Browsing through Twitter er um, X a few days ago a tweet by Kevin Gallagher caught my attention.
So, yet again, John Facenda did not make the cut for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Let the replies to this quoted post serve as proof for just how unpopular of an outcome this continues to be. https://t.co/0zwqqzaetX
— Kevin Gallagher (@KevG163) October 30, 2024
John Facenda was a Philadelphia radio and TV journalist who did narration work for NFL Films starting in 1965 and through the early 1980s.
So why, do you ask, does he belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Let’s begin looking at the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s guidelines:
To be considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Contributor, an individual must have made significant contributions to professional football in a capacity other than playing or coaching.
So, did John Facenda make “significant contributions to professional football in a capacity other than playing or coaching? Well, let me share two stories, and you decide.
Dateline, Fall 1996, Cincinnati, Ohio.
At age 24 I’m a few months into my year of volunteer service with the (now defunct) Marianist Voluntary Service Communities and working at People Working Cooperatively, a non-profit construction-home repair company that today continues to make the difference in the lives of thousands people in the Greater Cincinnati Metro Area.
I’m sitting in the office shooting the shit with our corporate Controller, Bob Purvis. Even though Bob’s a Cincinnati Bengals fan and he knows I’m a Steelers fan we hit it off immediately and talked football early and often.
I have no idea what the thread of this conversation was, I make some sort of reference to the Ice Bowl, and then immediately started to imitate the NFL Film’s narration of “…on the frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field, Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers….” I refer to “that guy who did the voice overs” and Bob informs me, “Yeah, his name was John Facenda. He was great.”
AT that point Facenda had been dead for 13 years, and while clips of his work certainly had been featured on network TV or ESPN, the days had long past since his voice was a staple of weekly NFL football.
Yet Bob and I remembered him immediately, and this further cemented our bond of friendship.
Dateline, the wee hours of December 26th, 2016, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Steelers had just come back to beat the Baltimore Ravens at Heinz Field on Christmas night with the Immaculate Extension.
I’ve just finished watching the game on tape delay, as is my custom I text my friend, Gustavo Vallegos, (El Dr. de Acero), asking if he’s seen the game yet. He confirms he has, and I let him know I’ve seen it. Spoiler alerts exchanged and disgarded, this was Gustavo’s immediate response:
“Que partido impresonante! El unico que falta era la narracion del John Facenda.”
For those who don’t speak Spanish, that’s “What an incredible game, the only thing that was missing was narration by John Facenda.”
Let that sink in for a minute.
Gustavo Vallegos has lived in Argentina his entire life. He didn’t start watching American football until either the Steelers 1994 or 1995 season (fun fact, ESPN Deportes lost the signal to Super Bowl XXX early in the 4th quarter and Gus had to wait days to find out the outcome.)
So not only did Gus not grow up listening to John Facenda in the background, he became acquainted and self-educated in the game during the digital age’s infancy – long before you could just punch “Ice Bowl” into your phone and take in the NFL Films documentary while Collectivo 176 is taking you to work at Sanatorio Modelo de Caseros.
Yet, Gus’ immediate reaction after watching the last true epic regular season win of the Roethlisberger Era was to invoke the voice of John Facenda.
I’d call that a “significant contribution.”
Still not sold? Then check out Facenda’s narration of the Steelers win over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV.
Yes, the play of Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Jack Lambert and Franco Harris made Super Bowl XIV a great. But, by lending his voice to their exploits, John Facenda immortalized their legend.
It is time to put John Facenda in the Hall of Fame.
