By John Turney 
Let's play, "Name That Player," and see if you can guess whom I' writing about.
--- He played 17 seasons in the NFL and was a starter in 16 of them.
--- He went to six Pro Bowls and was a pioneer, the first African-American full-time starter at his position.
--- He blocked for two Hall-of-Fame running backs. In fact, they were two of the best ever.
--- He also blocked for two other 1,000-yard rushers, and three of the four had seasons of 1,500 yards rushing in a season.
--- He even earned a Super Bowl ring. And, though he's not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he was always in the mix.
Well, not quite. That last sentence isn't true. Everything else is.
You know who he is, right? No, you don't. But you should. It's former center Ray Donaldson, who starred with the Colts, Seahawks and Cowboys but has never been discussed as a finalist or semifinalist by the Hall-of-Fame's board of selectors or seniors committee.
And that's not just an oversight. It’s a shame.
Recruited as a linebacker by the University of Georgia, he was moved to center as a sophomore and wasn't pleased with the change.
“The first thing that went through my mind,” Donaldson said, “was 'There go my chances for playing in the NFL.' There were no black centers in the NFL … (and) the transition was tough, going from up on my feet, then my hand in the dirt."
As it turned out, it was the right move. The 6-3, 252-pound Donaldson was a center with a linebacker’s feet, which gave him more mobility than most at his position. He not only became a starter for the Bulldogs; he was so accomplished that, by his senior year, he was All-SEC, All-American and, later, the 32nd pick in the 1980 NFL draft.
He spent his rookie season as the long snapper on coverage teams, (he even made nine tackles) but became a starter with the Baltimore Colts by his second year … and remained a starter until retiring after the 1996 season at the age of 38.
That’s significant because, in breaking the color barrier at his position, it makes Ray Donaldson a groundbreaker. Before he came along, there were no African-Americans who were regulars at center. Not in the NFL there weren’t. Granted, there were some who started there, but none that you’d call full-time players. If they played the position in college, they usually were moved to guard.
However, the same season that Donaldson took over (1981), Dolphins' Hall-of-Famer Dwight Stephenson started the final five games after Mark Dennard was sidelined. Nevertheless, Donaldson was the first to start from the season opener to the finale, and he didn’t budge once he arrived.
In fact, he started the second-most games (228) at that position in NFL history, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Mick Tingelhoff, with 240. Mike Webster started 217, Kevin Mawae 211 and Jim Otto, 210. All are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 15 of his 17 seasons, Donaldson played the entire schedule, missing games only in 1991 when he fractured a fibula and 1995 when he had a quad injury.
"As far as I know,” said Ron Meyer, Donaldson’s coach in 1988, “Ray never missed a practice.”
So the 6-foot-3, 300-pound (he got bigger as he got older) center checks the "availability" and "durability" boxes on his Hall resume.
What else?
Let’s start with postseason honors. Donaldson was never a first-team All-Pro but was second-team twice. However, I don’t put that on Donaldson as much as I put it on the teams … and quarterbacks … he played with. Let’s be honest: Good quarterback play usually leads to team success, and that’s often a factor in choosing All-Pro and Pro Bowl teams -- especially for blockers.
Sandwiched between Bert Jones and Jeff George … and not counting backups … Donaldson snapped to Mike Pagel, Art Schlichter, Mark Herrmann, Jack Trudeau, Gary Hogeboom and Chris Chandler. That’s not exactly an awe-inspiring cast, and it’s a reason why the Colts floundered in the early-to-mid 1980s.
It’s also a reason why Donaldson wasn’t more well known. He was stuck on poor teams until the Colts in 1987 traded for Eric Dickerson, one of two Hall of Famers he blocked for. They won a division title that season and were at least competitive for a handful of years.
But Donaldson didn’t play on a great team until his 16th season when he finished his career with the Dallas Cowboys. And remember: He was competing with Mike Webster and Dwight Stephenson -- possibly the two best centers ever -- for an AFC Pro Bowl bid. That's a tall order for anyone, especially a guy not on winning teams.
This gets into the weeds a little, but it's a fact that "Bulldog" (Donaldson's nickname) was the first alternate for the Pro Bowl three times when the two Hall of Famers were in their prime. That means he was third in the voting in each of the three years prior to his first trip to Hawaii. Had he not been in the AFC, he’d probably have gone to more Pro Bowls.
In 1987, however, Donaldson was named the AFC's starting center over Stephenson in a poll of players and coaches. While that seemed to annoy the Dolphins’ great, he was forced to admit that “Ray Donaldson had a great year” and “is deserving.”
It’s also interesting to note that, while Donaldson was never a first-team All-Pro in media polls, the grinders at NFL Films chose their own All-Pro teams ... and three times (1987-89) they named Donaldson as their first-team center.
Just sayin.'
One yearly publication that relied heavily on scouts' opinions validated that move when it wrote this: "A squat squarish player nearly as wide as he is tall, Donaldson can occupy the best of nose tackles, allowing the Colts to eschew the double-team and have their guards help out elsewhere. There are people who feel he's supplanted Dwight Stephenson as the NFL's best center but has also become the league's best lineman."
That's high praise for someone overlooked by the Hall.
After leaving the Colts, Donaldson spent a couple of seasons in Seattle battling new teammate Cortez Kennedy in daily practices and plowing the way for running back Chris Warren's back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. Then it was on to the Cowboys to replace former starting center Mark Stepnoski on “The Great Wall."
An undersized Pro Bowl center at 270 pounds, Stepnoski was a technician who relied on subtlety and finesse. Donaldson did not. He was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. With his addition, the interior of the Dallas line not only got bigger; it got better.
Larry Allen was in his second season and his first at guard, while Erik Williams had recovered from back injuries sustained in a car accident. All five offensive linemen were well over 300 pounds, and the newly formed "Wall" pounded the way for Hall-of-Fame running back Emmitt Smith to have his best season, rushing for 1,773 yards and 25 TDs.
In the 1995 NFC championship game, Smith carried 35 times for 150 yards and three touchdowns as Dallas beat the Packers 38-27. Two weeks later, the Cowboys beat Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XXX, 27-17, and Donaldson had his ring, yet another box checked.
He was released after the following season when the Cowboys wanted to get younger in the middle, and his absence was felt. The proof? Look at Smith’s rushing totals the next couple of years when Donaldson’s successor made line calls. According to Donaldson, former teammate Nate Newton later told him that “we really didn't know how good you were until you were gone. Then we fell apart as a line."
That’s called impact, and consider it one more box checked.
So there you have it: Donaldson had longevity, durability, Pro Bowls, a ring and Hall-of-Fame backs following his blocks. But it was his place in history as the first African-American to become a full-time starting center that he considers most noteworthy.
"It means a lot,” he said, “but it kind of went unnoticed ... a lot of people still don't know it. Having been the first one -- no recognition at all for it and not getting noticed it bothers me a little bit, but it is what it is. I am proud of it, though people still don't know about it."
More people should.
The success of Donaldson and Stephenson led to centers like Dermontti Dawson, Kevin Glover, and Tony Mayberry -- Pro Bowlers all -- staying where they were instead of moving to guard as had been the NFL custom. Coaches finally learned -- as they did with quarterbacks and middle linebackers --- that African-Americans not only could play the center position but could dominate.
But it’s not only fans who should know more about Donaldson’s 17-year career. Hall-of-Fame voters should, too. Because Ray Donaldson had an illustrious career worthy of Hall-of-Fame consideration.
"I think it would be hard to find a label for my talent,” Donaldson said, “but I have the respect of the men I fought."
No comments:
Post a Comment