What About Tommy Nobis? Hall Worthy?

By John Turney 

Art credit: Merv Corning

When Atlanta CEO Rich McKay in 2021 wrote an open letter to Pro Football Hall-of-Fame voters, he gushed about former Falcons' star Tommy Nobis and referred to him as "an elite player." So how come voters didn't listen? Not once since then have they made Nobis a seniors' finalist. As a matter of fact, outside of the Centennial Class of 2020, they haven't made him a finalist, period ... modern-era or seniors.

Surprised? So is McKay.

"First pick of the franchise," he wrote. "Best player on a really bad team. Five Pro Bowl appearances in 11 years. Two times All-Pro. And he's on the all-decade team of the 1960s. So he is recognized as an elite player.”

Apparently not ... at least, not by voters. And that's puzzling. Because when Hall-of-Fame running back Larry Csonka was asked to assess Nobis, he didn't reach for the stars. He went beyond.

“I’d rather play against Dick Butkus," Csonka said, "than Tommy Nobis.”

A one-man wrecking crew at the University of Texas, the 6-4, 240-pound Nobis was built like granite slab and hit like one, too, tearing through college football in the mid-1960s. But he wasn't just a star linebacker; he was a two-way player, locking down the middle on defense while blasting open holes as a guard.

In 1963, he anchored a Longhorns' squad that steamrolled to a national championship, winning all 11 games and crushing Navy in the Cotton Bowl. By 1965, he was the gold standard in college football -- snagging the Outland Trophy as the nation’s premier interior lineman, the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as the best lineman of the year and the Maxwell Award as the best all-around player in the same year.

He was also a two-time All-American, three-time first-team All-Southwest Conference and someone who finished seventh in the 1965 Heisman Trophy balloting, with more votes than future NFL quarterbacks Bob Griese and Steve Spurrier.

“The Best Defender in College Football,” Sports Illustrated blared.

A cover star, his photo was plastered across all the big-time magazines, not just the ones covering sports, with Nobis and his square jaw the face of college football. So well known was he that, when he was drafted in 1965 by both the Falcons and Houston Oilers, astronaut Frank Borman -- then orbiting the earth for two weeks aboard Gemini 7 -- sent a message to Nobis via NASA's mission control.

It read: "Tell Nobis to sign with Houston."

He didn't. He chose the expansion Falcons instead, becoming No. 60 and "Mr. Falcon."

In his first season, Nobis was voted to the Pro Bowl and named NFL Rookie of the Year after a staggering number of tackles tallied by coaches. One year later, he won more votes in the AP All-Pro voting than Butkus and everyone else. Furthermore, the panel of writers for the New York Daily News named him first-team All-Pro, and did so again in 1968 -- edging Chicago's man in the middle. 

Clearly, he was neck and neck from jump street with the best in the business, and his resume proves it. With just three active seasons in the 1960s (he missed one due to injury), he nevertheless was voted to the NFL’s all-decade team -- proof that, as Minnesota's Bud Grant said, Nobis was "one of the three best middle linebackers in the league." 

And the others? Two were Butkus and Ray Nitschke. The third was Chicago's Larry Morris. Butkus and Nitschke are Hall of Famers. Nobis and Morris are not. Yet Hall-of-Fame center and former Raiders' star Jim Otto said he'd put Nobis on the same level as Butkus and Kansas City's Willie Lanier.

“I don’t think there was 30 seconds’ difference between them,” he said.

Another veteran center, Ken Iman of the Rams, said essentially the same thing in 1970 -- calling Nobis, Butkus and Nitschke the top three middle linebackers in the game. Two years later, however, he changed his mind -- labeling Nobis the best middle linebacker in the NFL.

“Tommy is the best open-field tackler I've ever seen," said linebacker Karl Rubke, who teamed for two years (1967-68) with Nobis. “I'm not saying he's the best linebacker in the league -- with guys like Ray Nitschke and Dick Butkus around. But I'd say he's as good as any of them.”

So would Morris, the other linebacker from the 1960s' all-decade team not in Canton. He spent his final pro season with Nobis, and, apparently, seeing was believing.

"Nobis is the best rookie linebacker I ever saw," he said, "and I was there (in Chicago) when Dick Butkus broke in with the Bears.”

All told Nobis was a five-time Pro Bowler (1966-68, 1970, 1972) in his first seven seasons, missing a clean sweep only because of knee injuries -- the first in 1969 and the second in 1971. Yet, that was enough for Dallas Pro Bowl running back Don Perkins to join the crowd in praise of the Falcons' star.

“I got tired of reading his press clippings," he said, "but now I'm a believer. He's the best linebacker I've ever played against.”

I think you get the point. Tommy Nobis was, as the Falcons' McKay proclaimed, "an elite player." Yet, despite the raft of post-season honors, accolades and acclaim, he's been snubbed by the Pro Football Hall's board of selectors. Only once -- in 2020, the centennial year of the NFL -- was he a finalist, but it wasn't the board of selectors that chose him. It was a specially selected panel of voters, media members and Hall of Famers. 

So what's going on? It's hard to say, but my guess is that it probably involves Atlanta's lack of success. During Nobis' tenure with the Falcons, they never went to the playoffs and lost twice as many games as they won. Moreover, they had just two seasons above  .500 and seven times won four or fewer games. 

But the Hall is based on individual achievements, not team success. So voters should look at Nobis' situation as they did Browns' tackle Joe Thomas. He didn't win, either. Yet selectors made him a first-ballot choice in 2023.

Tommy Nobis is a member of the Atlanta Falcons' Ring of Honor, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Researchers Association's Hall of Very Good. But that resume is incomplete without the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

And the Pro Football Hall of Fame is incomplete without Tommy Nobis.

Note: "For loss" are tackles for loss, not run/pass stuffs. Numbers are

similar but not identical.