Pattern Recognition, Pt. 3: Number of HOF Recipients by NFL Franchise

Too many times impressions are given, and sometimes subjectivity flavors the commentary in NFL news and other publications. My opinion is that if an attribute admits to some type of measure theory, then the researcher should attempt to measure it.

Pattern recognition, at an elementary level, is a powerful way to study an issue, situation or phenomenon. The discipline to tally the sports data, define categories for the sports data, and to aggregate the sports (NFL) data are some of the fundamental steps to this type of study.

This article is Pt. 3 and it is related to Pattern Recognition, Pt. 2: Number of HOF Recipients by NFL Franchise.

In this article the data was separated to indicate the persons who played five years of more with a team (bold), and those who played less than five years. This statement is an assumption until the HOF is contacted and clarifications are made. Refinement of this research is ongoing.

Some persons have multiplicity and show up more than once in a franchise category.

Here is the list:

George Halas is counted three times (one bold, two non-bold) with the Bears;

George Blanda is counted twice (bold and non-bold) with the Bears;

John (Paddy) Driscoll is counted twice (bold and non-bold) with the Bears;

Al Davis is counted twice (both bold and non-bold) with the Raiders;

Earl (Dutch) Clark (bold and non-bold) with the Lions;

Art Donovan (bold and non-bold) with the Colts;

and with the Redskins

Cliff Battles is counted three times (one bold, two non-bold);

Albert Glen (Turk) Edwards is counted three times (one bold, two non-bold);

George Preston Marshall is counted three times (one bold, two non-bold).

The data was gathered from an HOF web page, and no obvious legend is present to explain what the bold markings mean.

A comment by a B/R senior writer was used to define the bold markings. Obviously, this research is ongoing in order to gain clarity and a definition of the criteria by which the data is categorized.

This article is an introductory work which will become a section of a more comprehensive study. The chart in the article photo depicts a partial listing of the data. By separating the data into subcategories, an improved description is posted.

Your comments are invited.

Thanks to James Williamson for his input.

Pattern Recognition, Pt. 3: Number of HOF Recipients by NFL Franchise

Franchise		number of HOF Recipients
		total	bold	nonbold
Arizona C		16	11	5
Atlanta F.		2	0	2
Baltimore R.		1	0	1
Buffalo B.		9	8	1
Carolina Panthers		1	0	1
Chicago Bears		35	26	9
Cincinnati Bengals		2	1	1
Cleveland Browns		21	16	5
Dallas Cowboys		17	11	6
Denver Broncos		4	2	2
Detroit Lions		18	13	5
Green Bay Packers		26	21	5
Houston Texans		0	0	0
Indianapolis Colts		13	10	3
Jacksonville Jaguars		0	0	0
Kansas City Chiefs		14	9	5
Miami Dolphins		10	9	1
Minnesota Vikings		14	9	5
New England Patriots		4	4	0
New Orleans Saints		5	1	4
New York Giants		27	17	10
New York Jets		6	4	2
Oakland Raiders		20	13	7
Philadephia Eagles		17	9	8
Pittsburgh Steelers		24	18	6
San Diego Chargers		11	7	4
San Francisco 49ers		16	12	4
Seattle Seahawks		4	1	3
St. Louis Rams		23	13	10
Tampa Bay		3	1	2
Tennessee Titans		11	7	4
Washington Redskins		29	17	12

Note on Adjustment:  The numbers in this study must be adjusted. A phone call (8:28 am CDT, August 31, 2009) to an HOF researcher indicated that the data source contained glitches because of a transfer to new website. An update will be provided at a later data. Note that is customary for analysis to be iterated, refined, and adjusted.

Source:  All future articles in this study will use the data and resources of the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2009 Information Guide.