An older article from 2012......

Art Shell on Hall of Fame: Stabler, Branch "deserve to be in there"


Recently the 1976 Raiders were voted as the Greatest Team of All Time on NFL.com. There is little doubt that team earned that distinction. It was jam packed with Hall of Fame players on both offense and defense. I had the pleasure of speaking with one of those Hall of Famers Thursday; Art Shell and I asked him about that team being named the Greatest of All Time.

"Yeah. Yeah, I read NFL.com and I was looking at that and I was excited to see that." Said Shell. "That was a great team. That was a great team. I've always felt that that team could have played with any team in football history and held their own."
But while Shell was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, there are still several worthy players on that legendary squad that have never gotten the call. So many that Shell couldn't narrow it down to just one.
"I can't go one player." He said. "There's a couple players. There's Ken Stabler, there's Cliff Branch... that's on the 76 team. Those two guys they come to the top of my head right away. I don't understand why they're not in but they deserve to be in there."
More here:

LINK
 

Bazza

TideFans Legend
Oct 1, 2011
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FYI: I understand the NFL Network will be broadcasting old Raider games that Ken played in....

I tried to find more info but the NFL network website is not the easiest to find info on so maybe someone else can confirm.
 

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