Abner Haynes: The AFL's Gale Sayers?

By John Turney 

When a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame is discussed, voters sometimes are reminded that "you can't write the history of the game" without that candidate. Former Dallas Texans' and Kansas City Chiefs' star Abner Haynes was never a Hall-of-Fame finalist, but that doesn't diminish his importance to pro football.

Because you can't write the saga of pro football’s wild, rebellious child -- the American Football League -- without Abner Haynes.

Sure, the Dallas Texans'/Kansas City Chiefs’ dynamo has never been a Pro Football Hall-of-Fame finalist, but don’t let that fool you. His mark on the game is indelible. The seniors’ committee ought to take a hard look at him, and soon. Because, as Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt put it when Haynes passed away last year, he left a legacy of “courage and leadership” off the field and sheer brilliance on it.

Exactly right.

From the moment Haynes donned a Dallas Texans' jersey in 1960, he was a revelation. The AFL’s inaugural year? Haynes owned it. Rookie of the Year? Check. Player of the Year? You bet. He bulldozed the league with 875 rushing yards, led it in rushing touchdowns (9) and punt return yards (211), and racked up a gaudy 2,100 all-purpose yards.

Consensus All-AFL pick? Naturally, he didn’t just play; he dominated, earning All-AFL honors the next two seasons, too. In 1962, he tied for the league lead in rushing scores and posted an AFL-record 19 touchdowns.

No one in the AFL’s history ever scored more touchdowns in a single season.

Then came the 1962 AFL championship, a double-overtime thriller against the Houston Oilers. Haynes punched in two scores, but he also sparked a quirky controversy. Winning the pvertime coin toss, he told officials that Dallas would “kick to the clock.” Only one problem: That wasn't the choice. You either picked the ball or the side. Not both. The Oilers cried foul, and officials flipped the call.

So Dallas kicked away from the clock and into a howling wind ... but it didn’t matter. Haynes and the Texans gutted out a 20-17 win over the defending league champions, sealed by a 25-yard field goal in the second overtime.

The Texans became the Chiefs in Kansas City in 1963, and Haynes kept rolling. Second-team All-AFL that year, he made his third straight AFL All-Star game—an event rocked by a boycott led by Haynes and other black players over racist nonsense in New Orleans. Their stand forced the game to Houston. 

That’s power.

In 1965, he was traded to Denver, where he led the AFL in kick returns. He later drifted to Miami in 1967 and closed out his career with three games for the Jets.

Short career? Maybe. Small impact? Not a chance. Haynes retired as the AFL’s all-time leader in all-purpose yards -- rushing, receiving and returns (12,065) -- with the league's fourth-most career touchdowns (69), most rushing scores (46) and third-most rushing yards (4,630).

In 1960 he led the new league with 2,100 all-purpose yards, making him only the third player in pro football history to do it. And through 1977, he was one of only eight players to have two seasons of 1,800 or more in one season.

And the Chiefs? He still owns their record books: Most touchdowns by a rookie (12), most scores in a game (5) and most rushing TDs in one game (4). Haynes was so extraordinary that some historians dubbed him the “AFL's Gale Sayers.”

High praise for a man who earned it.

Haynes may not have had the moves of Sayers, but he ended his career with more total yards, more total touchdowns and more receiving yards. Plus, Sayers never played in a league championship game, while Haynes not only played in one; he won it, hoisting the AFL’s third crown. No question, Sayers was a football god, one of the finest ever crafted, but don’t sleep on Haynes. He was every bit as electric.

Like Sayers, he could score from anywhere on the field with touchdown runs of 67, 59, 71, 46, 80, 47 and 65 yards and six touchdown catches of 52 or more yards, plus two long return touchdowns.

"He was a franchise player before they talked about franchise players," said former coach Hank Stram.

Abner was All-AFL three times, second-team All-AFL once and a member of the All-Time AFL team.

When Haynes was a modern candidate for the Hall of Fame, voters sniffed at his resume. Too short on elite seasons, they likely grumbled. Or maybe they sneered at the early AFL, convinced its talent pool was a shallow pond compared to the NFL’s deep water.

But that excuse is crumbling. Short careers? They’re no longer a dealbreaker. Gold jackets are worn now by players with brief but blazing primes. And if today’s voters still squint at pre-Super Bowl AFL stars, they’d better adjust their glasses. Roll the film on those early AFL cats: They pop with size, speed, fluidity and power. And nobody -- nobody -- shone brighter than Abner Haynes.

Born in Dallas, he broke ground at North Texas State (now the University of North Texas), where in 1957 he and a teammate became the first black players in an integrated college game in Texas. A two-time all-conference star, he led North Texas as a senior to the 1959 Sun Bowl, earning All-American honors from Time magazine. He was the Eagles’ top rusher, receiver and all-purpose yardage leader all three years, twice leading the team in scoring and even picking off passes as a junior.

He could do it all.

In November, 1959, the AFL’s Minneapolis-St. Paul franchise (later the Oakland Raiders) drafted him, but Haynes signed with his hometown Dallas Texans a month later. The rest is legend.

Haynes in Denver

Haynes’ No. 28 is one of 10 retired by the Chiefs, and he’s enshrined in their Hall of Fame. North Texas inducted him into its Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986, and in 1985 he received the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award. You can’t write the AFL’s story -- or pro football’s -- without Abner Haynes. And you shouldn’t try.

Pass the word to Canton.