The great St. Louis Rams wide receiver, Torry Holt, was the forgotten man (again) in the annual voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was wide open, patient and waiting. But the latest selection committee of 50 voters did not throw Torry the ball. He was ignored. It’s sad.
Holt has been eligible for inclusion on the Hall of Fame ballot for the past 12 years. (Players become eligible after being retired for five years.) Holt has been a modern-era finalist for seven consecutive years, from 2020 through 2026. This wait time puts Holt in a select group of Hall of Fame eligibles.
– Lynn Swann spent 14 years on the modern-era ballot before getting the call to Canton. No other modern-era wide receiver had to wait that long before receiving enough votes for entry into the Hall of Fame. His teammate in Pittsburgh, John Stallworth, lingered on the ballot for 10 years before getting through.
– Andre Reed waited nine years. The wait was eight for Art Monk. And six years for Tim Brown, Isaac Bruce and Cris Carter. Other recent inductees had waits of five years or less: Terrell Owens, Michael Irvin, Andre Johnson and Charlie Joiner.
— Going back through time, these wide receivers were first-ballot selections: Don Hutson, Raymond Berry, Lance Alworth, Paul Warfield, Steve Largent, Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald.
— There have been other wide receivers snubbed on the modern era ballot for 25 years before getting transferred to the Senior Committee. Three of them were rescued through that alternative process and entered the Hall as a senior nominee: Harold Carmichael, Cliff Branch and Drew Pearson. I served on that committee for a long time.
Holt has been at least a semifinalist all 12 years. And he’s handled these exclusions with amazing patience and grace.
Just to give you the most recent example of how long these Hall of Fame waiting lines can last, running back Roger Craig retired at age 33. This year, via the senior committee, Craig was voted into Canton at age 65.
Holt retired following the 2009 season at age 33. Later this year, in June, he’ll celebrate his 50th birthday. Time is a streak that can go by quickly. How much longer must Torry Holt wait? If he gets in, will his coaches and former teammates and family members still be around to savor the honor? What about St. Louis Rams fans?
Holt’s credentials are strong. Holt was drafted into the league in 1999 and played through 2009.
Over those 11 seasons, despite being bothered by knee troubles for during his last few seasons, Holt crafted a beautiful resume:
– 1st in the NFL in receptions, 920.
– 1st in NFL with 13,382 receiving yards.
– 1st in NFL with 630 first downs.
– 5th in touchdown catches, 78.
– Had an NFL-record eight-season stretch of 1,000 or more receiving yards.
– Holt is still the only player in league history that has put together six consecutive seasons with at least 1,300 receiving yards.
– Beginning in 2000, Holt made seven Pro Bowls seven times in eight seasons. And was twice voted to the All-Pro team.
– Holt was a vital contributor on a team that won two NFC titles and a Super Bowl. He started Super Bowl 34 as a rookie and had a seven-catch, 109-yard and one-touchdown performance in the Rams’ narrow win over the Titans. Only three other rookie WRs have done that.
– Holt was a prolific playmaker for a St. Louis offense that set a new NFL record for most points scored over a three-season period (1,569.) The “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams averaged 32.7 points per game over that time. Before then, no NFL offense had done that in league history.
– There was also Holt’s Dominant Decade. From 2000 through 2009 he led the NFL in passes caught, receiving yards, and most first downs receiving. He was also 5th among NFL wide receivers in touchdown catches over the 10 years.
– Holt was one of four NFL wide receivers named to the All-Decade Team of the 2000s. The other three were Randy Moss, Marvin Harrison and Terrell Owens.
– Of the four, Holt had the most receptions, most receiving yards, most first downs and was third in yards receiving per game.
And despite having stats that rated very well in comparison to the other three, Holt remains on the outside of the Pro Hall of Fame. But Moss, Owens and Harrison have each been inducted.
Is that fair?
Does that make any sense?
– Normally, the All-Decade honors matter. But that hasn’t inspired voters to give Holt the Hall of Fame honor. During the modern era (1966-present), only three NFL wide receivers have earned All-Decade Team honors without being chosen for the Hall of Fame: Holt, Harold Jackson and Reggie Wayne.
At the time of his retirement, Holt ranked 11th all-time in receiving yards, 11th in catches, 11th in first downs, and 18th in touchdowns caught. And his profile has aged well.
So why is Holt still waiting?
I have several theories, and it helps that I was a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee for nearly 20 years.
1. Some of the newer Hall of Fame wide receivers have overshadowed Holt. And he doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt because voters want to get on the bandwagon of the hottest new candidates. They’re front runners.
2. There is a sentiment among voters that the St. Louis Rams already have enough representation from those “Greatest Show” teams: coach Dick Vermeil, quarterback Kurt Warner, running back Marshall Faulk, wide receiver Isaac Bruce, and offensive tackle Orlando Pace. It goes something like this: Hey, great offense and all of that. But they won just one Super Bowl. They have enough guys in the Hall of Fame.
3. St. Louis hasn’t had an NFL team since 2015, and as the years go by, those STL Rams get lost in the memory haze and fades. I’m not saying St. Louis is being erased from NFL history … but it sure seems like it.
4. The Hall of Fame selection process is a mess, and an embarrassment, and there are too many voters who hold grudges against candidates that they dislike personally.
5. There are too many voters who want to be in charge of morality – the sheriff, the judge and the jury foreman – to punish a guy like Bill Belichick, even though the NFL already punished and sanctioned him for his lead role in the SpyGate scandal. These people have crossed the line, seizing power they shouldn’t control, and have no business being on the committee.
Somehow, Torry Holt has been obscured and left out by the combination of these factors. And that is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach. Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith, Matt Holliday and Aeneas Williams. Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STL Sports Central, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.