Tony Dungy lost his NBC gig this year. Then his Hall of Fame vote. We’re heartbroken.
Tony Dungy’s Hall of Fame vote is gone. Maybe now there’s room for a more inclusive view of who belongs in Canton.
Mark
A few months ago, the man once treated by some as pro football’s moral compass got dropped by NBC after 17 years on Football Night in America.
Then this week he lost his Pro Football Hall of Fame voting privileges when the Hall slashed its selection committee from 50 members to 28.
Now he’s publicly griping that the NFL needs a longer preseason because Week 1 looked sloppy, as if anyone really cares what Tony Dungy thinks anymore.
I stopped caring what Dungy thought years ago, once his virulent anti-LGBTQ views became public.
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I grew up a diehard Steelers fan, and had a fondness for Dungy as a player because he was a protégé of Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll, one of my idols. After he retired with the San Francisco 49ers, Dungy returned to Pittsburgh as a defensive assistant to start his coaching career.
For years, it was assumed Dungy would eventually coach the team. I’ve always been relieved that it never happened. As I’ve said numerous times to my Steelers friend, “The ‘70s Steelers could do no wrong, then Tony Dungy came along.”
Because underneath his supposed “man of character” persona was someone who treated LGBTQ people like contemptible sinners.
Dungy’s rejection of our community became public in 2006 when he spoke out against gay marriage while he was reigning Super Bowl winning head coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 2007.
Dungy ignorantly said he wouldn’t have drafted Michael Sam because dealing with the reaction to an openly gay player wasn’t worth the trouble.
He cruelly criticized the late, out NBA’er Jason Collins’ “lifestyle,” using that word long after people told him how demeaning it was.
He built a warped friendship with Pastor Andrew Wommack, a Christian nationalist who has compared homosexuality to smoking, and even after Wommack was condemned for the comparison, kept showing up at his events.
Outsports readers know his history better than most, since my colleague Cyd Zeigler has been documenting it for the better part of two decades. In fact, Dungy was named “A**hole of the Year,” by Outsports in 2014.
There’s a certain sweet irony in watching Dungy lose his Hall of Fame vote.
Dungy was surely part of the naysayers who in all probability worked behind the scenes to keep Jerry Smith out of the Hall. Smith deserves to be there.
Jerry Smith was Washington’s tight end from 1965 to 1977, caught more touchdowns than any tight end in NFL history at the time of his retirement, a record that stood for 27 years.
He also was gay, a fact he hid until he was dying of AIDS in 1986. Nearly 40 years later, Smith has still never been a finalist for Canton.
Getting rid of a homophobe like Tony Dungy may do away with a roadblock preventing Smith’s enshrinement. If the Hall of Fame is serious about integrity in its process, as it claims, getting rid of the deceitful Dungy is a wise move.
It’s worth noting that venerable sports writer Peter King, known for his longtime association with Sports Illustrated and for being genuinely sympathetic to LGBTQ players and causes over the years, isn’t even a full voter on the new committee.
He only advises through one of the Hall’s nominating panels. Meanwhile, Dungy, until recently, had a full vote. Now that the Hall has cut its rolls and removed Dungy, maybe it’s time to add a couple of members who are more open-minded.
For me, Dungy started with such high hopes, but once he ascended the ranks in the NFL, he went to the bottom of my list of Steelers greats. I’m not one to wish ill will toward anyone, but to Dungy I can only say: karma can sting.
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