The gang that waited too long: for players like Elvin Bethea and Joe DeLamielleure, it's better late than never - Hall of Fame Induction Preview

Football Digest, July-August, 2003 by Chuck O'Donnell

JOE DELAMIELLEURE had given up on being elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame so many times over the past 12 years, he just figured he had missed again. The Hall of Fame selection committee convened one morning last January to vote on a new class. "They told me," says DeLamielleure, "that if I didn't hear anything by 11:30, unfortunately, I probably didn't make it."

Eleven-thirty became 11:35. Eleven-thirty-five became 11:40. The clock moved so slowly, it seemed to be toying with DeLamielleure. He became fidgety and nervous, checking to make sure his cell phone was still charged. By11:50, he again gave up hope, hung his head, and called his wife, Geri, to break the bad news to her.

"I was really disappointed," he says. "But my wife said, 'Well, one of our daughters just called and said it's going to be delayed to 12 o'clock.'"

The delay was torturous for DeLamielleure. He settled into his hotel room in San Diego, where he was spending the Super Bowl week signing autographs and doing interviews and shaking hands. He tried to get his mind off the wait, but it was no use. He was having the same thoughts he'd been having for years. Six Pro Bowls, 185 straight games played, and a lead role on the Buffalo Bills' famed "Electric Company" offensive line that paved the way for O.J. Simpson's 2,000-yard season in 1973--what more had he needed to do? He figured that maybe old offensive linemen were supposed to just take their memories and their rickety knees and fade away.

He was jarred back to the here and now by the ring of the phone. On the other end of the line was Joe Horrigan, the public relations director for the Hall of Fame. What he had to say shocked DeLamielleure. "It was about 10 after 12," says DeLamielleure, "and the phone rang and they said, 'Hey, come on down to the Convention Center. You're in.'"

At about the same time, longtime Houston Oilers defensive end Elvin Bethea received a call telling him his 15-year wait was over. And former Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram, who had been eligible for the Hall of Fame since 1982, received a phone call, too.

But The Gang That Waited Too Long isn't bitter or resentful. If anything, the wait has made them appreciate their moment in the sun all the more. When they are inducted into the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, on August 3, they will stand together and proclaim: "The longer the wait, the sweeter the taste." They will be joined that day by running back Marcus Allen and wideout James Lofton, two players who weren't forced to endure such a hellish wait.

"We've been on at least Cloud 10 since we got the news," says Geri DeLamielleure. "when we went to Hawaii with the rest of the Hall of Fame class to the Pro Bowl, it was wonderful. Joe and Elvin were smiling so much, I told them that their faces were going to explode. Just one more millimeter and their faces were going to explode."

Bethea and DeLamielleure became fast friends in Hawaii. And why not? They have a lot in common. Not only were they contemporaries in the 1970s and '80s, but they also shared similar experiences in their journeys to the Hall.

"After 15 years [of waiting], I am very, very nervous," Bethea says. "For many years, people have told me I deserved this, but I shrugged it of."

It's been a time of reflection for Bethea, a time to look back on how far he has come since growing up on the rough streets of Trenton, N.J. He played college ball at North Carolina A&T and was picked in the third round of the 1968 draft by the Oilers as an offensive lineman.

But during the first game of the '68 season, they threw him onto the field on the defensive side of the ball. They immediately knew they had something special. At 6'2" and 260 pounds, Bethea was big and mean. He frequently hurt the opposition but almost never got hurt himself. The first game he missed as a pro came in 1977, when he was forced to sit out after breaking his arm while trying to apply a clothesline on Oakland Raiders running back Mark van Eeghen.

The Oilers were built around Bethea. After several losing seasons, including two 1-13 years, the Oilers finally became a tough team in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They never advanced too far in the playoffs, where they usually ran into the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers, but Bethea and players like Earl Campbell and Robert Brazile gave the Oilers a much-needed identity.

After 16 seasons of terrorizing runners and hunting down quarterbacks, the eight-time Pro Bowler called it a career. Twenty seasons have passed and his team has moved and changed its name, but Bethea remains among the all-time franchise leaders in several categories, such as regular-season games played (210), most consecutive regular-season games played (135), most sacks in a career (105), most sacks in a season (16), and most career tackles (691).

Stram was a little more subdued when the Hall of Fame came calling that morning. While it wouldn't be hard to imagine DeLamielleure and Bethea leaping about or dropping to their knees or proclaiming their happiness to the rest of the world, Stram probably just smiled and went about his day.